535 WORDS / 4 MIN READ / ORIGINALLY POSTED APRIL 26, 2014 (EDITED)
Feeling totally bummed out by García Márquez’ passing, feel I have to post this. Can’t really explain why.
I’ve been viewing a lot of Nordic films lately, and I’d like to strongly recommend two, both major prize winners:
1. “The Lives of Others” (Das Leben der Anderen, 2005). One of the best films I’ve seen, EVER. Classically structured with a real denouement, so be sure to watch to the end, about 15 minutes after the climax.
2. “The Celebration” (Festen, 1998). Not as satisfying as the first, but an interesting DOGME entry by a then-30-year-old director (God, when I was 30 I was wasting my time with Physics!)
One thing that strikes me about both films is how easily they could’ve been made by Pinóys and set in the Philippines– miniscule budgets but serious themes, a contrast to our 2012 entry for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, a “comedy” repeating the same bakla joke over and over again.
I’ve yet to see a Filipino film (or a Filipino work of art, for that matter) that explores two of the most important events, in my opinion, in our recent history: (1) martial law and the first People Power revolution (=”The Lives of Others”), and (2) our ‘Export of Labor’ phenomenon– two full generations of Filipinos grown to adulthood with absent parents and the resulting ills (=”The Celebration”). I hope it’s not because our artists are deracinated from the pueblo that nourishes their art, but because of serious concerns about their personal safety, especially in the case of (1), which I’d fully understand.
There are real risks when you speak truth to power– that’s why we lionize Rizal and our La Solidaridad clique– but if the artist is creative, he or she will find ways around that, e.g. Manuel Conde’s film Juan Tamad. And in last year’s On the Job, Erik Matti dared to hint at the rot in our military that (at least according to my brother) brought down Erap’s administration.
So now, with Filipinos absent, non-Filipinos are purporting to tell Filipino stories, and thereby defining us. David Byrne’s hit musical Here Lies Love, about the life of Imelda Marcos, reopens on May 1; the Singapore film Ilo Ilo (with part Ilonggo dialogue) won the Camera d’Or at Cannes last year; then there’s the Israeli documentary Paper Dolls, about Pinóy drag queens working in Israel, made last year into a London musical; and of course, there’s John Sayles’ 2010 film Amigo.
The question isn’t whether these foreign portrayals are sympathetic or not. Can they hold up a mirror to us, better than our own artists? Perhaps. García Márquez managed to do that, not just for his kababayan Colombians, but for all Spanish-Americans (aha! There’s the connection to the first paragraph above!)
Re (1): People Power happened almost 30 years ago; “The Lives of Others” was made a scant 15 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Re (2): Yes, I’m aware of the Filipino film The Flor Contemplacion Story, and no, I haven’t seen it. Anyone got a DVD they can lend me?
Any ideas about this post, comment below. And don’t censor. Remember, you are the pueblo, with valuable insights into the question “How artistic really is the Filipino?” You may well give us the answer.