Nuggets of Wisdom from "The Mirror Has Two Faces" Film

Photo credits to http://www.imdb.com.

It is seldom that I write about a movie because the matter of fact is I am not really a movie bum. But I guess this wisdom from a movie clip I happened to watch somewhere recently is worth sharing. It is from the film entitled The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996) starring Barbara Streisand as a teacher and the protagonist.

At the conclusion of her lesson on love, this conversation happened:

Barbara: So the final question is: Why do people want to fall in love when it can have such a short run and be so painful?

Student 1: Propagation of the species?

Student 2: We need to connect with somebody?

Student 3: Are we culturally preconditioned?

Barbara: Good, but too intellectual for me. l think it is because, as some of you may already know… while it does last, it feels fucking great.

Sipat and Other Glimpses

SIPAT, from which the seminar was key worded, is a Filipino word that means "a glimpse into something".

Between the days of my shameful hiatus from this blog, I was tasked to attend a seminar glimpsing into our local culture and literature in relation to our teaching craft. At first, I was a little negative about going to the event because of the weekend hassle it would entail. But in the end, I realized that the experiences I gained from the said seminar exceeded my expectations. 

It went like a group of old friends getting so engrossed in an interesting conversation, not minding the time. It was the first time in ages that I attended a seminar that didn't feel like a seminar at all because the speakers were really entertaining and their presentations were just awesome. I felt fortunate to be a part of the group that is genuinely passionate about the development of our own literature.

The first topic was about the situation of children's literature in our country. One thing I've learned is the "pandesal" mentality when it comes to the production of literary pieces. If we are going to evaluate the story books for children in the shelves, we would notice the gross imitation of plots and styles currently trending in the literary market. Hence, we have the same old stories told and our literature is becoming so commercialized.

On the other side of things, it is still a surprise though to rediscover a few brilliant pieces of literary works that we just don't take pride or simply take for granted. Of these were the local films that has proved their worth in the international scene. We were treated to some previews but the funny thing though is I've never seen any of them in full. Talk about guilt and my movie civilian life.

Another topic was about the folk stories of the City of Koronadal. As reiterated by the speaker in the lecture, one would wonder how we can find a bulk of Greek literature, American literature, Egyptian literature, Indian literature, Japanese literature, but never the literature of our own country. We have the same old stories told and the foreign ones are headway compared to our own.

We realized that nobody dares and initiates to write about the rich heritage of our own city. The songs, poems, legends and myths of our countrysides remain as murky as the water of the river. The fairies, witches, vampires and spirits of our imaginations are still undocumented testaments of our unique culture. The large difference is the fact that nobody puts them into writing and permanently etch them in our material culture.

After each lecture, we had workshops on writing the folk stories of our respective stations and applying it as a spring board of our lesson planning. The hours of brainstorming was worth the squeeze because we were able to produce a legendary tale that we can call original and authentic. I believe that nobody could write the first hand story of our community better than we the people of our community.

We are a country of gregarious people who love to listen and tell stories, but these stories have remained traditionally in our mouths. The challenge now is how to preserve these stories in written form to be passed on the next generation. This kind of passion should be instilled in our hearts.

A Late Movie Review for Up

Better late than never? Think again.

I watched the fresh release of the movie entitled UP three years ago. I was in Davao City that time, spending a weekend from my training in special education. Even if I really loved the movie that I wanted to pen a review, blogging wasn't a slice of my life that time yet.

What brought me into putting this movie review three years after is that I happened to watch it last Sunday on the idiot box. As I have always said, I'm not a movie buff. It was chance that the movie was featured and I was having my usual weekend online check, so I thought of writing this.

The movie was inspired from the creative geniuses behind the animated movies and it was not the usual spinning of the yarn. While the movie was all fantastical, it conveyed depths of human life. I laughed out loud. I cried a bucket. I thought in pensive.

Photo credit: www.hdwallpapers.in.

