Forgotten Childhood

               When I was around five to ten, I thought that like me, every child in this world are ought only to play and go to school. Then I learned better. The world is not as child-friendly as I thought it must’ve been. Some are born lucky to see the world in the same joyous child-like perspective that I did, while others have seen the sad view in such an early age.

               Jam-al, an eleven year old boy from the streets of Davao City is the youngest among his five other siblings who’d forgotten their childhood and how it feels like. He works as a rose and sampaguita vendor every night.

               “Pagkahuman sa klase muanhi dayun ko diri, mamaligya. Gikan alas-kwatro sa hapon hangtud kuhaon ming papa mga alas-dose. Kung wala pud klase, naa na ko diri udto pa lang,” Jam-al explains.

               It was a good thing though to know that he is still studying. But it isn’t a sort of beautiful life story to hear. Both his parents are working too. His mother was also a street vendor, his father a tricycle driver. And it’s a depressing reality that his parents’ earnings are still not enough. Jam-al and his siblings had to help them work, “para maka-kaon mi, makabayad sa mga utang, ug maka-skwela didto sa may Quezon dapit. Pero ni-undang man akong isa ka kuya ug skwela. First year high school unta siya karon. Human niya sa trabaho, diha pa siya muskwela daw” says the young boy.

               Jam-al is just one among the other 2.4 million working children in the country. Based on NGO’s data, in Davao City and in its neighboring provinces, 60% are engaged and 40% are at risk.

               It was around June last year when Davao City’s Child Labor Task Force reorganized to continuously ensure and uphold the advocacy to combat child labor through education. And I guess Jam-al’s parents were not one of those who were provided a child labor awareness seminar. And there are still a lot more children out there who are suffering the cruel world of child labor from the obvious to the worse kind of it.

               The sadness and sorrow in Jam-al’s eyes were deeply evident. He told me his story in a very disheartening and gloomy tone. But he manages to fake a strong and mature approach and I can see that he wears a mask to tell me that he is not a weak child and I must not pity him but his eyes tells me otherwise.

               When I asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up and be given a chance to pursue college, he says, “mag-trabaho na lang siguro ko te. Sayang ang kwarta. Mas maayo pa itabang ilaha papa ug mama.”

               And those words lingered in my mind like it was the iceberg and I was the Titanic. From that night on, I will never see those children in the streets selling different kind of stuff as annoying little brats. They’re little kids who chose to forget their childhood. They chose to work. They chose to help their parents, their siblings, their loved ones and not themselves. How about you? What kind of life did you choose?

Better than that

               The dirtiest things in this country are neither found in your garbage bins nor in your septic tanks. It’s all scattered and messed up in your television and does not go with a rated PG. One of these gullible trashes is the entire CGMA drama series.

             

  Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that this issue is another piece of crap that the government makes a big deal of to divert the people’s attention from what is rather more important. Of course her case is an essential matter to discuss, but it’s of course, like any sensationalized news - overrated.

               It’s a common knowledge that most, if not all, of the Filipino population loath the former president.

               I cannot blame the people for hating her this much. I am a witness of how the news on television, radio or print has been cruelly subjective in criticizing her administration before. The way that the majority responds towards this issue is not a mind-blowing reality anymore. Our mindsets have been influenced a very long time ago and it heightens until the end of her administration, so what’s new?

               If killing her wasn’t a crime, then it’ll be the most favorable option. But of course, it’s not and it must never be our nation’s means for her execution. But it’s pathetic enough that her minions thought of it as the Palace’s plot. It may be because they are already that desperate to make Arroyo look like the piteous bullied creature or they’ve become crazy and paranoid or it’s an unconscious truth. Well, we’ll never really know, because as it has always been, the truth is something that can be hidden or distorted by any means through the help of the media.

               Of course, the whole “De Lima did that because she wants to make a good impression and favorable reputation for the 2013 Elections” is also not a heck of a deal. Coming from the former administration, their master had taught them well. Only De Lima was better. She knows when does loyalty not a very helpful thing to consider. Again, this is not something new. We’ve seen it before.

               But if we were really Filipinos by heart, I believe that we were better than this. I believe that we are democratic individuals who are capable of weighing what is right from wrong. And we know justice only justice isn’t that friendly to us. Rizal once taught us the importance of thinking before getting ourselves into a fight. However, it a disappointing reality that we have been acting like dogs rather than human. Ever since the Estrada People Power, we have been acting like slaves of what those in power wants us to only see. And as a student journalist, I am also turning into a ruthless mutt that craves for the bad news to feed it to the readers. I am not looking at things in a healthier perspective in order to help in changing the people’s mindset of the government being a hopeless prison of lying demons.

