This Tuesday, I managed to see two movies from the new breed category. Now I'm of the opinion that overall the new breed films are better than the director's showcase films. Will that opinion change? Who knows...
Sampaguita
This film was the first film to be shown in the Nicanor Abelardo theater, and thus it was national anthem time. When the film began we were asked to sing the national anthem again. Now I didn't know what the hell was going on, as the film began to portray various national symbols in ironic black humor that is in itself Filipino.
Sampaguita is a film that tracks the lives of several street children, with the sampaguita flower being their common link. Some of the children pick sampaguita, and some sell them. In documentary style moments, an unseen interviewer asks them questions about their lives, their inner thoughts, and their dreams.
After the film, I found one movie goer (dunno who he is, was probably one of the directors or something of some other film) taking the perspective of the film as a documentary as a result of these moments. As such, he felt the film's scenes seemed manufactured. Now that would only hold if this was truly meant to be a documentary. I saw it as a sort of pseudo-cinema verite style thing, and I had no problems with the presentation.
To say anything more about the plot would ruin your enjoyment of it. Francis Pasion uses non-actors for the roles of the children. This is of course very precarious ground, as the acting must be natural and convincing to maket he movie work. Make a few inexperienced kids just say out their lines and the whole movie fails. Thankfully, that doesn't happen as for the most part, the children are superb.
Technically the film is sound. Most of the movie was taken during night or in relative darkness, but I guess digital film technology has indeed improved, as HD makes dark scenes less grainy than it used to. Neil Daza makes use of his expertise for some breathtaking shots, some even taking place in near complete darkness (the 'candles' scene in the beginning being a trademark example.) The soundtrack of the movie is simple yet amazingly appropriate. The main theme is a piano based variation of the National Anthem (National Historical Commission, you listening?) that floats in and out of key emotional scenes.
The issue of street children has been addressed time and time again. In one symbolic scene, a character covers a dead bird with sampaguita petals to make it smell better. Perhaps this could signify how society tries to ignore or hide the existence of these children. Later in the film, people give them things out of charity: food, money, possessions, and these are welcome gifts, sources of temporary happiness. But longer term happiness is much harder to achieve. Sooner or later, like the symbolic sampaguita covering that dead bird, the sampaguita smell will fade away. By the time the food or the money has run out, nothing remains.
Sampaguita is a film about life. It's a film about hopes and dreams. The film indeed tries end on an optimistic note, giving the kids one last time to relate their hopes and dreams for the future. But at the same time, the film ends with an ironic twist that links back to the beginning of the film, making all things come full circle.
A lot of people were touched by the end (unless they had colds or something, it was sniff-o-rama inside the theater) and I was touched too. It's reflective and poignant and leaves the answers for you to decide. I'd give it 8.5 wilted flowers over 10.
Vox Populi
The Philippine Political System, with all the nuances of Filipino culture woven into it, is such a ridiculously complicated thing that it would probably seem absurd to an outsider. Allegiances to family and friends, religious involvement in political avenues, 'utang ng loob,' the 'pakikisama' system - while it's not all exclusively Filipino, there's a definite Filipino flavor to politics in this land.
Nothing brings out the most out of this system than Election time. As all Filipinos know, the election period (and the Campaign season that precedes it) is a lavish carnival of gimmicks, campaign rhetoric, pretty words, and asking favors. Candidates' faces are strewn all over the city, with regular visits to barangays and other places to gain support.
Connie di Gracia (Irma Adlawan) is one of those candidates. Her late father was the mayor of the town of San Cristobal for a very long time, having benefited from the lack of elections since Martial Law. Since then, power has shifted to other people. Now, however, she is pitted against Resty Zarate, the incumbent mayor, for the position.
