Set in a Mexican school and focussing on the experiences of an elderly worker, The Janitor is moving and sad without being melodramatic. It has its European premiere at Raindance Film Festival on 20th June.
I know former schoolteachers – myself included – often struggle with films or TV series set in schools, because there’s just so much “that would never happen” going on that it pulls one out of the narrative. But The Janitor is an excellently observed and tenderly sad peep into a specific time and place in the world of education, seen through the eyes of the janitor Don Ricardo (Humberto Yáñez). Ricardo has worked at the school for over 30 years and is putting off retirement, even though he is physically struggling with the work. He lives on site with his wife Ana (Luisa Huertas) who is incapacitated, and whom he cares for every moment he is not at work.
The current cohort of students does not make anything easier for him and his co-workers, as he regularly finds lewd drawings and graffiti around the school. The intractable principal’s response is to ask the site staff to work harder to remove the damage. Ricardo feels that indiscipline among the students is the issue, and decides to track down the culprits himself – at a huge personal cost.
Ricardo’s whole world is contained inside the grounds of the school, and the entire film is shot in black and white – apart from one scene where coloured light bounces in as one of the other janitors dances to an upbeat modern tune. Ricardo, instead, dances around the kitchen to traditional dance music, but no colour seeps in for him.
The Janitor presents a changing world, and a clash of generations – the younger still finding its feet and with little respect for their elders, the older generation still proud, stubborn, and fighting against ageing, and a middle generation mostly interested in themselves and getting a job done to meet deadlines and budgets, with seemingly little thought for the people involved. Is this the way society is going? Is this how the younger generation is learning to operate?
This is a moving film set in a closely-defined milieu which puts the focus on Ricardo, his reactions to what happens, and the reactions to him of those around him. Each of the supporting characters feel real, and Humberto Yáñez is the epitome of dignity and decency at the centre. By the time we reach the devastating end, we understand completely.
The Janitor has its European premiere at Raindance Film Festival on 20th June 2026.
Set in a Mexican school and focussing on the experiences of an elderly worker, The Janitor is moving and sad without being melodramatic. It has its European premiere at Raindance Film Festival on 20th June.
I know former schoolteachers – myself included – often struggle with films or TV series set in schools, because there’s just so much “that would never happen” going on that it pulls one out of the narrative. But The Janitor is an excellently observed and tenderly sad peep into a specific time and place in the world of education, seen through the eyes of the janitor Don Ricardo (Humberto Yáñez). Ricardo has worked at the school for over 30 years and is putting off retirement, even though he is physically struggling with the work. He lives on site with his wife Ana (Luisa Huertas) who is incapacitated, and whom he cares for every moment he is not at work.
The current cohort of students does not make anything easier for him and his co-workers, as he regularly finds lewd drawings and graffiti around the school. The intractable principal’s response is to ask the site staff to work harder to remove the damage. Ricardo feels that indiscipline among the students is the issue, and decides to track down the culprits himself – at a huge personal cost.
Ricardo’s whole world is contained inside the grounds of the school, and the entire film is shot in black and white – apart from one scene where coloured light bounces in as one of the other janitors dances to an upbeat modern tune. Ricardo, instead, dances around the kitchen to traditional dance music, but no colour seeps in for him.
The Janitor presents a changing world, and a clash of generations – the younger still finding its feet and with little respect for their elders, the older generation still proud, stubborn, and fighting against ageing, and a middle generation mostly interested in themselves and getting a job done to meet deadlines and budgets, with seemingly little thought for the people involved. Is this the way society is going? Is this how the younger generation is learning to operate?
This is a moving film set in a closely-defined milieu which puts the focus on Ricardo, his reactions to what happens, and the reactions to him of those around him. Each of the supporting characters feel real, and Humberto Yáñez is the epitome of dignity and decency at the centre. By the time we reach the devastating end, we understand completely.
The Janitor has its European premiere at Raindance Film Festival on 20th June 2026.
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