               I am not appealing to your senses because I am a pro-GMA. I am writing as one of the youth that you believe to be a catalyst of hope for the nation. And I am writing to remind you of what a real Filipino is and how a real Filipino thinks before he acts. Think before you judge the CGMA issue, consider the moral values you’ve not just once but a hundred times taught in your home, your church and your school.

               Think about it. Don’t become like another hopeless crap worse than a filthy sewer.  Remember, you’re more than that. We, Filipinos, are more than that.

A big tiny ant

A big tiny ant

               In a world where big things matter, an ant would be the last thing you’ll remember. It crawls at the very edge of the corners. It’s as mute as a mime. It’s as minute as the tip of my pen. Yet it has something not all human beings possess – its strength to carry things five times its size and its immeasurable power for survival.

               One girl reminds me of an ant’s might and strength. She is also literally smaller than the average height of an eighteen year old. Yet there lies an extraordinary story behind her sweetness, utterly beautiful voice and curly hair.

               Zyra grew up being deprived of a memorable happy childhood. She was stuck alone in the middle of two grouching monsters. These monsters are her unwed parents who hardly coped up with each other’s differences, leaving Zyra a house with three living creatures and not a place called home.

               Everything else became much worse. Her parents found each other’s company too hard to bear; they decided to take their separate ways. Zyra was still fourteen and young but was left with no choice but to accept what fate had brought her. For the first two years of separation, she lived with her mother. Then she lived with her father for the next two years and vice versa.

               The first four years were really difficult for her. She became dependent that she had houses to run to but at the end of the day, she realized she never still had a place to call “home.”

               She has vices that her parents influenced her in doing so, smoking and drinking that is. She explored the world as a free lancer vocalist to earn money for her own. She was starting to live a messy life, not until she lived again with her mother.

               Unlike her unreasonably thrifty Chinese father, her mother spoiled Zyra with all the happiness and love she could give. Her mother perseveres to lay to her a life full of love which she failed to have felt in her childhood. Everything is becoming better.

               Though there lies no chance for her parents to take the same path again, Zyra is left with all the love a little girl could ask for because there is no greater love than what a mother can offer. It is evident in her eyes that she loves her mother more than anyone in this world.

               This little ant may still remember only one happy family memory with her parents and that was when they watched the film “Ants” together, there will always be a child within her that needs and longs for happiness in love.

Schindler List Film Review

    

UNCANNY MIRACLES

            It is truly difficult to appreciate a 1993 film in the 21^st century especially when it’s in black and white. Though the cinematography’s great, I still find myself lost in tracing the characters because they all look the same to me. I find it difficult to distinguish, compare and contrast everything when I cannot even comprehend what I am supposed to understand.

            However, despite the difficulty brought to me by the inconvenient presentation of the film, I commend the touch of violence and tragedy with excellent element of sympathy and anguish that perfectly suspends the disbelief of the viewers.

            

There were three major subplots in the film. First is all about the main setting, which was the tale of the Holocaust by which it was presented in new imagery of old horror. These are as ghastly and realistic as anything previously filmed, and the director’s style emphasizes the brutality of the situation by not pulling punches when it comes to gore. The blood, inky rather than crimson in stark black-and-white, fountains when men and women are shot in the head or through the neck.

            Second, was that of Oskar Schindler who was the Nazi businessman that saved a thousand and more Jews during the outbreak of World War II. At the first clips of the film, Schindler was depicted to be a self-centered business man that doesn’t care about anything else but money. He didn’t hire Jews because he pitied them but instead he did it because they were cheap employees. But his perspective changed with the influence of his Jewish accountant, namely Itzhak Stern, and Schindler eventually risked losing everything to save as many lives as he can.

            And lastly was that of the most heartless Nazi commander of Krakow, Amon Goeth. He is a cold-blooded being who lurches on the brink of madness. I am trying to weigh if he was only just another innately inhumane Nazi or he was a psychologically disturbed creature. He is confusingly enraged with the presence of Jews however he sleeps with a Jew. However, the character tried to change at the middle part of the story yet he only proved how cruel and unchangeable his evil ego devours him.

            The casting was consistently excellent. Each actor/actress perfectly delivers the character that they portray. I was effectively disgust by the actor playing Amon Goeth and completely sympathetic over the character that portrayed Stern. Also, without the trouble of my means poor observation, the usage of black and white and touches of color in the film effectively supported the setting. One can really feel the lamenting aura of the film.

