INDEPENDENCIA
Philippines, 2009, 77 minutes, Black and white and Colour.
Sid Lucero, Alessandra de Rossi.
Directed by Raya Martin.
A 76 minute experiment for director, Raya Martin. Filmed in black and white on colour stock, the chosen cinematic styles is rudimentary (primitive, one might say). Simple takes with minimum movement, actual locations in front of set backdrops, basic narrative editing, an episodic plot with stolid-looking and sounding performances. It is as if this might have been a way of filming at the time of the events (at the end of the 19th century), the takeover by the United States of the Philippines.
There is a jolting experience midway through the action when it seems the film has broken and burned in the projector. But, it moves to what is designed as an old-fashioned community service commercial, soldiers shooting a young boy in the market place after he has stolen an egg, with military reassurance to the public that the law is active and protecting the citizens. Then back to the narrative several years later.
The tale is of a mother and son who take refuge from invasion in a house in the forest, settle, find a girl who has been raped by some Americans. Mother dies. Woman gives birth. This before the 'intermission'. The family passes the years in their primitive home, talking of legends and hopes.
Some colour appears just at the end but there seems to be little hope offered for independence. The title seems one of yearning.
1.A cinema experiment? Black and white photography, rudimentary techniques, the focused shots, the long takes, the jungle and the sets, the style of the performances, the story?
2.The opening, the celebration in the village, the need for independence from the Spanish, the invasion of the Americans? The late 19th century, early 20th century?
3.The mother and the son, the decision to go into the jungle, finding their hut, settling in, the son unable to kill the boar? The mother and the plants? The forest, finding the girl (and hearing the voices of the Americans), the rape? The visualising of the dreams, the sensuality of the young man, the girl and the hostility with the mother? His being alone, sexual needs? The girl and her becoming part of the family? The mother, getting sick and dying? The girl giving birth?
4.The sudden interlude, the film breaking down, the boy in the marketplace, stealing, being shot, the soldier reassuring the people about law and order – like a later commercial?
5.The second part, the boy growing up, his age, the father hunting, the family surviving? Talking about the legends, his grandfather and the snakes, the amulet and trying to find it? Hoping for protection? The changes in their life, in the towns, the Americans taking over?
6.The Americans in the forest, the boy, following him?
7.The boy, the colour, on the cliff, his death? Symbolic of the old ways and the American takeover? The pessimism? The making of such a film as a sign of hope?