The movie tells the story of an old man named Carl, whose beloved better half Ellie has passed away. His frustration is that he was not able to fulfill taking his wife to visit her dream destination in South America. Willing to fix this broken dream whole, he fills his house full of helium balloons and deploys them out of his chimney, tearing his house from its foundation and bringing it southwards. 

However, on his way to his destination, he finds out that a young explorer named Russell slipped on board in an attempt to help him, as such win his boy scout “Assisting the Elderly” badge. Together, the two form a rough relationship as each of them reach their respective goals.

As a movie civilian, it was effective. There was never a scene that didn't excite or affect my strings. The animation was wizardly. The scenes were amazing in its own way in fantasy as it would in its own right in reality. And the music was also superb. It added life effectively to the movie, like making sad scenes sadder.

However, the movie was somewhat "bipolar" if this term is appropriate for what I mean.  At the prelude of the movie, one would relate to real emotions - the joys and sorrows of humanity. Then, one would be taken to the adventurous imaginations - the possibilities and weirdness of fantasy. In the end, the movie seemed depressive and manic in the swing of the story teller's mood.

Moreover, I would just suggest a parental guidance on underage viewers because of some violence and ferocity incorporated in the conflict of the movie plot. These must be usual elements for conflict development, but for a cartoon movie with children as huge market, just enough might be too much.

As a whole, I like UP more. It may have some downs but it is effective. It really gave me glimpses of both worlds of young and old, of reality and fantasy, of happiness and sorrow. And perhaps its greatest impact in me is the lesson it tells that: Life must always go on. 

With 10 as the highest, a brownie 9 for UP!

Another Film Review of Jose Rizal

It was Jose Rizal's birthday last 19th. Better late than never, as our own way of dealing this historical day, we watched the film entitled "Jose Rizal" today. Actually it was my second time; the first being part of the requirements in one of my college subjects years ago.

Just a few cents pointing out twists in this second film review.

In my college review, I really didn't like the way that the inorganic plot was employed in the film, most especially the reverts to novel metaphors. As I have reasoned out, it made the film vague and that the novel metaphors should be a separate plot to deal.

But now I really appreciate having Jose Rizal's novel protagonist Simon Ibarra in El Filibusterismo occasionally appear, because it was one good justification how deep was the patriotism of Jose Rizal, stemming from his personal inspiration to rise against the Spanish colonialism.

Another is that, having learned the sequence of Rizal's life and works back in college, I pride myself on being compulsive when it comes to the idea of life of Rizal. We had "Jose Rizal: Life, Works, and Writings of a Genius, Writer, Scientist, and National Hero" by Gregorio F. Zaide as the class bible in studying the subject and I was used to glean the bare bones of our national hero from it.

However, going beyond the reference material, I appreciate how the film depicted Rizal's cause even more clear through additional scenes - like the one with a native janitor who could be best classified as a literary "round character" who challenges Rizal's principles but ultimately brings the best of Rizal's thoughts on that purpose.

Furthermore, years back, I thought that the script of the film, especially that of lines of Rizal, were just all too bland. I enjoyed the Spanish pronunciations and accents but I really just forgot his words in the film before, not even leaving something intense psychological impact in myself.

Yet, this time, I like the how each line that Rizal threw was full of intense lessons and added a sense of humanity to myself while watching it. It seemed that every sentence he said encapsulated something meaningful that would make one get affected deep within, evaluating political and moral principles.

As a whole, the film is no plain old story. I have always proclaimed myself as a movie civilian, someone who has under appreciation of movies; but rather than an effect of viewing the film twice, I would love to assume that the positive twist on my second film review must have been due to my more mature "taste" nowadays. Oh, really, it must have been.

Anyways, belated happy 152nd birthday, Pepe!