            Symbolisms were obvious yet vague. One clear usage of symbolism was the moment when Schindler was looking from the top of a hill and a little girl runs in red while the crowd is all in black and white. Apparently, that looking at the girl compelled Schindler's interest because it made a statement. The child was a literary tool for conveying innocence. Viewers may sympathetically lament with the situation given by the film but the element of bringing up innocence through one child raises the grief that the viewers will feel. I highly commend the director’s usage of such symbol.

The Piano Film Review

GAGGED ANIMOSITY OF A MYSTIFIED SOUL

An irrevocable, aesthetic and gothic film, The Piano brought me in a dreamlike world of myth, ego, sex, passion and violence. It’s a compelling story about seeking life’s freedom from imprisonment through the drive of passion and love.

With the film starting off with shadow-like bars that was created by the hands of Ada, the mute protagonist of the story, it suggests that it is a character-driven film taken from her point of view. This beginning depicts a symbolism of the lead character’s seclusion from the world. Ada’s silence is willed and not inborn. She chose to silence herself for the rest of her life. With this silence, she expresses her thoughts only through the touch of her fingers and the music that her piano resonates from her feelings.

Ada explains that there is something inside of her that she cannot resist to follow and also cannot understand. This “something” is a sort of ego that Ada possesses and brought her to choose a state of imprisonment over freedom.

Her illegitimate daughter, Flora, is a mesmerizing child that is also not an ordinary character in the film. She is like an eye that sees beyond what an ordinary child must see and utterly conscious of what is good from what is evil. She is also like Ada’s voice that speaks with the same tone that Ada would’ve had while expressing her thoughts. After the voice over of Ada explains that her marriage has been fixed for her by her and she’s going to be sent out to him in a faraway land, Flora comes in a roller skate down the hall which symbolized that she is a happy spirit, a perfect complement to the silent rage of her mother.

The cinematography is as good as its plot’s flow in the film. There were no unnecessary scenes and each scene was efficiently established by the director. With minimal or almost no subplots, the focus of the plot was not lost and it was commendable indeed. The setting was also astonishingly perfect and each actor/actresses’ costume and make-up surely helped in building their characters (ex. Ada’s fixed hair helps us in concentrating upon her facial expression)

After the marriage of Ada, she went with Flora to Baines (a white Maorian native) to help her go back to her piano which was left in the beach during their first meet up with her husband because it was too heavy to carry along with them. After a reunion of Ada and her life’s only mean of expression, Baines obviously leaves the audience with a hint that he was captivated by Ada’s music and this captivity could explain something more than awe. Surely, Baines salvaged her piano and demanded for Ada to become her instructor. However, instead of learning, he made a deal with Ada that she’d become his sexual toy and she can have her piano back. This could’ve been painful for Ada at first but eventually awakens her sexual thirst. Though evidently masochistic, it was a good way of unlocking Ada’s desires.

I don’t know if the child actress really saw the sex scenes of Ada and Baines but the movie surely did trigger my suspense of disbelief that I pitied the child for seeing such kind of immorality at a very young age.

            A lot of symbolisms unraveled the greatness of the film at the end of the story. The willingness of Ada to cut off a piece of her beloved piano to write a letter to Baines symbolized how she truly loves him. The part wherein her finger was amputated by her husband was also another way to depict how much anger her husband felt for being betrayed upon. Lastly, when Ada willed to throw away her piano and it anchored her together with it underneath. Ironically, the only thing that liberated her became her final imprisonment. But it didn’t end that way. Ada fought against the current but it was again not her will but it was the same will that made silenced her throughout the years – ironic, compelling, highly commendably film.

La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful) Film Review

SEEING THE LIGHT IN A DARK TUNNEL

            If you want to watch a movie to learn about the Holocaust, I do not suggest you watch La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful). However, if you want to watch a fictional, romantic, comical and tragic movie about the Holocaust, I highly encourage you to do watch this film.

            Seeing hope and having optimism in inevitably unfortunate events is the main theme of the film which could not be appreciated if you watch it seriously. One may say that it is a form of mockery of the Holocaust but it is seriously more than just that; although it may be considered that it tried to become a form of political allegory as depicted in some of scenes in the plot-driven film.

