Pagsusuring Pelikula: SAKADA

Obra ni Behn Cervantes, ang pelikulang magmumulat sa tunay na kalagayan ng mga manggagawa ng tubo sa PIlipinas. Sa panulat ni Lualhati Bautista, ang kwento ang umikot sa magkaibang mundo ng amaing may lupa at ang mga sakada.Sa pagtataya ko ang lahat ng mga gumanap ay nagampanan ng mahusay ang kinakailangang sining at hindi maikukubli ang pagtukoy sa kanser na panlipunang nagagnap nuong panahon ng Batas Militar.

Sa simulay ang pagsasakripisyo ng buhay para ipaglaban ang mga karapatan ng mga manggagawa hanggang sa katapusan ay pag-aaklas ng mga naaping sakad. Makikita ang malawak na pagkukulang at kawalang katarungan sa sistemang ng lupa na umiiral sa bansa. Manapay itoy kumpiskahin at hindi ipalabas sa sinehan nuong 1976.

Ang mga kabataan sa kasalukuyan ay dapat mapanuod angt obra upang makita ang pagkakaiba ng mga sinaung pagawa at kung paano ang reporma ay naipatutupad ngaun kundi dahil sa pagmulat ng mga ganitong obra maestra

Real Review: Lino Brocka's Makiusap sa Diyos (1991).

When I was a kid I always bullied with my classmate and I always talk to God and says " Ayoko pong makipag-away, pwede po ba kausapin niyo sila na huwag na akong takutin at saktan?". this film shows me different meaning of Gods intervention in your life.

When an innocent Sister Aaron (Ruffa Gutierrez) was raped by Dr. Vince Leveriza (Christopher de Leon), her life change from conservative to liberal woman. Not knowing that she is pregnant, she continue to served God resulting to cover her by the nuns. She escaped, bearing the scandal to her family and pretend to be ordinary woman, not the typical girl that grown from the bells of the Church. When Dr.Leveriza knows that Sister Aaron bear his child, he escorted her and married. On the night of the wedding, since Sister Aaron never had intention to have sex and the feelings of trauma from her past, she refused to intersect with Dr.Vince.That night he told everything to her .Urzula, the maid in the family was also pregnant consummated the lust with the Dr.One night, she saw at the maid's quarter her husband and Urzula reminiscence   with all the suffering she experience from Vince, she burned the quarters but when the windows was broke, her child from Vince was inside burned and died instantly.

This is one of Lino Brocka`s last motion picture before his death and presented a story to a person, with all the innocence and honor, because of the people and uncontrollable events in her life, became murderer. When a person, with all his humble and pride, like what FPJ's movie says " kapag puno na ang salop, dapat ng kalusin" can create a thing that is unimaginable. You should always expect the unexpected to a person. So when he move, you will not be disappointed.But people who is naturally humble, always obey God and never fight back is more dangerous that you never expect.Bottom line is its better than to fight with the strong in personality, than the weak. Where they get their strength? Not in physical and verbal but in God.It is more stronger than when you torture a person. When you believe in God, you can be anything. But the film due to uncontrollable events and evil that surround the character, assuming that he asked for Gods action, refuses to show the meaning of every suffering she had, reciprocate and committed murder.

If Sister Aaron continue to be with her husband in an immoral attitude of him, Vince so much evil will continue, so she put the justice into her owned hand. She didn't asked to God for a reason behind everything.Dapat ay makiusap sa Diyos upang and Diyos ang humusga. But she refuses to hear anything and forgot the law of man .Be always humble and weak for God has the will for everything. You don't need to fight back and bear it in your hand, as the law of karma, there is always strike back!

Real Review: Mike de Leon's Batch '81 (1982).

During college days I was so scared to enter in a fraternity because of the negative news about it. I admit that I'm one of those fun of PUP Pylon Run that was traditional done by the members of one of the fraternity inside the university. This film will let you in inside fraternity and the Marco's dictatorship and  cruelty and its impact to that generation.

