Reviews
Ang Damgo ni Elueteria: The One Long Shot Hits the Target
By Gigi Javier Alfonso
To be or not to be a mail-order-bride is the decision to be made by Eluteria nicknamed Terya in a film titled Ang Damgo ni Elueteria directed by Remton Siega Zuasola. The film shows a usual situation that many impoverished young Filipinas face when they think of helping out their families better their lives. Working abroad is the primary option. Marrying a foreigner is another option, more especially for those who are not trained for a particular marketable skill or not educated in formal schooling and faced with the lack of opportunity of employment in their remote towns. Leaving the town, your family for better fortune is totally acceptable and perceived to be necessary. And the right to be mobile is a basic right. But why is this an issue up till now. If there are no other options open, if poverty and lack of education are the reasons for leaving then it takes away choices to make… because there is no choice but to leave.Read more
Amigo: Fil-Am war remembered
By Lito B. Zulueta
The new feature film by renowned American independent filmmaker John Sayles brings back the “forgotten” Philippine-American War at the turn of the 20th century, depicting it as the seed of the disastrous US imperialist ventures in Vietnam and Iraq. Filmed entirely in the Philippines with a cast and crew of Americans and Filipinos, and with its polyglot dialogue in English, Tagalog, Spanish, Chinese and Latin, Amigo is set in Luzon in 1900. It opens with an inscription of how the Americans, in prosecuting their war against Spain in Cuba, chose to extend it to another Spanish colony, the Philippines, “half a world away.” “They chose to stay (there in the Philippines),” the inscription laconically adds. Read more
Amigo: Revisiting an Old War
By Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera
The first Filipino film in contemporary times that grappled with the complex subject of Filipino-American War was Eddie Romero’s Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon? It was Romero’s comebacking movie after having spent time in Hollywood doing B-movies. In it he showed how a young man matured into a self-conscious Filipino during the resistance against Americans at the turn of the century. Romero’s was an ambitious project coming as it did in the first years of Martial Law, a Metro Manila Film Festival offering. It seemed to set a trend for meaningful films based on history. The trend did not happen, but starred a versatile star-to-be in the young Christopher de Leon.Read more
Lola: An Ode to Women and to Life
By Gigi Javier Alfonso
Lola is an outstanding film by Briliante Mendoza with screenplay by Linda Casimiro. It captures the beat of a neighborhood in the Philippines, a common place, with its share of grime and crime. It is also about a resilient, strong, tenacious, giving, and loving people. Lola is a film that wants to be honest. From natural everyday dialogue, actors sans makeup, almost untouched production design and un-manicured cinematography. These decisions are decided by a masterful director.Read more
Kinatay: Tungo sa Nakasisindak na Pagkaaba
Ni Benilda S. Santos
Higit sa pelikulang kapit-sa-patalim o pelikula ng krimen at karahasan, ang Kinatay ni Brillante Ma. Mendoza ay tumitistis sa kalagayan ng pagkaaba, ng pagiging mababa pa sa inaasahan ng taong nahulog sa posisyong kahindik-hindik. Bunga nito, lumabo ang kanyang dating pagkakilala sa sarili at sa kapwa. Nahintakutan siya. Nasindak nang gayon na lamang, at kasabay nito, nalusaw rin ang kahulugan, kahalagahan, at katatagan ng buhay.
Hindi na bago ang paksang pagkaaba ng tao sa ating mga pelikula. Sa katotohanan, ito ang kaagapay na tema ng maraming pelikula na naglalayong magsiwalat ng kabiguan at kasawiang dinaranas, madalas, ng uring maralita, at kasabay nito ang damdaming awa o habag na iniuukol sa mga tauhang sawi o api, at suklam at galit para naman sa mga tauhang naging dahilan ng masaklap na kapalaran ng una. Ang klasikal na resolusyong iginagawad sa ganitong salimuot ng banghay ay walang iba kundi ang simpleng pagpapalit o pagbabaligtad ng kalagayan ng magkabilang panig.Read more