            At the beginning of the story, Guido who is the protagonist unwittingly gives a fascist salute in a car with defective brakes to the people who were waiting for a government personality to pass through. It symbolizes the strong presence of hierarchal society that the Jews are left with no choice but to live and go through with.

            Also, in the early parts of the film, Guido shows how keen, resourceful and quick thinker he is at that certain scene when he accommodated two Nazis. Another scene which also showed this kind of character he has is when he impersonated a school inspector and said that he was brought forth by racist scientists just to make way in meeting his apple of the eye, Dora. Fate and divine intervention was also comically observed in the love story of Dora and Guido through repetition of events in the earlier parts of the film along with coincidence.

            The casting of the film was wonderfully woven. Each character was justified and portrayed perfectly by the actors/actresses in the film. Possessing such kind of humor that Guido has is not an easy thing that comes naturally. Roberto Benigni, the actor who acted out the character of Guido, amazingly fitted the character. No wonder that he grabbed the best actor in the Oscar Academy Awards.

            I commend the cinematography of the film. Each scene was amazingly established by the shots. Although the last part was quite awkward because Joshua’s mother was lying on the ground when at the later part, everyone was walking by the US tanks and there were no shots that established the reason why Dora was situated in such setting. And with regard to the setting, it really is commendably perfect that it did effectively suspend my disbelief.

            As a whole, the movie moved me by its approach of comical tragic love story. It is one unique way of presenting such setting in a lighter manner but still stigmatized the same effect in me. Though others say otherwise, the film did attribute in my appreciation and awe of how strong the Jews were during those times of sorrow and sacrifice in the period of Holocaust.

The Crime of Padre Amaro Film Review

        

           THE BAD IN EVERY GOOD

            For a 2003 film, The Crime of Padre Amaro’s plot is not as controversial as it seems. Most, if not all, are already aware that there are fortuitous events that even the Church itself cannot wholly control because a human being is subject to error and failure.

            The presentation of the plot was plain and ordinary. Even the sex scenes of the priest and a young girl hardly gave more life to the film. This is primarily because it was predictable and soap opera-like. Though the film tries to become satiric, its melodramatic element devours the wholeness of the film. It pleases to ones senses but fails to trigger intellectual intervention for its interpretation.

            It had a lot of subplots. It had too much subplots that the good ones compromised with the main plot. Like for example, the case of Fr. Natilo, the excommunicated priest because he was allegedly accused to have been involved and tolerated the guerillas in his mission area. It would’ve been a good angle and source of conflict, yet it wasn’t stressed or utilized in an efficient manner at all. Also, the film’s arrangement of subplots resulted to the lack of its sense of conflict.

            However, if viewed in a larger scale, the film suggests the complexity of the good and the bad. Though one could see it as a form of hypocrisy, yet the film portrays the sincerity of the character’s motive in showing their goodness. Take in for example, Fr. Benito. He wanted to build a hospital for the village, though he makes love with his helper. Fr. Amaro sincerely wants to extend help to the villagers, though he also violated his vow of celibacy.

            The characters of the film were symbolisms of the world’s ugly truth. Obviously, Fr. Amaro represented all those people who’ll do everything to keep his/her job and keep his/her image as clean as possible. Amelia, on the other hand, are those who know how it is to have faith and how to love yet used their knowing in the ill side of things. Fr. Benito and Gythsemani are those who know the truth yet they cannot reveal it because they are paralyzed by circumstances. Dionesia, the wicked and creepy witch-like woman, symbolized all those hypocrites in their faith.

            Nevertheless, I find the film irritatingly factual in its criticism to the church. It’s irritating because its style was dull and a cliché already, there could have been better ways to portray the film’s theme. It’s factual not because it is based upon a true story, but factual in the sense that these kinds of controversies do exist.

            As one of the film’s subplots, I am against yet open to the idea of abortion. I do not favor the option of abortion yet I understand those who consider it as one. As rational beings, I know that they decided to choose considering abortion because they have reasons. Also, we differ in culture and religion. I respect the belief of others. Those who have done abortion are all forgivable if only they are sincerely sorry for their unjustifiable action of taking away an innocent life. In the context of family planning and contraception, I do not see it as a form of abortion. Life begins once the egg and sperm cells unite. Abortion is committed once you destroy it and not the act of stopping it from happening.

            Open-mindedness matters. Once you are embraced with the fact of seeing things in one point of view, you become subject to giving ill criticism.

Swimming Pool Film Review

Just simply complicated

The Swimming Pool is an unpredictable and suspenseful character-driven film that never ceased to linger on my mind. It has mystery. It has violence. It has sex. It plays with reality and realistic imagination. It has complexity in such a simple setting.

