Domestics of varying kinds have always figured prominently in the cinema, from Mary Poppins and Nanny McPhee to The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Mary Reilly. (Julia Roberts playing the hired help?

Even if I find the whole notion of “La nana” to be boring, I can still appreciate the movie’s filmic elements. Silva films the movie in a slightly better-than-normal home-video style.

NaNa was a place where transformation could and did happen, to employees and customers alike. To this day, former customers bring their kids to visit Kaufman at Brat, telling them, “She was the ...