The Life of Pi

THE LIFE OF PI was a hauntingly metaphoric film, thanks to the help of my friend who explained to me its symbolism while viewing it I didn't struggled that much as a movie civilian. The story was about an Indian boy named Pi who outlived a shipwreck and stranded in an island with a tiger named Richard Parker.

Okay, let us assume the assignment of animals to the actual human characters in the movie. The tiger and Pi were the last two to survive in the same boat - a faithful vegetarian and a notorious carnivore. The tiger was actually the reflection of Pi, demonstrating his inner struggle. He needed the tiger in order to survive but he needed to tame it to keep himself alive.

The carnivorous island represents our defense mechanism to regress in a place inside ourselves where we feel secured from stress and grief. While it is safe in the island of our content, the danger is when we don't risk finding hope in the outside dimensions of life we will soon be eaten by our own stress or drowned by our own grief. 

There are a lot more metaphors in the film that one can interpret differently, depending on his view. If you want an experience full of depths of life, watch this.

The ending might have been heart breaking but I think it is truly of life to say goodbye to family, to friend, to grief, to sorrow.

Cry a Bucket with Small Voices

A sweet tug at your heartstrings.

One must really watch this 
critically acclaimed film.

A roll of tissue paper, please!

And hey, I really mean it this time when I say my heart really sank down and I held my tears back before anyone would notice it. The film, which has the original title Mga Munting Tinig, translated as Small Voices, clearly depicted the bare bones of the different facets of our educational system and exposed the grim realities that presently confront it through the eyes of a young, courageous and dedicated teacher.

The synopsis went that Melinda (played by Alessandra de Rossi) was a new substitute teacher in that rural elementary school in a far flung area. A young university graduate, her family expected her to look for work abroad, but in her idealism she took on a challenging job in the provincial public school, which lacked resources and had corrupt personnel.

One of the critical issues showed in the film is the notion that those who are apt to become teachers are those who are "below the average" in terms of mental capacity. This is an unfair notion still held by many even until now but is justified by the presence of incompetent teachers in the academe. Which leads me to wonder: What can one teach if he does not even know it? Among other issues are the unresponsiveness of school principal in actualizing activities that can further enrich the experiences of the teachers talents of the students, and abuse of a teacher of the authority vested upon her that should have been put in good use in the first place.

The film also showed several problems in parental involvement in the education of the children, which is also a real situation today. The common mentality among parents that you-are-just-a-girl and that to-be-able-to-read-and-write-is-enough are not only hindrances to the dreaming youths to become professionals but also barriers in the national goal to achieve a full cycle of basic education among the citizens. This leads to the wrong belief of the children that only those who are well off in life has the right to dream big dreams. The youths, as was illustrated in the film, were commonly forced by their parents to take absences from class so that they could assist during harvest season in the farm or simply so that they could help at home. The message is clear that by force or circumstance, many school aged children in the country are victims of child labor.

School related issues showed in the film reflect the incapacity of the government to provide facilities and resources in its educational system. Insufficient books shared by students and unfavorable classroom settings are nothing less than the bare reality so true today. Furthermore, a community problem in the film that is true to many war torn areas in the country is the social unrest which took away the lives of rebels who are also parents of the children in the film, and took away even lives of the innocent children, leaving the bereaved families of the community fatherless or broken.

However, one of the good sides that the film showed is the call of challenge to each and every educator - both aspiring and expiring! Melinda showed great qualities that are worth emulating for. She used her talent to discover potentials among her students. She shared her belief to her students that everyone can be a dreamer, thereby motivating the young ones to aspire and survive. She was a persistent teacher for despite all the hurdles that came along her way, she took the courage to draw the participation of principal and parents in realizing their dreams.

As a whole, I must say that this is a film that everyone must watch for. I hope that this is a wake up call to everyone as it is to me. Education is a social responsibility of parents, teachers, administrators, community stakeholders, political leaders and every ordinary citizen of this country. There is indeed a wisdom in the saying: It takes a village to raise a child.

Another roll of tissue paper, please!