The first hour of the film was apparently dull and boring. Sarah Morton, a mystery novelist who’s in the middle of enlightenment crisis, chases inspiration in the house of her editor in France. The first scenes where Sarah starts to love how warm and peaceful the house and town was were grippingly faulty. The stage set were oddly bare. It was dragging, slow, stationary, and sometimes tends to get irrelevant. If I were watching this movie without being encouraged to do so, I’ll lose interest in finishing the film. This is where I proved that sex is an essential part of the film especially when everything starts to get plain. Julie, the sexy and liberated one and only daughter of Sarah’s editor, enters the scene. Julie is a beautiful hedonistic young French girl with craze for one-night stands with men that apparently look years older from her. Her presence disrupts Sarah’s tranquility thus creating a conflict between the two seemingly unlikable characters.

It is compellingly odd that Julie knows that Sarah is a writer who writes dirty things she doesn’t even do. In the following scenes, the plot runs in a flat note again. Sarah’s story turns from that “funny” (as what she described it to his editor), dirty mystery story into Julie’s life. This sudden change of focusing story for her novel becomes a venue for the two to work things out and get to know each other better. It is also strange that when Julie discovers what Sarah has been up to all the time, she did not react the way a person usually does when violated of her privacy and taken advantage of. And then the story comes back again into life in a much unexpected manner. Violence takes place. Julie kills a man that refused to have sex with her and Sarah helps her out by burying all possible evidences near the pool where Julie killed the man. And Sarah teaches her to act as if nothing happened. She even seduced the caretaker of the house’s swimming pool in order for him not to discover their dirty little secret. This became the twisted irony of the story – Sarah becomes the liberated woman while Julie transforms into a conservative kid-like lady.

But nothing was as unexpected as the ending. After Sarah finishes her novel and her director rejects it, she leaves him a publicized copy of her novel from another publication company and insisted him to give it to her daughter. Then she hasted away when the daughter of her editor comes into the door. And that daughter is not Julie.

Symbolisms in the story play a very essential role in understanding and unraveling the mystery behind the film’s ending. The swimming pool becomes the instrument of the story as the venue of revealing new characters and sudden change of scenes. The statement Julie told Sarah as I mentioned above and the old men that Julie makes love with symbolized that Julie was just Sarah’s other ego. Also, Sarah’s evident longing for her editor to come became the indicator that she hungers for lust – which is one subject that she applies in her novel. But my interpretation could be wrong. And this is the main purpose of the director – to let his viewers extract what was real from what was not.

            As a woman, I understand what Sarah is going through during that phase of her life. She is jealous and seeks to be desired. And as a writer, I also understood her frustration of writing stories that she wanted to happen to her but impossibly will.

If I were to judge her state, she is emotionally unstable and mentally disturbed in a reserved manner. She needs psychological aid yet she doesn’t seem like it. No person would ever know her state because she keeps everything to herself. The story of Julie’s mother could’ve been hers. And family is one aspect of life that could affect a person’s condition.

            Though the beginning worked with the film’s aim, nobody would fully understand it not until the end of the film. This kind of style gathers lesser appreciation since it dwells too much in the depth of the story but not upon its breadth. One sees a film successful in its aim when its plot’s beginning, body and end are fully understood by its audience. I do not care if ever the director stands against my point of view because it’s his own style of expressing his ideas. I’ll firmly stand that his style is ineffective and unpersuasive especially to men wherein they do not fully understand how a woman thinks and relates on things.

            The movie is commendable for its uniqueness and perfection in playing with reality and fiction yet it is not something worth remembering. You become bothered, yes. But it leaves you the question – “who is Julie?” and nothing else.

Sex and Lucia Film Review

Loophole to the middle

Just when I thought I already understood, the film Sex and Lucia twists its plot in an odd yet effective manner and left me puzzled even after it ended. My senses and my thoughts clashed like sandstorm in a barren dessert. It passes through my mind with a huge impact yet it fails to leave a trail for me to follow through.

