Cinemalaya 2015: Taklub

Cinemalaya's opening film is Taklub, (Trap), directed by Brillante Mendoza and starring Nora Aunor. Its setting: Tacloban, one of the places hardest hit by Typhoon Haiyan (known in the Philippines as Typhoon Yolanda.)

Mendoza uses a style that borders on docu-drama to take a glimpse into the lives of four groups of people, one year after the Typhoon struck. Each character has experienced profound loss as a result of the typhoon, either directly or indirectly.

One year has passed and Tacloban and its people are still reeling. Grievously wounded but still standing, there is some evidence of rebuilding, but much of the city is still in ruins, giving some scenes an almost post apocalyptic feel. Beyond the damage to property and to self, it is the psychological and spiritual damage that weighs heaviest on the viewer, even though these scars seem least visible.

Thanks to superbly understated performances by all, these scars make themselves more evident as the film goes on. There is a certain sense that, even though their respective losses are palpable and real, there is the matter of trying to survive in a world that seems ever bleaker with each passing day. The dead can rest, but the living still have to walk on. The government's stopgap solutions to the problem, as well as a bureaucracy that leaves its constituents stuck in the mud, offer no hope for a lasting solution.

Scripture (from Ecclesiastes) serves as a postscript of sorts, and the film does tackle our protagonists' struggle to find faith in the face of a silent god. In the setting of a seemingly never ending chain of loss, the burden sometimes becomes too much to bear; in one scene, both literally and figuratively.

My viewing of the film also raised some questions, such as: Where are the millions in aid given generously by other countries? What can we do to prevent such a disaster from happening again? If disaster does strike once more, how can we improve? There are no easy answers, and the movie doesn't give any. In doing so, it avoids the pitfalls of being preachy or being made to suit an agenda.

Technically the film is competent with a few sound sync issues. Some scenes can be too dark to see at night, perhaps partly due to technical limitations. While mostly relying on ambient sounds, the credits feature a haunting choral piece set to pictures of the devastation wrought by this tragedy. These stories are hewn from real experiences, to show that this is no cinematic fantasy. These wounds cut deep into our country, staying with us as we walk into a clouded future. But perhaps, as the movie's final words tell us, there is a time for us to move on - and this may be that time,