Because a woman (Suzette Velasco) can't sleep, her husband tells her a
story about the Philippines that eventually becomes a story about the
Filipino uprising againt the Spanish oppressors in the 1890's as well:
The first section of his story deals with a young Filipino boy
who is a lowly bellringer at the local church. - however, even as a boy he
sees how the Spanish oppression cripples the Indio nation, and people
start talking about an uprising.
Second part: The boy has grown into a youngster, and has joined the
Katipuneros, a underground organisation of Filipino rebels int he 1890's.
However, their carefully planned attack on the Spanish oppresors
ultimately doesn't take place, instead the Spaniards kill people by the
dozen.
Part 3: Our hero has grown up to be an actor with a wandering theatre
company, and they are out rehearsing a traditional Filipino play about
national (and mythical) hero Bernardo Crapio, while left
and right Filipinos keep dying ...
First of all: Don't expect to learn anything about Filipino history
from that film, I had to read up all the historical references for this
review afterwards. Despite rooted in actual history, the film has a very
timeless feel to it, not even giving away the century it's supposed to be
set in. But while the film fails as a historical document (as which it was
probably never intended) it works as an allegorical moodpiece. Most of the
scenes - which are invariably in black and white (except for the prologue
with the woman who can't sleep), without any on-screen sound (again except
for the prologue), introduced by title cards, and filmed through a static
camera - have a poetic fell to it that sometimes consciously borders
kitsch (which is also helped by a ather bombastic classical soundtrack).
Still, a great film it isn't, if you don't know the histocial
background you feel something is missing and if you know all the facts
the film probably doesn't go far enough, but that said, it's an
interesting piece of cinema nevertheless.
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