Sex and Lucia is a single plot-driven film that revealed to me three different stories efficiently. First was the story of Lucia, a young and beautiful waitress who knows what she wants and is unafraid chasing after it. Ironically, when what she wants entails things that she doesn’t want to have or happen, she runs away and seeks for escape. The second one was the story of Lorenzo. He is a novelist who falls easily for women and temptation. He had sex with a stranger in the beach situated in the Mediterranean island. Unknown to him, Elena (the stranger) became pregnant and gave birth to their daughter named Luna. And lastly, the third story was the novel of Lorenzo itself. The story narrates Lorenzo’s fictionalized life and the approach of a never-ending story because it always comes back to the middle. Also, the film became more confusing not just because it wasn’t chronologically arranged but the fictional gist of Lorenzo’s novel becomes, though not always, reality-like.

Though the sex scenes were explicitly stressed in the movie, the plot remains virgin and fragile. The cinematography was good but not great. At times, the scenes become over-exposed. Though I understand that it was meant for the luminosity of the island, it’s somehow unnecessary for me. The musicality was perfectly woven to fit each scene. There was not a point that it becomes a distraction.

            There were lots of symbolisms in the movie that can be easily understood but can hardly be defined. These symbolisms also are interconnected with each other, either consciously or unconsciously meant by the script writer.  The island, which isn’t really an island, represents isolation and scapegoat. The water which controls the movement of the island symbolizes steadfast emotion. Each time a person is experiencing emotional dexterity, he/she feels the control of the water over the island. The hole in the island is a gateway to another chapter of one’s life. When Lucia unintentionally plunged inside the hole, the film’s concentration moved from Lucia and Lorenzo’s relationship to Lorenzo’s life with Elena and Luna. Also, the moon and the sun represent two important parts of the movie. The moon is the love tied between Elena and Lorenzo, and the sun is Lucia and Lorenzo’s.

            I commend how the director understood feminine emotions and masculine passion. The actors and actresses perfectly portrayed their role in a manner that it became realistic. If I were Lucia, I should’ve done the same thing – escape when things are really getting worse. It is of human nature to find ways how to cope up with uncontrollable misfortunate events of life. Even Lorenzo did the same thing. He wanted to escape from reality that he became frustrated of his written novel because he knows that he cannot write the end because he doesn’t know what lies ahead in his presently miserable life. In the end, everything comes down to one reality. That life is complicated and uncontrollable. We fall into holes from time to time. We try to escape. We try to fool ourselves with senseless imagination to cover up reality.

Baler Movie Review

Red and yellow over white flag

One undeniable fact that makes me hesitate to watch Filipino-directed films is its poor storyline. However, Baler managed to surpass my expectation and suspended my disbelief.

The theme of the story is the classic Romeo and Juliet romantic suspenseful film – a forbidden love worsened by the presence of war. Romeo was Celso Resureccion who was a half-Spanish and half-Filipino soldier and felt madly in love with Feliza Reyes who was a young Baler native.

As a film based upon the siege of Baler at the near end of the Spanish Colonization, its cinematography is commendably despite its seemingly insufficient budget. However, the casting of the characters was evidently Filipino-like – the bankability of the actor/actress matters most. Jericho Rosales ironically looked more like a Filipino-native than Anne Curtis. Though the actor/actress portraying the character doesn’t fit with the role they must play, the reality that the film is also a business overlooks the said flaw.

               The setting was good but not that commendable. The 19^th century provincial life where almost everyone knows each other and the difficulty of hiding and keeping secrets was forgotten to be considered. Also, personality of women in the film, especially Feliza’s failed to present the conservative “Maria Clara” Filipina. She even goes out even after dark and comes home late without her parents frantically scolding at her.

               However, the dragging style of the film somehow worked for me. I really felt sympathy to the starving and desperate soldiers. If I were a Spaniard, I’d be really proud of my countrymen who were selflessly loyal to their mother land. And I was also proud of how humane Filipinos were in treating their enemies. Though they had all the reasons to instantly kill those soldiers, they gave them lots of chances just to give up and aid them in their needs.

               Also, the way the film conveyed the reality of how Filipinos value their families was effectively stressed. Though it was cheesy, the actors and actresses made me feel its genuineness. I highly commend the portrayal of Philip Salvador in this film. He was the best and most realistic character in the entirety of the movie.

               As expected from Filipino films, they were only minimal significantly unique symbolisms used in the film. Most were the obvious and not that essential at all. The white flag as a symbolism of surrender, ceasefire or defeat, the dog which was a symbolism of happiness in the smallest of things and gone in a hurtful manner, and the church as a symbolism of refuge and seclusion were all the obvious.

However, the character of Feliza could’ve been portrayed that way to defy the belief that women are weak. The character of Celso also portrays how we should not let subjectivity and emotions forget where our obligation and loyalty lies. And the ending where Feliza smiles with his son at hand symbolizes how Filipinos are brave and strong individuals, who know to stand again, fight and move on without forgetting who they owed and what lied in the past.

