Transformations, continuity
Posted by: Fats in: Wika at Hirap > Media WatchWe finally made it to the university’s Friday Film Bar. I wanted to go primarily because of Heber (who performed before the film showing) and secondly for the film “Maynila sa Kuko ng Liwanag” (1975, by Lino Brocka). I’ve seen the film ages ago but I wanted Trevor to see it. Perhaps the previous Friday’s film (Manila by Night by Ishmael Bernal, 1980) would’ve been nice too which dwells on a realist’s picture of life in Manila.
Anyway, I wanted Trevor to see the “manila” films to compare with a few British films we’ve been seeing (to compare British film depictions of social structure as well as characterization in the context of a place). Recently we’ve seen “Our Mutual Friend” and David Lean’s “Great Expectations” (also by Dickens), and Gosford Park (2001), among others.
Unfortunately, the film didn’t have subtitles so, with very brief translations from me, Trevor had to figure the whole thing out by himself (he can already understand a bit of the language anyway). Actually, I had a bit of difficulty understanding what was being said because the audio was really quite bad, with environmental sounds, dialogues and background music all collapsed into one nearly inaudible texture. I thought the 70’s electro-sound effects were very interesting though. 
Anyway, last night we listened to the Alternative Women’s Institute on BBC radio and I can only agree that British characterization whether in film or radio is just fantastically diverse. I figured that was what was lacking in much of Philippine cinema (even on radio); most of the characters are so stereotypical, so platonic, so representative. On radio for example, the female voices are often only distinguishable as young lady protagonist, young lady antagonist (with either a higher-pitched or lower-pitched voice than the protagonist), female children and old women. But on the BBC’s AWI, there were so many women characters and they all sounded distinctly different unique characters of their own. At the end of the programme, I would feel as if I had met a whole new bunch of people.
In local cinema, the homogeneity of sound and characters is the same. Julio and Ligaya are representative of all the probinsyanos and probinsyanas who are lured into the city of opportunity. They will appear over and over again in generations of films… There is hardly anybody new to meet and get to know in local cinema. And when art imitates life the same character depravity jumped from cinema to real life.
It is interesting how the Filipino creative (and the Filipino audience) thinks so closely in terms of representations and symbols. Although I suspect that this isn’t really just a “Filipino thing” but rather a global condition/symptom of the silenced majority within every human being. As the platonic nature of all our ideals and pains connect fundamentally very different peoples across the globe through the instrument of the symbol and representation, then there is really little need of meticulous characterization (or differentiation) between humans, is there?
Some people call this “a better world” or “a global community” and “better understanding.” However, I call it mental lethargy. But perhaps not entirely so in certain contexts wherein vague generalizations and weakly defined character sketches are the only means of telling a sensitive story without being shot. (Although I know someone who saw “Maynila…” a long time ago and remarked how he wanted to kill a Chinese afterwards).
Anyway, I likened “Maynila…” to an old neorealist Italian film we saw earlier, “The Bicycle Thief” (Ladri di biciclette directed by Vittorio de Sica, 1948). The difference is crucial of course: post-WWII depression in Italy (Europe), and the New Society under Martial Rule in the Philippines. Social realism in dekada 70 Philippines is really more a tool for opposing the regime, markedly the prototypical realist film making of offhand scenes, inaudible sound, indiscriminate lighting, low budgets and location shooting. Italian neorealism on the other hand, is really about the art of the cinema - in particular, extending cinematic language through the hand of realism.
So I was thinking about Banyuhay ni Heber’s performance before the film. It’s good that Heber is writing a column now for a daily, to help more people see the continuity between the past (particularly the 70’s) and the present time. The previous tool-makers of opposition need to see this continuity themselves too, so that the work of the panday (the blacksmith) can touch base with the work of the babaylan (shaman or priestess) and the datu: a transformation from tool /weapon to oracle (a universe of possibilities) and leadership. In other words, a transformation from reactionary to revolutionary intelligence/creativity.