The movie unfolds during the last day of campaigning before the elections begin. Connie has a tentative lead over her rival, but suddenly one of the other candidates steps down - intending to switch his followers to Zarate. Connie's political adviser, Tony (Julio Diaz) and her brother Ricky (Bobby Andrews) then tell Connie that she must make a last ditch effort to solidify her win, even if it means pandering to religious groups (a dig at groups like El Shaddai or what have you) abusive employers, or creepy gambling lords. Connie is a woman of principle - at least in what we see of her. She doesn't believe in the pretty words or the rhetoric. She's practical in her platform and straight to the letter. This makes her efforts all the more harder. She tries to fulfill her promises to the best of her ability, but in her own words, she hasn't been elected yet and she already owes much to a ton of people.
The dialogue seems to tell us that Zarate is doing every dirty trick in the book to sabotage them, but we never really get to see what kind of a person Zarate really is, unless we take the dialogue at face value and ignore the lack of an alternate viewpoint. This is, after all, Connie's story.
I have few complaints regarding the technical aspects of the film; some of the shots are done in the handheld "shakycam" style which is quite jarring at times.
There's no doubt that Irma Adlawan steals the show; on the other hand, the show belonged to her from the start. The movie is about Connie, and like a proverbial Atlas she carries the weight of the movie from start to finish. Remarkably, it is not in the spoken dialogue that she shines - some of the lines are suited for theater, but unfortunately not for film - it is in the short silences, the times when Connie reflects on what she has done, and whether she has done the right thing or not where her acting chops show themselves in full force. She expresses so many emotions and inner thoughts without saying a single word, with each circumstance being different. Had a lesser actress done the same thing you would simply see a blank stare. But with Adlawan a thousand turbulent thoughts swirl with that look in her eyes.
I am left a bit ambivalent about the ending; although it is understandable. The film is not about what Connie plans to do after the election, nor is it about how justifiable or feasible Connie's platform is. Although things look optimistic in the end, we never really see who wins. It's about the nature of politics itself, the alliances that politicians form to gain support, even when ethical or moral lines seem to be crossed. The voice of the people is the voice of God, as the namesake of this movie describes. To get the popular vote, you have to sway people's hearts and minds - and there are many ways of doing so.
I give it 7.5 voters out of 10. Plus or minus maybe 0.5 for that damn catchy election jingle.
Sampaguita
This film was the first film to be shown in the Nicanor Abelardo theater, and thus it was national anthem time. When the film began we were asked to sing the national anthem again. Now I didn't know what the hell was going on, as the film began to portray various national symbols in ironic black humor that is in itself Filipino.Sampaguita is a film that tracks the lives of several street children, with the sampaguita flower being their common link. Some of the children pick sampaguita, and some sell them. In documentary style moments, an unseen interviewer asks them questions about their lives, their inner thoughts, and their dreams.
After the film, I found one movie goer (dunno who he is, was probably one of the directors or something of some other film) taking the perspective of the film as a documentary as a result of these moments. As such, he felt the film's scenes seemed manufactured. Now that would only hold if this was truly meant to be a documentary. I saw it as a sort of pseudo-cinema verite style thing, and I had no problems with the presentation.
To say anything more about the plot would ruin your enjoyment of it. Francis Pasion uses non-actors for the roles of the children. This is of course very precarious ground, as the acting must be natural and convincing to maket he movie work. Make a few inexperienced kids just say out their lines and the whole movie fails. Thankfully, that doesn't happen as for the most part, the children are superb.
Technically the film is sound. Most of the movie was taken during night or in relative darkness, but I guess digital film technology has indeed improved, as HD makes dark scenes less grainy than it used to. Neil Daza makes use of his expertise for some breathtaking shots, some even taking place in near complete darkness (the 'candles' scene in the beginning being a trademark example.) The soundtrack of the movie is simple yet amazingly appropriate. The main theme is a piano based variation of the National Anthem (National Historical Commission, you listening?) that floats in and out of key emotional scenes.
The issue of street children has been addressed time and time again. In one symbolic scene, a character covers a dead bird with sampaguita petals to make it smell better. Perhaps this could signify how society tries to ignore or hide the existence of these children. Later in the film, people give them things out of charity: food, money, possessions, and these are welcome gifts, sources of temporary happiness. But longer term happiness is much harder to achieve. Sooner or later, like the symbolic sampaguita covering that dead bird, the sampaguita smell will fade away. By the time the food or the money has run out, nothing remains.
