LIWAY

Philippines, 2018, 100 minutes, Colour.
Glaiza de Castro, Dominic Roco, Kenken Nuyad.
Directed by Kip Oebanda.

Liway was the winner of the audience award at the Cinemalaya 2018 Festival. It takes its audiences back into the era of Martial Law in the Philippines.

Not only is the film based on a true story, but the little boy who appears during the film, Liway’s son, turns out to be the writer and the director of the film, a memory of his parents and his own upbringing, a tribute to his mother.

Much of the film is set in the detention camp for rebels and protesters. Liway is a mother who has joined in protests, along with her husband who is also interned. It is only late film that there are flashbacks to her family life, troubles, uprisings, arrests.

The film shows life in the camp with great detail, the men with the women, families, a sympathetic warden, harsh outside authorities, a combination of humanity with rough treatment. There is a significant episode when the little boy is able to go outside the compound, with the help of a politically active nun, to address a crowd, opening up his eyes to a different kind of world.

The film is a salutary reminder of the oppression from the years of Martial Law – the film ending in some kind of triumph with the overthrow of the Marcos regime.

1. The impact of the film as a drama? A story of Martial Law? The audience discovering that this was a true story? And the little boy grown up and the writer and director of this film?

2. Audience knowledge of Martial Law, the 1970s and 80s? The Marcos regime? The Marcos family wealth? Soldiers, rebels in the camps, guerilla work by the rebels?

3. The film recreating the atmosphere and characters of the period?

4. The action taking place within the camp, the interiors of the dormitory, the yards, the place of the adults, the children playing, the various tasks? The interactions of those interned? The visual impact of the camp? The contrast with the jungle, the homes and villages, the action sequences? The contrast with the little boy, travelling outside the camp, the rally, the mannequin in the shop, going to the family to stay but running away? The musical score?

5. Day, seen in in the camp, her becoming the centre of the film, her past, relationship with Toto, with her children, with Dakip? The condemnations of her as Liway, the enchantress who encountered monsters? Dakip wanting to hear the story, his mother eventually telling him? The work in the camp, the tension between herself and Toto, with the baby, having given up the child, the visit of the mother with the boy, the grapes and Dakip spitting about? The two boys playing? The role of the warden, authority, yet kindly? The flirting man and Day threatening him? Her care of her son, fostering his dreams, the ball over the fence, the gates opening, everybody free? Toto’s hesitance about it being unrealistic?

6. The effect of the animation style for the portrayal of the enchantress mythology?

7. The warden, his character, the soft touch, the rules, his being dismissed? The new warden and his military background, his threats?

8. The flashback to the past, the village, the countryside, Day and her mother and father, her friend Fiel, sending the card and its being returned? The troops coming, the burnings? Day and her role with the guerrillas, Toto, her reputation? The group of rebels and then being caught and killed? Day and the surrender? The pregnancy, trying to hide in the ground? The birth of the child?

9. Dakip, his age, becoming a centre of the film, his point of view on the camp and life there, limits of playing, but his bond with his parents, his wanting stories? The nun, the human rights questioning of the regime? Toto wary, Day wanting her son to go out, his travel in the car, the countryside, going to the shop, trying to talk with the mannequin, at the rally, the speeches his own speech, going back, going with the family but his returning to the camp?

10. The separation of the men and women, the young traumatised girl and her father’s care? Dakip with his father? The new commander, calling everybody out? The end of Martial Law?

11. Marcos and his family fleeing to Hawaii? Their wealth?

12. The decades after Martial Law, the endnotes saying what had happened to Day and Toto, the separation? Dakip, his being baptised, choosing the name Kip?

13. The screenplay and its indication of life in the Philippines in the 21st-century? The extrajudicial killings, the regime of President Duterte?

14. The story of Kip, his growing up, writing and directing this film, Day and her continued social action – and some of the financing of the film coming from the secret Marcos
millions?