thy womb: August 2012

8/30/12

a challenging comeback

"By making Thy Womb, Nora is, perhaps without her knowing it, making many big statements. First, by choosing an indie film as her comeback film she legitimizes this new wave of film making in Philippine cinema. By ignoring major film productions, she is in effect challenging their immaturity and criticizing what has now become of show business, a business that values mediocrity and cheap entertainment.

Second, by making an indie film, she lives up to her reputation as a risk taker and experimental, somebody who goes out of her comfort zone to try new techniques and styles in film making. This shows her passion to develop as an artist, forever thirsty for creative challenges.

Third, by choosing the subjects of Islam, Mindanao, and the ethnic Badjaos for her film, she puts on center stage these marginalized discourses, the issues that Philippine histories and narratives have always muted. In effect, she becomes our Muslim brothers' savior, and also the savior of our culturally rich but forgotten and neglected ethnic groups/tribes. Nora narrates their lives and their pains on the big screen, telling us how very un-Filipino we are for being too concerned with the glamour of and problems in Manila and being ignorant of the rich heritage of the south as well as the discrimination and alienation of Islamic culture. By privileging the stories of a lost and dying Badjao tribe in the south, Nora proclaims their importance In the whole discourse on the Filipino identity and Philippine nationhood.

Nora may or may not be aware of the ethno/geopolitical messages her decision to make Thy Womb has produced, but I guess as an artist she is fully aware that she is challenging hegemonic discourses through the power of her craft. Her past films which she herself produced are full of criticisms of the social ills of the Philippines. In this small indie film, Nora is quietly making big statements about being Filipino. In the process, Venice should not be the only one making this film big but us as well."
-- NIKOS DACANAY, scholar

A STORY AS DEEP AS THE SEA

“I am making a film about the Bajaus, with the aim to celebrate a nonviolent people amidst a very violent world. It’s an intriguing premise about a particular people of peace living in a place of endemic violence.

One of the most interesting peoples in southern Philippines, the Bajaus are native sea-dwellers that are also found in the neigh-boring Malaysian and Indonesian archipelagos. They are the so-called sea gypsies who are skilled in building various types of boats, and widely known as fishermen, pearl divers and mat weavers.

As a film, Thy Womb examines the opposing natures of two women (Nora Aunor/Shaleha’s sterility against Lovi Poe/ Mersila’s fertility) to reflect the prevailing condition in Tawi-Tawi, a place endowed with natural beauty and rich resources but mired in economic and socio-political crises. A quiet hell of a paradise, Thy Womb’s “birth place” and its environs are constant reminders of yesterday’s conflict that has remained unresolved up to the present.

The Bajaus are considered to be the most primitive and oppressed among several ethnic groups in the region; and they assume a subordinate status in their diverse and divided community, which includes the Samal and the Tausug, among others. But in spite of this, the Bajaus are generally perceived to be non-confrontational, forgiving, seemingly contented and happy people.

When wronged, it is said that the Bajaus would simply move to another place, bringing their houseboats (lepa-lepa), constantly roving, living in harmony with nature. To this day, they are mostly looked down, degraded and much maligned by their ethnic neighbors and others, thus rendering them harmless, helpless and almost powerless.

But in their heart of hearts, are they really so, or is it just another way of life merely misunderstood by those inured to violence? With this thought and theme, and my curiosity further piqued, the narrative voice of the film has emerged loud and clear.

With intensive research and truthful depiction of certain characters and their circumstances, as articulated in the poignant tale of an aging, childless couple who resolve to find the mother of their much-wanted child, I hope Thy Womb would show a slice of life in the best possible light."

– BRILLANTE MENDOZA