Indeed, perhaps it is the absence of a logic of continuity in Philippine social, political, cultural life that accounts for the reactionary nature of much of our creative output, an absence that can be explained by the disruptive history of the country and attendant lack of self-determination. Italian neorealism’s own history includes influences from French poetic realism and especially a consequence of calligraphism, a film genre of novel adaptations - a transformation in medium from literary form to film.
But “Maynila…” is also a caligrafi film, an adaptation from the novel by Edgardo M. Reyes, but the important difference is that Edgardo M. Reyes does not work solely in the novel form but in the magazine story form as well as in screenplay and direction. It is often said that to survive in a society like the Philippines, one cannot be a specialist but should be a generalist - should be able to dance, sing, do stand-up comedy, play the guitar and in the daytime, work in an advertising agency.
I wonder if we should really put up with this.
Anyway, maybe we can contemplate a Philippine contribution to real social transformation sans continuity, surely a valuable contribution towards self-determination in our current disruptive confusing and confused world.
Announcement below about the Friday Film Bar, thanks to Ina Cosio for the information.
FRIDAY FILM BAR BEGINS AUGUST 10, 2007
AN INVITE FOR EVERYONE:Friday Film Bar is special music and film series that will be held at the Ishmael Bernal Gallery of the UP Film Institute. On Fridays of August to early October, the Ishmael Bernal Gallery will be transformed into an intimate hang-out space. There will be live performances by musicians/artists and readings by poets/writers, in between screenings of short and full-length films by local and foreign filmmakers. Friday Film Bar will also feature the best works by students of UP and, possibly, outstanding works by students of other schools and universities. Tickets, only Php80.00 each, entitles a person to a free drink (coffee or iced tea) and the free film viewing.Ishmael Bernal Gallery is at the Cine Adarna Theater, UP Film Institute, UP Campus, Diliman, Quezon City.
For inquiries, send email to
fridayfilmbar@ gmail.com
or text 09164081550.September 7 | 630 PM THEME:
Buhay KolehiyoFeatured Performer: Kontra-Gapi.
Kontragapi is ntemporaryong Gamelan Pilipino composed of UP college students. Led by Professor Edru Abraham, the group has been representing the University and the country in local and international events, showcasing music, dances and chants uniquely Filipino and Kontragapi.Featured Film: Batch ‘81
(1982)Directed by Mike de Leon
Batch ‘81 examines the lives of seven neophytes as they strive to enter a fraternity through a difficult hazing process. The entire experience is seen through the eyes of Sid Lucero, one of the neophytes.
September 14 | 630 PM
THEME: Shaman and BabaylanFeatured Performer: Bayang Barrios. Award-winning folk/world rock singer/composer Bayang Barrios is a favorite among women’s rights advocates as well as students and young professionals.
Featured Film: Perfumed Nightmare (1977)
A film by Kidlat Tahimik
KidlatTahimik, is a Filipino filmmaker and shaman who applies his quiet strength and sharp wit to his first feature film, Mababangong Bangungot (Perfumed Nightmare). The film was the winner of the FIPRESCI Prize, Interfilm Award, and the OCIC Award at the Forum of New Cinema, 1977 Berlin International Film Festival.
September 21| 630 PM
THEME: (Con)fusions and ReconciliationsFeatured Performer: Cynthia Alexander is a multi-awarded independent Filipino singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Well known and respected for her versatility and fusion of music styles, she exemplifies the music of reconciliations and peace among nations.
Featured Film: Todo Todo Teros (2006) by John Torres. This is an experimental film about an artist who wakes up one night to discover that he is a terrorist. He is sent abroad to bomb subways. The film was a winner of the Dragons and Tigers Award at the 2006 Vancouver International Film Festival.
September 28 | 630 PM
THEME: Experiencial- Experimental Night:Pangalay sa Magpakailanman
Featured Performer: Ligaya Fernando Amilbangsa and the Alun-Alun Dance Circle. A very special night of film and dance fusion with Ligaya Fernando Amilbangsa, the moving force behind the preservation of the Sulu archipelago dance, Pangalay. Experience an awe-inspiring, flowing and meditative multi-art performance as Ligaya and her Alun-Alun Dance Circle weave in and out of Raymond Red’s Ang Magpakailanman.