Mad Love (Juana La Loca) Film Review

WHERE’S THE BEAUTY IN MADDNESS?

With history as its subject, Mad Love (Juana La Loca) set my eyes to see through historical films in a different angle. I appreciate how the director crossed beyond the typical way of showcasing history. However, if I didn’t care to research whether it was a historical film or not, I wouldn’t have known nor perceived that the movie was based on a real story. This is mainly because the film left an impression of looking hypothetical and cheesy to me. Though I commend the grand display of the setting of the story, I wasn’t satisfied and I hunger for more of the film’s depth and breadth. It was very predictable and it really ran in a flat note. By that I mean the film concentrated only to one of Juana’s central character, which is her being a passionate, possessive and jealous wife. 

The film started with the seventy year-old Juana, situated alone in a four cornered castle-like room setting. She was lamenting over the man she claim to have ever loved greatly while spinning a top on a table. It stopped spinning closes to the picture of her beloved. This showed an overview of the whole story. The room symbolized that Juana was imprisoned by the enslaving aspects of her life, i.e. her husband’s infidelity, her father’s glutton to power, her responsibility as a ruler and her weak self-governance. And the top symbolized her love and attention, which spun from the one who gave it to her (childhood sweetheart) to her husband, Philip I. Her marriage to Philip was a symbolism of a treaty that Castile and Aragon give alliance to Burgundy and Flanders. The movie effectively portrayed how passion and lust engulfed the beginning of the marriage of Juana and Philip. It flared Juana’s obsession in making love with her husband and entailed possessiveness of Philip. It may have not been explicitly stressed, but for me, she was possessive of her husband because she was engrossed with the lust she feels with him coming to the point of not wanting her husband to share that to anyone else. It wasn’t love; it was all lust and obsession. This is proven by the fact of not hearing Juana forgiving her husband’s unfaithfulness from the moment he asked her to until the end of the film, symbolizing how the love she claims to have for him untrue and distorted. In addition, sex and nudity became a strong component of this film not just to effectively relay the height of passion and obsession Juana had but also it became an instrument for vengeance, in contrast to the puritanical Spain of dictator Francisco Franco. (Jahiel, 2011)

I could not consider Juana mad. It was only unfortunate of her that emotional dexterity was accounted as a mental illness instead of considering it as a temporary mental and emotional disturbance. Emotions were not given as much value before in the film’s depicted setting as it has become today. I commend the actress for effectively irritating me, as a woman, of the truth of how martyr-like women become when it comes to love. Moreover, it is normal to become hysterical knowing that your family has been away from you for so long and news that you’ll never see them again comes. The hysterical screaming of Juana symbolizes the start of her tragic fate. Hence, she also started wearing dark clothes symbolizing her undying grief. Moreover, I acknowledge the lavish and grand use of costumes and places to emphasize the setting of the movie. Though insufficient, I sympathize with the director’s difficulty of showcasing all the central character of Queen Juan de Flandes (Queen of Castile and León) and why he only focused over her unusual yet compelling life story.

            Other essential symbolisms shown in the story are the following: (1) Charles I unusual birth procedure – the son of Juana who placed her mother under the confinement of the monastery was a symbol of Charles’ ironic purpose in her mother’s fate.  (2) Juana spreads her legs and lets Philip make love with her each time they are in conflict with each other. (3) The coin that Philip’s clandestine used to curse him – it was a symbolism of someone plotting an evil scheme to both Philip and Juana. This coin symbolizes Juana’s father that wanted all the power that he could possess from both Juana and Philip.

Maléna Film Review

Maléna is an Italian romantic drama film released last October 27, 2000 under the direction of Giuseppe Tornatore starring Monica Bellucci and Giuseppe Sulfaro. With a running time of 109 minutes, this Italian movie manages to reveal so much with so little time such as giving one a sense about fascist Italy, World War II, coming of age and a woman's struggle to overcome false accusations, rumors, and jealousy to make a truthful life for herself notwithstanding immense hardship.   

