ORAS DE PELIGRO

It was February 22, 1986, Dario Marianas (Allen Dizon) was a jeepney driver. When his wife Beatriz (Cherry Pie Picache) learned that he was joining a transport strike to support Cory Aquino's call for civil disobedience, she advised her husband against being too involved in these political things. They have two children, Jimmy (Dave Bornea), who was looking for a job, and Nerissa (Therese Malvar) who was a student.

An unforeseen horrific incident befell the Marianas' family that day, no thanks to two crooked policemen Sgt. Gallido (Apollo Abraham) and Cpl. Cardema (Jim Pebanco). As the family were at their wits end about how to go about things, Dario's father Ka Elyong (Nanding Josef), found a way to go to Manila to lend his support. Meanwhile, Enrile and Ramos declared their coup against Malacanang, and Cardinal Sin issued a call for his flock to defend EDSA.

This new film directed by Joel Lamangan, written by Bonifacio Ilagan ("Flor Contemplacion Story") and Eric Ramos ("Rainbow's Sunset"), told the story of the Marianas family as they go through a very dark time of oppression by powerful enemies in authority, while also telling about the days building up to the EDSA Revolution in February 1986. The EDSA scenes were all from vintage video clips we have seen on the TV news back then, grounding the film in events that actually happened, words which were actually said, not hearsay.

Since Lamangan's latest output in the past two years were sleazy Vivamax duds, there was apprehension that this new film may just be another one of his campy quickies, a hasty retaliation to another film supported by the opposite side of the political fence. Thankfully, it is not. "Oras" was well-made, serious and sober, a return to form for Lamangan as a director, missed since he won the Urian for directing "The Flor Contemplacion Story" way back 1995.

That said, there were still some curious story and directorial decisions. Why Dario was plying his usual jeepney route right after meeting with his operator Ka Lito (Edru Abraham) agreeing to join the strike? Why did they have to mention looking for human rights lawyer Atty. Capistrano (Topper Fabregas) on EDSA but never showing him again? Why were the benevolent Doña Jessa (Mae Paner) and her yellow JAJA posse made to act so over-the-top, especially in that "Mambo Magsaysay" scene? Can a Metrocom policeman really sport a beard, like Sgt. Bernabe (Rico Barrera)?

Picache, Malvar, Bornea and Josef were natural and on point, hitting a peak of melodramatic excellence in that climactic confrontation scene with the crooked cops. Timothy Castillo (as Jimmy's friend Yix) and Elora Espano (as the witness Rita) give notable supporting turns. Abraham and Pebanco will make your blood boil as the corrupt cops, but Alvi Siongco (as Lt. Ruiz) and Dorothy Gilmore (as Dr. Yumul) provided a good counterpoint.

The retro-filtered cinematography by TM Malones looked very clean and crisp. It generally had careful period details, with box-type Mitsubishi Lancers, rotary dial telephones. The editing transitions by Gilbert Obispo between the grainy historical news reel videos and the scenes with the Marianas family were smooth and logical. While watching this film, the tension and confusion of those days will come back for those who lived through that time in history. This should remind Filipinos, especially the younger generation, why February 25 is a holiday.

This review was originally published in the author's blog, "Fred Said."

MARTYR OR MURDERER

In 1989, Imee Marcos (Cristine Reyes) had left Hawaii to go to Morocco with her husband and son to avoid being coerced by subpoena to testify against her father. She was visited there by her cousin Maricar (Rose Van Ginkel) who began to ask her some pointed questions about her parents and the events preceding Ninoy Aquino's assassination at the MIA tarmac. From there, their conversation went through various years of intimate stories of Imee's family which happened away from the public eye.
In 1954, a young Ferdinand Marcos (Marco Gumabao) publicly proposed to a young Imelda Romualdez (Cindy Miranda), in front of a crestfallen young Ninoy Aquino (Jerome Ponce). In 1968, Ferdinand Marcos (Cesar Montano) snapped at Sen. Ninoy Aquino (Isko Moreno) for erroneously implicating him in the Jabidah massacre. In May 1983, Imelda Marcos (Ruffa Gutierrez) visited Ninoy in the US to warn him against coming back home, to which an arrogant Ninoy shot back "If I do not come home, how can I be President?"

While Vince Tanada's recent "Ako si Ninoy" extolled Ninoy Aquino as a hero to be emulated. "MoM" concentrated on the less favorable aspects of the idolized senator. Director Darryl Yap cherry-picked video clips of Ninoy Aquino talking about the New People's Army as if he admired them, and the Plaza Miranda bombing as if he was behind them. Yap also directly quoted magazine articles from various publications from Time to Panorama about Cory Aquino herself calling Ninoy "a first-class chauvinist" to throw more personal shade.

Using the maids Lucy (Elizabeth Oropesa) and Biday (Beverly Salviejo), Yap dared to make controversial statements, in the guise of comedy. Theories about the true perpetrators of the Ninoy Aquino assassination were brought up, even including a bold suggestion of a "staged suicide" (derived from Aquino's interviews before he came home). The maids' kneejerk response to Ninoy being compared to Jesus Christ (practically done in the agonized "Buwan" song number in "Ako si Ninoy") most probably reflected Yap's own violent objections.

Like in "Maid in Malacanang," Pres. Marcos Sr. was always shown in a positive light. In 1983, he was a loving father who was reluctant to give his youngest daughter Irene Marcos (Ella Cruz) away to be married. Also in 1983, after Ninoy was assassinated, Pres. Marcos Sr. was portrayed as a martyr of noble principles who would not speak ill of the dead even if it could clear his name. His kids, particularly Imee, were very distraught about him being accused as the mastermind behind the murder, but their magnanimous father stood his ground.

There was an interesting inclusion of a small detail of Ferdinand Jr.'s past love life -- his glamorous high-society ex-girlfriend Claudia Bermudez (Franki Russell), who was his date during Irene and Greggy Araneta's royal wedding. Ferdinand Sr. praised Claudia effusively on her beauty, height and class, wishing that Bongbong would marry her as soon as possible. One would wonder why this long-forgotten relationship was even brought up. Naughty minds may conjure a sly dig at someone who has yet to be mentioned.

Darryl Yap is in a more aggressive, more confrontational, more iconoclastic mode here in "MoM" than he was in "MiM." Based on his past output, Yap is known for coming up with the most provocative ideas, although the comic execution could be hit or miss. He knew how to end things on a controversial way to create a strong final impression. We already saw Eula Valdez's cameo in the trailer, but the film proper had another surprise cameo at the very last scene. Believe him or not, people will want to watch the third and final episode of this trilogy "MaM" ("Mabuhay Aloha Mabuhay") to see what hornet's nest he'll stir up next.

Whether what Darryl Yap did here was revising history or rectifying history, that would depend on which side of the political fence one sat on. Those who liked "MiM" will still like "MoM." Those who did not like "MiM" will find more things to hate on in "MoM." Like it was for "MiM," a numerical rating cannot be interpreted objectively without bias for these controversial films.

This review was originally published in the author's blog, "Fred Said."