Dr. Rex Nielson, professor of Portuguese with an interest in Luso-Brazilian studies, elaborates on the “Upstairs-Downstairs” narrative in The Second Mother (2015) by zooming in starting with the migrations from Northeastern Brazil to the southeast, then the layout and position of the city, and finally the foundations of colonial-era homes. By drawing out what Brazilian audiences would recognize in accents, architecture, and articulation, Dr. Nielson presents a framework by which to read this film’s political critique.
