Hristina’s Huizen (The Houses of Hristina)

I just watched one more documentary about labor/work. So, I try to watch a few documentaries to get inspired to think; about my thesis, about stuff in general. My thesis is about labor & moral questions, so it's hardly a coincidence that I write about these (sadly) not very well known documentary films. Suzanne Raes' film about Hristina, cleaner of upper class Dutch homes, is another gem of insights about the complexities of work and labor in a world that is all capitalism and class differences and national borders. Hristina was born in Bulgaria. She moved to the Netherlands, illegally. She has studied agroeconomics. The film depicts Hristina's goings about in the homes of people whose desire it is not to bother about things such as cleaning. They want Hristina the cleaner to be discreet, invisible; as if the cleaning got done automatically, by itself. A wonderful stuffing away of stuff, a wonderful oder of things. Well, she is there, even though she says she has a hard time understanding it herself. She discusses the strange feeling of loss of reality she gets. Hristina discusses her job and her mixed thoughts about it, her mixed feelings about her own position & role. Hristina says that her employers want her job to be invisible, that her presence is invisible; mostly, she works when they are not at home. But then she adds that she wants her personality and heart to be present in her job. That's, of course, a highly political clash of perspectives. These people for whom Hristina works want an efficient cleaner, one who is cheap and unobtrusive ("they are not interested in my stories.") - they end up with human workforce but everything "human" about it is very inconvenient and upsetting for the employer, the wealthy family with work & kids to tend to. Hristina is a photographer, too. She asks her employers if she can shoot pictures in the house. "Yes, but not today," responds one family via the glorious media of post-its, "our house is too messy".

This is an important film.

(I think about my relatives. Some of them are cleaners. Other have 2-3 jobs and employ cleaners of their own.)