Feature Films: Ang Magpakailanman (1982) and Anino (2000). Ang Magpakailanman, Raymond Red’s first short film masterpiece, was cited in the 1986 Urian Anthology as a film that should not be missed. The film, Anino, was Best Short Film winner at the Cannes International Film Festival 2000.
October 5 | 630 PM
THEME: Buhay Banda, Parang ArtistaFeatured Performer: The Dawn. The Dawn is a Filipino rock band, which gained popularity during the late 1980s in the Philippines. The band broke up in 1995 but reunited in late 1999.
Featured Film: Tulad ng Dati (2006) by Mike Sandejas.
Tulad ng Dati (Cinemalaya’s Best Picture) follows imaginary exploits of the Filipino rock band, The Dawn. It revolves around the character of Jett Pangan who is nearing his forties. Jett, losing his passion for music and life, entertains thoughts of retiring from the band.
September 3rd, 2007 at 1:50 am
Fats, hi.
It’s a good thing you are able to take Trevor to see our Tagalog films. Ishmael Bernal’s and Lino Brocka’s movies are really institutions already, and one should not go through life not seeing it. There are many very good Tagalog movies now, some of which are already subtitled, geared for international release and have actually won awards here and there. Have you seen “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” and “Kubrador?” I haven’t seen the latter, but the “Ang Pagdadalaga…” was very well-made. Very depictive of the ordinary Filipino’s lifestyle, bakla man o kubrador ng [anak ng] huweteng.
I hope Trevor and you get to see those two, at least, and as many such tastefully done Filipino films as you possibly can.
Kudos for the well-organized and heavily populated blog site! Hope to see you and Trevor again soon!
- becky
September 10th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Here’s a scatter of things and thoughts I had while reading your entry:
- True that British cinema and literature adhere to humanism in the truest sense. But a comparison cannot be made between that and Filipino cinema because the traditions are not the same. If comparison is to be made, it should be between Philippine cinema and Brazilian, Cuban, Mexican, Hong Kong, Senegalese, Indian, and Egyptian cinemas, where the same use of stereotypes occurs. The art isn’t in merely utilizing stereotypes, but in applying stereotypes to contemporary contexts and making contemporary issues resonate historically through the invocation of tradition and habits that give shape to stereotypes. You might be able to meet more new people in British cinema, but the politics of Third World/Third Cinema aesthetics allow for that group of people to have a collective identity. If art does indeed mirror real life, Filipinos must still be in the process of restructuring identity after 400 years of colonialism, while British people are wallowing in the contradiction of creating individuals and also making them “universal.”
- global community may be for a symptom of mental lethargy, but that could only be so if one takes symbols and their meanings at face value. Again, the proper way of engaging symbols is in their active deconstruction and application by/to contemporary life. A stereotypical character could only be “weak” if s/he also stays within her/his stereotypical context. Besides, one could also say that sketching a “complex” character devoid of any connection to a context (social, political, cultural) is in itself also a symptom of mental lethargy. To see a character only wrapped about in himself and not in participation to the world around him is extremely limited, if not unimaginative.
- To call Filipino cinema one motivated by opposition and Italian neorealism one motivated by art is not only delusional but ignorant. Saying Italian neorealism “is all about art” threatens to undermine the critiques that Visconti in “Bellisima” and Pasolini in “Mamma Roma” gave of the movement. Mainly, that Italian neorealism serves not merely to make art, but to give the Italian people an image of themselves that they would conceivable buy and consume. It was about art, but it was also about making movies that would sell. (And in fact, a tear-jerker like “Bicycle Thieves,” good as it is, was a blockbuster because it was a tear-jerker that fed the Italians what they wanted to think of themselves.) Also, that statement also puts an imaginary and false distinction between politics and art. Art is determined by politics and vice versa. (What did Godard say: It’s not about making political films, but making films politically.) Yes Italian neorealism was concerned with art, but it was also motivated by the Italian urge to define a national identity after the ravages of fascism and war. “Roma Open City” didn’t just present a new way of making movies, but most importantly a coherent image of an Italian nation.
