inkvisible: Uncover

*The following article was written by Germaine Escolano; an Inkie. This was her entry in the 2008 MMFF Gender Sensitivity Writing Contest in Quezon City and had won 2^nd place.

It won’t take ages for a society to make its head turn on the issue about gender sensitivity. One wouldn’t have to have such stupendous Edward Cullen I-know-what-you-think-because-I-can-read-minds thinking capability just to get a scoop of what’s going on about the matter. We may be on a constant roller coaster ride since we have already fallen on the pit of today’s crisis, but the sexuality goes alongside and even Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak is not that magical enough to put this totally out of sight. We would need a black hole to flex it into a spinning spaghetti-like figure until it would run out of control and blast off. A fantasy world that is, but in reality, nothing can smash up the whole thing. At present time, understanding gender would mean two things. One, getting your eyes wide open on people’s points of view. And two, having your ears checked to be able to perceive at least a bit of what they say. Entertainment industry and movies in particular are lucky enough to get a chance on voicing out their own perspective on masculinity ad femininity.

The 2008 Metro Manila Film Festival showed a variety of movies ranging from a heart-touching melodramatic movie to a funny-cackling stress-taking one, down to a soul-freezing nerve-stiffening film. “Baler”, a Viva film starring Anne Curtis and Jericho Rosales won the Most Gender Sensitive Film award. The movie narrates a historic event of the Spanish colonialism specifically on Baler, Quezon. Though, the plot was set on a bygone era, the whole production was still able to give rise to a thrilling approach giving the audience a knock-out blow. Anne Curtis played the role of Feliza, a typical Filipina who irrevocably fell in love with Celso (Jericho Rosales), a half-Filipino soldier assigned by the Spanish government in the Philippines and was designated at Baler, Quezon along with a troop of Spanish soldiers. She was a daughter of Phillip Salvador, a rebel who had a bone-deep hatred on Spaniards since he suffered a lot from them when he was still young and they got him witnessed the brutal rape of his sister from a Spanish soldier. Anne showed the stereotype Maria Clara, who was innocent-looking, religious, polite and kind. But later on, because of the love she had for Celso, she learned to untangle herself and disobey her parents, hiding her unapproved affair with a Spanish soldier. Phillip Salvador had the most prevailing character. He showed great authority and strictly demand obedience among his family members. His character illustrated Filipino men in the late years, who were authoritative in every manner, and whose decisions should be sternly observed. Rio Locsin, on the other hand, who played the wife’s character, greatly depicted Filipino women in the late years. She merely followed her husband’s command. When Anne got pregnant, she was even blamed by her husband as irresponsible, telling her that her guidance was not yet enough. It was in this part that she learned to answer back, saying she never neglected being a mother; it was their daughter’s choice.

Star Cinema’s box office hit, “Ang Tanging Ina N’yong Lahat” flaunted a more accurate representation of today’s women. Ai-Ai Delas Alas played a hilarious single mother of twelve kids who were in every field successful. Their family was seen irrefutably intact in the first part, a typecast Filipino family who cherishes its bonding moments together. But the dilemma aroused when everyone got busy in their careers and Ai-Ai soon found herself seeking for her children’s attention, doing every way to make them proud of her. Though the movie was every inch a humorous one, made to bring its audience to a crackling laughter, one can’t still help being teary-eyed when her children neglected her birthday. Ai-Ai was seen here being the country’s leader, exposing to the public the unlawful activities of the vice-president who was also responsible for the assassination of the former president. The film suggested the Filipina today, who cooperates actively in the drama of political affair as well as dedicated in her job. The entertainment it reveals also shows the strength of a Filipina. It portrays how resilient mothers are and that they are already capable of doing men’s work.

“Shake Rattle and Roll” also depicts how the society undeniably accepts women today. The movie has three horrifying and hair-raising stories wherein three actresses played the main roles, Roxanne Guinoo, Kim Chiu and Marian Rivera. The whole production was able to give the audience a sense of understanding that Filipina can find solutions to their own problems. The three actresses were seen here finding ways to get out of their terrifying situations. A true portrayal of women today, it did not show scaredy-cats ladies rather strong-willed ones who can even save other people’s lives. Marian Rivera played the character of a fearless lady who calls herself an “engkanto slayer”. She was the female counterpart of an “albularyo” but showed more power when it comes to healing and driving away the bad spirits in their neighborhood. Her name echoes from every corner of the town where she lives because of her unique and impressive ability.

There are two other films “Desperadas 2” and “One Night Only” that cast away the Maria Clara personality. “Desperadas 2” showed the relationship between sisters as they got their own share of problems. The movie has its own sense of humor revealing to the viewers the sisters’ outrageous search for an eternal and passionate love. On the other hand, “One Night Only” gave the audience a deep-rooted feeling on the quest of having a well-established affair. It also appeals to the rights of the third sex in the society. The film showed how same-sex people accepted each other and how they strongly gave in to their desires.

The 2008 Metro Manila Film Festival surely did well on expressing to the public how the society accepts women today. Many of the films have women as their lead roles, an indicative that the superiority of men on women had been indisputably raked off. All the movies represented the greatness of a Filipina currently. Discrimination on men and women had been wiped away. There are no such man-knocks-his-wife’s-head-and-pulls-her-hair-throwing-her-with-spiteful-words scenes. The films illustrated the reality that women are in constant development and that they have carefully gotten out of their shells, exposing to the public their hidden skills. They have inculcated on the audience’s minds that modern-day Filipinas, though have gotten their way off from the innocent looks of Maria Clara, find a better way of expressing themselves to the society in which they can be fully accepted. Yes, awareness on gender sensitivity has been unquestionably brought out by these films. It’s undeniable that men are great since God created them as mighty human beings but this greatness can also be done by women and they have flourished fully that the society is now awe-stricken by their great performances. Women have learned to uncover their best and unleash it to the society.

2011 Metro Manila Film Festival Official Entries

(Movie Trailers)

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