Sid Lucero (Mark Gil) is a Zoology student (the campus location probably UP Diliman) enter into a fraternity call AKO which in order to pass as brad they need to enter into initiation rites. Face the masters on nude, swallowing saliva, all in the name of brotherhood.Physical abused is not an issue but psychological pressure and stress resulted to members owned deterioration. Test and Courage is how fraternity defined. And what the media refuses to show was what Mike de Leon pictured in his film, the death and riot is not inside the AKO, its the rival group.

There are some scene shows  in which this brutality emerge. When one of the neophyte sit in a torture chamber and on that seat he will only answer Yes or No and when it is wrong, he will be electricute, the smoke of Marcos dictatorship appear:

MASTER: Nakabuti ba sa bayan ang Matial law? Sagot?

This is the result of Marco's legacy. Violence inside the mind of the youth.

REAL REVIEW: Jose Javier Reyes’ Live Show (2001).

We have a friend and we called her ‘barurot’ from the slang “kemerot barurot”. Ten years ago, the term barurot is sex, one of the lines in this film, one of the most controversial in Philippine Cinema. The term “Toro” was the working title of this film but obviously change because of MTRCB Chairs question of direct sexual content of the film. But the truth is sex are only almost 30% of the motion picture but 100% of the full length Regal release was what the class D of the society try to survive. The struggle between good and evil has ended; the clash between the society and the people brought light to the films authenticity cinematic excellence. 

Rolly (Paulo Rivero) as a narrator, was himself a TORERO (live sex performer) try to change the brothers life in which his family engage. Her mother suffering from Cancer of the Ovary, her sister succumb her mother from her past as a prostitute, show depiction of how family run by money through prostitution. Rolly as Live sex performer introduce the lives of toreros, from hunger to survival for money, and from internal problem to their profession as sex worker. There is nothing personal, only business.

Written by Award Winning Director Jose Javier Reyes, the film shows the reality that Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal first illustrate in 1970’s.He used the language of the masses in which our writers try to depart for the sake of formality. President Gloria Arroyo banned the film in contrast to the motion pictures commendation in the 50th Berlin Film festival. For the conservative and ignorant, this is pornography, for educated and those who are engage in this kind of work (torrohan), this is art, and this is life.

REAL REVIEW: Carlos Siguion-Reyna’s INAGAW MO ANG LAHAT SA AKIN (1995).

At exactly 9pm last wenesday, my phone remind me of Cinema One’s feature presentation: Maricel Soriano, Eric Quizon, Tirso Cruz III, Snokey Serna and Mr. Robert Arevalo. Produced by former MTRCB Chair Armida Siguion-Reyna and directed by her son Carlos Siguion-Reyna , the film shows how social forces particularly public opinion and hypocrisy can affect our family’s moral decay.

Set entirely in Ilocos Norte, this daring film tackles about what Mike de Leon put into the big screen through his epic Kisapmata (1981), the family’s incest relationship. When Clarisa (Snookey Serna) returned with her husband Joey (Eric Quizon) (who happened to be a lawyer) from Manila after ten years, because of the property left by her father. However, Peping (Tirso Cruz III) show’s coldness and hatred to the couple due to his latter relationship with Clarisa. Meanwhile, Jacinta (Maricel Soriano) who left with her insane mother and Peping as her husband carried the secret of what happened 10 years ago about the death of her father and Clarisa’s unsuccessful courtship with Peping. When Joey try to know the truth Jacinta attempt to killed him, then all the secret was revealed that Clarissa was raped by his father and Jacinta has a sexual urges to her father. Jacinta also plan to out Clarissa to the family by taken the letters of Pepping to Clarisa so that she will never come back to the province. When her father confronted her with those letters, Jacinta accidentally killed him then her mother, who saw all what happened became insane.

The film show that the incest happened in the traditional Filipino family even we are surrounded by moral institution such as the church and the reason of this is Ignorance and lack of true moral values. Jacinta’s mother is a religious leader in the community and since she was well respected, she refused to accept the fact that her children are now having incestuous relationship to her husband. She considers more on what will the public will say instead of logical reasoning. Poverty and ignorance is not an excused, it just the culture that we have always pretend: we do not accept the fact, we accept what we want the people to be of what we are. I myself also is guilty with that before. I always want to be something because my family always assumed and presumed that I will be someone someday. But deep inside I don’t want to be anything, but in the present society that we have in which all that matters is what you have, isn’t easy to survived. Nevertheless, now that I’m well equip to face all kind of hypocrisy in this world, I can manage.