Sampaguita is a film about life. It's a film about hopes and dreams. The film indeed tries end on an optimistic note, giving the kids one last time to relate their hopes and dreams for the future. But at the same time, the film ends with an ironic twist that links back to the beginning of the film, making all things come full circle.
A lot of people were touched by the end (unless they had colds or something, it was sniff-o-rama inside the theater) and I was touched too. It's reflective and poignant and leaves the answers for you to decide. I'd give it 8.5 wilted flowers over 10.
Vox Populi
The Philippine Political System, with all the nuances of Filipino culture woven into it, is such a ridiculously complicated thing that it would probably seem absurd to an outsider. Allegiances to family and friends, religious involvement in political avenues, 'utang ng loob,' the 'pakikisama' system - while it's not all exclusively Filipino, there's a definite Filipino flavor to politics in this land.Nothing brings out the most out of this system than Election time. As all Filipinos know, the election period (and the Campaign season that precedes it) is a lavish carnival of gimmicks, campaign rhetoric, pretty words, and asking favors. Candidates' faces are strewn all over the city, with regular visits to barangays and other places to gain support.
Connie di Gracia (Irma Adlawan) is one of those candidates. Her late father was the mayor of the town of San Cristobal for a very long time, having benefited from the lack of elections since Martial Law. Since then, power has shifted to other people. Now, however, she is pitted against Resty Zarate, the incumbent mayor, for the position.
The movie unfolds during the last day of campaigning before the elections begin. Connie has a tentative lead over her rival, but suddenly one of the other candidates steps down - intending to switch his followers to Zarate. Connie's political adviser, Tony (Julio Diaz) and her brother Ricky (Bobby Andrews) then tell Connie that she must make a last ditch effort to solidify her win, even if it means pandering to religious groups (a dig at groups like El Shaddai or what have you) abusive employers, or creepy gambling lords. Connie is a woman of principle - at least in what we see of her. She doesn't believe in the pretty words or the rhetoric. She's practical in her platform and straight to the letter. This makes her efforts all the more harder. She tries to fulfill her promises to the best of her ability, but in her own words, she hasn't been elected yet and she already owes much to a ton of people.
The dialogue seems to tell us that Zarate is doing every dirty trick in the book to sabotage them, but we never really get to see what kind of a person Zarate really is, unless we take the dialogue at face value and ignore the lack of an alternate viewpoint. This is, after all, Connie's story.
I have few complaints regarding the technical aspects of the film; some of the shots are done in the handheld "shakycam" style which is quite jarring at times.
There's no doubt that Irma Adlawan steals the show; on the other hand, the show belonged to her from the start. The movie is about Connie, and like a proverbial Atlas she carries the weight of the movie from start to finish. Remarkably, it is not in the spoken dialogue that she shines - some of the lines are suited for theater, but unfortunately not for film - it is in the short silences, the times when Connie reflects on what she has done, and whether she has done the right thing or not where her acting chops show themselves in full force. She expresses so many emotions and inner thoughts without saying a single word, with each circumstance being different. Had a lesser actress done the same thing you would simply see a blank stare. But with Adlawan a thousand turbulent thoughts swirl with that look in her eyes.
I am left a bit ambivalent about the ending; although it is understandable. The film is not about what Connie plans to do after the election, nor is it about how justifiable or feasible Connie's platform is. Although things look optimistic in the end, we never really see who wins. It's about the nature of politics itself, the alliances that politicians form to gain support, even when ethical or moral lines seem to be crossed. The voice of the people is the voice of God, as the namesake of this movie describes. To get the popular vote, you have to sway people's hearts and minds - and there are many ways of doing so.
I give it 7.5 voters out of 10. Plus or minus maybe 0.5 for that damn catchy election jingle.
2 comments:
thank you for watching vox populi and for sharing your view about the film. your well written thoughts are very well appreciated.
dennis
thanks for reading, the pleasure is all mine.
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