Showbiz Periscope

LAV DIAZ’S REFLECTIONS ON A TROUBLED PAST

By Pablo A. Tariman
Manila
March 28, 2016



       Lav Diaz’s latest oeuvre  opens on the year Dr. Jose Rizal was shot at Bagumbayan.

       Historical  events and characters openly interact with characters from Rizal’s novels thus giving new life to Isagani (John Lloyd Cruz) and Simoun (Piolo Pascual).

       Sid Lucero creates a new Basilio, intense and full of hope for the future.

       As Isagani grieves the death of Rizal, Simoun is on the run as his grand design wreaks havoc on the lives of revived characters in Rizal’s novels.

       Then we see scenes from Gregoria de Jesus’s search for the body of her husband, Andres Bonifacio and once again, the film gives as another  grim illustration of a revolution devouring its own children. As in the film “Heneral Luna,” Diaz’s opus once again confirms Emilio Aguinaldo’s role in the death of the father of the Katipunan.

       “Hele” has many historical layers and one of its informed highlights is Simoun and Isagani’s discourse on art and life and the many nuances of freedom as an idea and social reality.

       Contrary to  this reviewer’s  initial fears, Cinema 9 in Megamall was full on opening day and a highly perceptive audience  broke into applause after the screening. 

Its most moving opening shot is guitarist Ely Buendia playing a guitar arrangement of a favorite zarzuela, “Jocelnang Baliwag” followed by its vocal version rendered by   Buendia and  Jean Judith Javier.

Those musical numbers (a favorite of the revolutionary movement of that era) set the tone for the Diaz opus that is at once unique and distinct from the usual crop of historical films emerging in our local theaters.

To recreate that era, the Diaz film is in black and white with no elaborate musical scoring to tie the threads of its narratives. Its main staggering asset is the use of silence in between transitions as the story flows like pages from a family album. And to make things complicated, characters from Rizal's novels and true-to-life historical figures interact freely with mythological figures thus the presence of the tikbalangs played by the brilliant trio of Cherie Gil, Bernardo Bernardo and Angel Aquino.

           As it was, Diaz gave the film his own personal imprimatur, his own way of storytelling and the result was eight hours of pure cinematic magic without using the conventional way of filmmaking.

The film’s use of silence is exceptional

As it is, the film’s message is equally astounding and here one  realizes that the Lav Diaz output is a perfect film every voter should watch before the May 9 elections.

        And to top it all, the actors were a cohesive and versatile lot starting with Cherie Gil,Bernardo Bernardo Angel Aquino,  Susan Manikan, Sid Lucero, Bart Guingona, Mengie Cobarrubias,  Ronnie Lazaro and Joel Saracho, among others

         Alessandra de Rossi  delineated a very intense portrayal as Ceasaria Belarmino with the fairly good, if,  inchoate  Hazel Orencio who portrayed Gregoria de Jesus.
        On the other hand, a  new kind of Piolo Pascual and John Lloyd Cruz emerged from this film and their acting tandem worked from beginning to end.

For its breadth of vision managing to connect the past with the present, “Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis" is my landmark film of the decade.”

It is now showing in cinemas.