The cleaning crew’s focused resilience crystallizes in the form of Abigail, played by Filipino actressDolly de Leon.
Without the class structures of their pre-shipwreck lives, it’s clear that there are new rules.
She then tosses out additional bites of food only when her hungry peers acknowledge her as their captain.
Charlbi Dean, Dolly De Leon, and Vicki Berlin in ‘Triangle of Sadness’.Neon/Everett
you might’t blame her because that’s all she knew."
It’s a movie, so Abigail does some outrageous things.
But just as much outrageousness occurs before the ship goes down.
Charlbi Dean and Harris Dickinson in ‘Triangle of Sadness’.Neon
“She fell in love with the son of her boss but he wasn’t in love with her.
Her character work aside, de Leon felt the intense pressure of representing her country.
For de Leon, the bigger picture was never too far out of sight.
Dolly de Leon in ‘Triangle of Sadness.'.Neon/Everett
“I was terrified because I didn’t want to misrepresent us Filipinos,” she says.
“I didn’t want to represent our workers abroad.
I certainly didn’t see her as a joke.
It’s gotten better in recent years, of course.
But that’s why portrayals like de Leon’s, and projects likeTriangle of Sadness, are so important.
Because they present background characters as foreground.
And that’s groundbreaking.
Triangle of Sadnessis in theaters now.
