thy womb: living up to the legend

10/22/12

living up to the legend

Cruising through a high tide of critical acclaim, "Sinapupunan"(Thy Womb) continues to make waves with the force of nature embodied by its legendary lead actress. "Nora Aunor's performance is spectacular in 'Thy Womb'. It is a very very beautiful film," raves Maxine Williamson, the artistic director of the 6th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) where Aunor and Brillante Mendoza have made history as the first Filipinos to be nominated for best actress and best director, respectively. Awards night for the most prestigious cinematic accolade in the region (comprising 70 countries) will be on Nov. 23 in Brisbane, Australia. (Click the link to access the Williamson's interview.)

“Nora Aunor is a Filipino screen legend. She’s also a hugely popular singer with unprecedented record sales, and a television host and actress. She has to date appeared in over 170 films, including the multi-award winning films Bona (1980), Himala (1982), The Flor Contemplacion Story (1995) and Naglalayag (2009). In 1999, Aunor received the Centennial Honour for the Arts awarded by the Cultural Centre of the Philippines.” So goes the testimony for Aunor at the APSA website. (Click the link to access the nominee's tribute page)

“I don’t think there could be anyone who would be able to portray her role in 'Thy Womb.' I only had her in mind when I thought of the film. The role is very intense and character-driven. There is not much dialogue. Nora’s eyes are very expressive that words become useless when she projects the emotions needed…” affirms Brillante Mendoza. (Click the link for the full article.)

Humility and artistic ferocity become her, adds the director who says that Aunor refused preferential or VIP treatment for her at the set. Moreover, her much-heralded acting prowess is matched only by her creative courage in pushing herself to the limit despite the dangerous conditions during the shoot--leaping off a boat onto a shark-infested water, ushering in a real birth of a baby, etc.-- to fulfill the requirements of her role as a self-sacrificing Bajau midwife. Mendoza has been quoted profuse with praise for the Superstar: "I know she’s good but I never thought she’s this good. My God, grabe!” (Click the link for the full article.)

Citing her down-to-earth attitude as well as her exemplary contribution to Philippine culture and arts, Mendoza affirms Aunor as deserving to be conferred the long overdue National Artist award. "Para sa akin si Nora Aunor ang epitome ng pagiging artist," explains Mendoza, who is the first Filipino to win the best director prize at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2009. Regarding his first time to work with Aunor, he swears: "Other actors of her time, of her generation parang...I can't see them doing or delivering what she has done in this film..." (Click the link for the full article.)

The winning streak of the Mendoza-Aunor collaboration started when it was officially selected for a world premiere (in competition) at the world's oldest international film festival in Venice where the critics honored Aunor as best actress. The film also won two other special awards for "giving voice to the Bajau community in a respectful and involved manner...Ethnographic, the film goes beyond naturalism and turns into poetry..." and succeeds in expressing "authentic human values." (Click the link for the full article.)

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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