In the film, Jacinta blamed Clarisa of all her sufferings and lost saying “Inagaw mo ang lahat sa’akin, lahat.”But in the real world, it’s not Clarissa, it’s the society who let them decide to be who they are. What I can say it just-I don’t buy that culture.

REAL REVIEW: Mark Meily’s BALER (2008).

History and film cannot be separate since film is the only material to re-create what happened in the past with movement and scene, audio and color in your television. Though picture of the original event paints a thousand words, book provide accurate information, film provide you of somewhat feeling of real event as if you were live on that era. Now, the Siege of Baler recreated through the hand of contemporary artist, Mark Meily. Set in Baler in1898, where the Philippine Revolution is in its height and the Spanish soldiers bare its land stand at the remote province of Tayabas. While in Manila, Aguinaldo sign a truce of peace, Celso Resurrecion (Jericho Rosales) a Spanish soldier and Feliza Reyes (Ann Curtis) a Filipina, consume their love caught in the middle of the War. Nowhere to run, the 57 Spanish soldiers, including Celso hide and trap inside the Church of Baler. Since the order of President Aguinaldo be civilized to the enemies, the revolutionist, who’s one of the leader is Feliza’s father Daniel (Philip Salvador), and his brother (

Carlo Aquino) as a sacristan in the Church also inside, they wait for a year until the Spaniards surrender. Several attempts were made to siege the Church of Baler and asked them for hostilities, which includes blockading their food supply while having festivities outside the Church. When Lope (Mark Bautista) escaped and surrendered to the rebels, Celso  unable to escaped and killed in the accused of treachery. While the film elucidating history, it also provide us beautiful seascapes and landscape of Baler. Several scenes were at the beach and forest, which also give a best cinematography to interpret the past. Viva and Bida Production re create the Church of Baler and Joel Bilbao well research costumed design, the film ended were the American flag stand in the Church. Thanks’ to Roy Iglesia’s rebelled soldiered sided screenplay, he didn’t allows what American’s written in our History, but what really happened and echoed our sentiment. Winner of 9 Metro Manila Film Festival awards including Best Picture, this film by Mark Meily is a remarkable success somewhat contrary to our present film industry, were ignorance and kilig factors are box office hits. I hope that this holiday season I can go to Baler, or maybe Ngayon, Bukas at Kailanman.

REAL REVIEW: Joselito Altejero’s ANG LIHIM NI ANTONIO 2008.

I always go to Marikina and eat in Lola Helen’s Paciteria with my officemate, Pritz who is a resident of that city. When Viva Film  and Beyond the Box Production set and shoot the film entirely in Marikina, this indie-film provide in dept study of puberty, society and  homosexuality.

Antonio, played by Kenjie Garcia was a typical 15-year old boy who’s searching for his identity amid of the city in which gay social awareness and their right’s are in its height. While the father is an OFW and her mother (Shamane Buencamino) a social worker, Antonio struggle to leave in a society in which searching for identity is too difficult since the machismo perception of barkada’s  (his best friend Jiro Manio and one time sex partner Ninio Fernandez) in his age is difficult to bare. When his pervert uncle Joe (Josh Ivan Morales) arrived to stay while waiting for his paper to go abroad, Antonio continue his sexual escapade to his uncle. But Joe became aggressive, violent and when he try to sodomized Antonio, the teen ager refused; her mother caught them in the act and stabbed Joe to death.

Independent film always lack of funds for bankable artist to create a well stage production. ANG LIHIM NI ANTONIO has minimal musical score (probably none), well shot camera and well known casting. Nevertheless, Joselito Altejeros create a film with magnitude vision and remarkable story and Lex Bonife written a screenplay that has its simplicity that you can easily appreciate and understand. It is too difficult to go inside what is really happening in our present youth with baring a location, which is the cleanliest well-disciplined city. Probably the reason is reality.