The film is set in Sicily during the outbreak of World War II in 1940 when Italy happens to enter the war. Renato Amoroso, a 12 year-old boy, narrates the story in his point view. It all started with his sick obsession to Malena Scordia. Malena Scordia is a daughter of an almost deaf professor and is married to Nino Scordia who needed to leave her to serve in the military.  Renato witnesses her life of grief. Almost, if not all, of the women in their town are evidently jealous of her remarkable beauty. False rumors spread like virus and make the townspeople believe the worst about her. Someone tells her about her husband’s death. This loss brings to her great torment. But what breaks her even more is when her father, whom she visits every day, disowned her because he received a slanderous letter about her sexual morals. Not long enough, his father died because of the war’s bombing. Malena falls on so much hard times that eventually left her with no more money.  Her poverty drives her to yield to the false rumors of the townspeople and she becomes a prostitute. Renato keeps on stalking her and tries to protect her from all of the people who speaks and does evil to her. When Renato sees her in the company of two German officers and behaved like a mad prostitute, he fainted. His mother believes that he was possessed by demons and takes him to church for exorcism. However, his father understands his son is suffering from sexual hunger. He brings Renato in a brothel; Renato has sexual intercourse with a prostitute whom he sees as Malena.  The war ends. The women of the village gather and publicly beat and humiliate Malena. Malena then, leaves for Messina. Not long after her departure, Nino Scordia returns to the town. He is stunned and depressed for no one answers his questions about the whereabouts of his wife. Renato, who knows everything, throws him a letter for he believes he lacks courage to tell Nino personally what happened to Malena. Nino follows her to Messina. After a year, the whole town is great disbelief of their return. But the townspeople, especially the women, are in awe of her courage and start to talk to her with respect. This might also be probably because Malena, though still beautiful, is starting to age and she’s not more of a threat to the women of her village anymore. And at the end of the story, Renato helps her pick up the oranges that she dropped and rides off on his bicycle. He looks at her while she walks away with the thought that he will never forget Malena, forever. And at the end, there is no clue left for the viewers to know whether Malena knew about Renato’s feelings for her or not. This kind of ending is commendable for it deleted the thought of an overrated romantic film.

With such character-driven story, it is evident that the conveyed theme is love. Specifically, two kinds of love which are love for the opposite sex (Renato to Malena and Malena to Nino) and love for family (Malena to her father). The director depicts such theme in different ways. Renato’s love to Malena was lustful, obsessive and possessive. Malena’s love to Nino was passionate, loyal and true. Malena’s love to her father was selfless and full of devotion. Technically speaking, its cinematography is praiseworthy because the setting is visually flawless and the camera angles used by the director works for every scene. Also, its musically adds a perfect touch.

            What make the story more amusing are the symbolisms it possesses. First, the scene by which the children were looking intensely to an ant which they tried to burn under the heat of the sun through a magnifying glass. The ant symbolized Malena and child holding the magnifying glass are the women that mocked and humiliated her while the other children are the townspeople who did nothing but watch. Next, the length of the pants of the boys symbolized their manhood. Little boys wore shorts and men wore long pants. Also, the song that Renato heard from stalking Malena symbolized his sick obsession. He comes to that point of buying an original musical disc that plays that song. And the disc symbolized Malena. In the latter part, he threw the disc which tells the viewers that he lets go of his love for Malena.

Looking at the movie through the Feminist lens, the movie tried to present how women of that period were so engrossed with the thought of beauty that results to insecurities and jealousy. This is because women are subject to selfishness and fear of loss. This remains true today, especially in the Philippines where crab mentality is a never-ending logic. I commend the movie for the part of showing how hard and complicated it is to become a woman. However, I resent the part of how it stereotyped women as helpless fragile creatures that needs a knight in shining armor for salvation.

The movie also helped me understand how people that experience great emotional dexterity resort to desperate means. If I was boxed in to the situation Malena, it’s normal to think that there is no other choice left except accepting the label that the society gives to me and use it to my advantage. Malena could’ve also been sick of getting painful treatment out of false accusations and this triggered her to become of what they think of her.

However, using the Marxist lens, the story deemed ironic for me. People who possess the beauty of Malena are rarely treated that way, even by women. The likes of Malena, before she got to be a prostitute, are respected and admired because of the undeniable fact that the society today openly accepts those who are classified as physically beautiful people. However, it is true that other people will pull the likes of Malena down.

As regards to Renato, the movie transcends the usual level of depicting the youth in their puberty. Though somehow true, but it became a little too unrealistic. Personally, I don’t think that a 12 year-old boy would bother stalking a woman to that extent. Also, the part wherein his father brought him to a brothel bothered me. Fathers are liable to the healthy growth of their sons but that was a little overboard. But the movie is Italian and we differ in norms and culture. I respect but detest such kind of parenting.