METRO MANILA FILM FESTIVAL(MMFF) 2012 : THY WOMB

                I was feeling  the pressure as my thin butt  constantly shifts from the left to the right half and to the front and back half of my seat.    My  feet  were constantly tapping gently on the floor in an alternating fashion. I was periodically looking at my watch. I was psyching  myself  not to buy another large popcorn. The ending of the movie would had  been a relief but instead, it   glued my butt motionless in my seat for some minutes, long enough to finish the credits. “That’s it?”, I heard a fellow movie watcher uttered  in disbelief amidst the clearly audible sigh of consternation among the many. The film suddenly ended at the time when  it was just starting to be interesting.

 The attendance at the Gateway Mall cinema that evening was good. Certainly more than half full.  Perhaps like me, buoyed  by the appeal of some film critics or movie personalities to watch a quality film in this  ongoing MMFF 2012. The film had already heaped several prestigious  awards internationally.  It is headlined by  no less than the come backing queen of Philippine drama,  Nora Aunor and directed by the  internationally recognized  Briliante Mendoza.

Is there something wrong with me? How can a critically   acclaimed great  movie bore me to death.  Do I belong to the majority of the  Metro Manila Film Festival  moviegoers who are stereotyped as  preferring a heartily laugh even if a movie is devoid of any sense or  value over a quality movie that seeks to convey an  important  or relevant  message. No, I don’t think so. Most of my favorite films are of great quality and timeless classics.  Be it an Indie or a big studio production,  foreign  or  local.  I  think it is not even fair to stereotype majority of Filipino moviegoers  as 'shallow' just because they prefer a “funny but hollow”  movie over a quality but non-commercial type. There are various factors why we watch a certain type of film. These factors  involve an interplay of what’s happening in our society, what the film makers feeds as, the personality and even the mood of a moviegoer, among many others;  however, I do not want to   delve on these matters. I just want an explanation to my confusion. How can an acclaimed quality movie-- bore me to death?

One  possible explanation is that the timing of the film is off. Holiday season is not for a serious  type of movie but I think this  has no relevance   because  this movie is the type that should be shown  in festivals and  just because it’s  a holiday season doesn’t mean I cannot appreciate a dramatic movie. What matter is the quality of the film, which leads me again to my confusion...  How can an   acclaimed quality movie-- bore me to death?

                                I think the answer to my question has to do with what type of film Thy Womb is? It is not an ordinary film and that is literally speaking.  It has been described as: a documentary type or an ethnographic presentation of Badjao’s cultur, a film with  less dialogue and relies more on implied gestures and expressions,  an open ended film, and  a film that seeks to   let the audience feel what the characters feels by focusing or spending a great deal of time in details, amongst others. In essence, it is  an art film.

 In a way  it’s like describing a  piece of painting. Say for example,   Juan Luna’s Spoliarium which I recently saw at the National Museum. I can appreciate the painting for all its beauty and  its significance in our history but not the technical aspects of it  such as the style or the type of paint used or the medium which I know nothing about.

                In this film, I was able to appreciate the great visuals, the simple yet very meaningful plot   and the realistic approach used in portraying the Badjao’s  culture  and way of life;  nevertheless, the  style or the manner by which it was presented was just simply too dragging  for my taste.