- your panday-babaylan-datu analogy is too limited by this idea of change as a transformation from reaction to inaction, from direct opposition to official/universal/metaphysical transformation. It’s a little too Third World bourgeois: get the lower ranks to do the action and the upper ranks to do the thinking. That kind of thinking without fail always devolves into normalization and codification through misinterpretation by the top, misinterpretation simply because the top is almost always disconnected with the bottom. Especially in a society where “evolution” necessarily means the rejection by the bourgeois/principalia/datu/babaylan of the reactionary/panday—not just of her reactive works, but also of her very being—why would the bottom ever want to “evolve”? Simply put, “evolution” in a neocolonial society simply means adoption and valorization of Western culture. In the process of making a “stable society,” the Third World intellectual simply destroys it.
September 10th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
John, thanks for the inputs. For me, however, “comparison” also means internal valuing of different systems and not simple comparisons at face value nor static interpretations of movements and philosophies (and not merely styles) such as Italian Neorealism and caligraphism. Anyway, these are all things to look at more closely, yes, not merely on blogs but throughout our lives. By the way greek theatre uses symbolism (i.e. what you might call stereotypes and we see in the form of masks used in theatre) as do many asian traditions such as japanese noh - it is the context within which they are created, used and transformed that needs inspection and contemplation for our current confused and confusing times. An aside, I have an honest question as I understand you are Filipino-American? How can you work for the US military and a government that has screwed up the Philippines so much and how do you reconcile your work to your ideas of neocolonialism (in the Philippines and “Third World Countries”)?
October 2nd, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Nearly a month now and it seems that John won’t be answering the question above, for now. At any rate, I consider the question (and his answer, if any) important in relation to the issue at hand: transformation and continuity, in particular, the balancing of internal and external conflicts.
While I wrote the blog entry not as an academic text but as a casual playing around of ideas after watching a film (and I am not a rabid consumer of film or TV and such), I will nevertheless try to answer some points raised by John who I believe were intended as “scatterings” from his upcoming career as a film critic.
John says that British and Philippine cinema cannot be compared because their traditions are not the same. However, in his succeeding explanations he shows that different traditions can be compared, indeed where there are differences (just as where there are similarities), comparisons can be made insofar as the abstractions are kept at an even level.
If John can answer the question I asked above then I suppose he would have an idea of how I see “art” vis-a-vis his Godardesque statement about art-politics. While in India, I met two artists from Afghanishtan who expressed how irritated they were at people who insisted that their art was political. In the universe of Afghanistan, there are people who want to make that distinction even if Godard (or god knows who else in the pantheon of western culture) says otherwise.
John says “To see a character only wrapped about in himself and not in participation to the world around him is extremely limited, if not unimaginative.” I may have to disagree with his notion of imagination. Part of the ritual of art is its ability for detachment and simulation.
And this is where the difference between symbol and ritual lies, and where art has the power to discern where symbols and representations deceives us, the power to discern and survive in a world driven into confusion. What symbols and representations enable you to work your best for what you call a glorious US army which Iran now intends to declare as a terrorist organization together with the CIA? isn’t the US army a terrorist organization terrorizing the Philippines, especially Mindanao? How do you survive internally, emotionally, intellectually, towards the balancing of these conflicts?
So if you will look more carefully at the film “Maynila” - with a more discerning mind rather than an accepting eye to promotionals such as “possibly one of the greatest films ever made” (or such things as “the critiques that Visconti in “Bellisima” and Pasolini in “Mamma Roma” gave of the movement” as you mention), then you will begin to imagine for yourself the relationship (and the conflicts) between Lino Brocka and Edgardo M. Reyes, and the Marcos regime.
Like I said in the latter part of my blog entry, could the film (and others like it of the period) have contemplated a Philippine contribution to real social transformation SANS continuity?