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Exploring Film and Literary Angles: A Cross-Genre Critique on Cirilo Bautista’s Political Parable and Lualhati Bautista’s Dekada ’70 Lualhati Bautista adapts her own best-selling novel Dekada 70, a political drama. It is directed by Chito S. Rono with ??the prominent stars: Vilma Santos, Christopher De Leon, Piolo Pascual, Marvin Agustin, Carlos Agassi, Danilo Barrios, and John Wayne Sace. Set in the ’70s in Urban Metro Manila.
This is a story revolving around a rotation of drama between a married couple (Amanda and Julian) and their five growing boys who have witnessed the shaping of the decade, and their growing involvement in the country’s politics. It details the struggles and the changes that the people have to face under Marcos’regime ??in his proclamation of Martial Law. Events went along smoothly from 1970′ til 1975′ but as the familial drama heats up, ??Amanda’s eldest son joins a militant group, her other son Emmanuel writes in a communist propaganda and another son gets a girl pregnant.
During the period of ’76-’79 things are slowed down a great deal of changes when her children find to be the voice of reason and understanding. They were strengthen by their beliefs and their different outlooks in life leading them the way to the road of impending struggles. The parable Cerilo Bautista’s What Does a Woman Own, it gave me a concrete reflection of the movie. “The old widow who was robbed by the drunken military policemen but who begged not to take what she did not own” may have signified Amanda as the persona.
Amanda acts as a supposed symbolism of detachment. First of all, she was a mother, a housewife; such were not considered integral parts of society during those times. She was not the breadwinner; she did not experience the foremost effects of the decline of the Philippines economy back then. She was a member of the middle class; her family did not take money, like the rich, nor did her family suffer the worst of the financial crisis, like the poor. So they take away her cow, her trinkets, her daughter, killed her two sons, and left her alive” implied the happiness that the woman and her family was robbed under Marcos regime. Her eldest son was caught in prison, her other son was accidentally killed, they were living like puppets in their homeland. The parable The Emperor and the Foolish Writers plays a great adaptation in the Martial Law era. It has a theme of vigilance, injustices, wakefulness and the social responsibilities of the writers in the country’s historical being.
Human rights advocates and civil libertarians are convinced that these atrocities by the men and women of the armed forces and law enforcement happened with the blessing of Marcos, whose tight grip of the military prevented other sectors within the establishment to protest against the abuses, thereby allowing them to go on. The impending imposition of martial law was contextualized by the country’s writers who aim for the freedom and democracy of the Philippines.
They have their determination to respond in doing their battle to the regime with the use of their written voices-the protest writings. During that era the Filipino mass has no voice, they don’t have the chance to speak and be heard by the government. The over view of these revelations can be read by the different writers during the era that can be found in various books and even in the internet. Though a lot of Filipinos suffered during that time it did not hinder him to portray the brutality during the administration of Ferdinand Marcos.
However it made me disappointed knowing that we are in a democratic country yet during the time of martial law everything was under controlled and manipulated. This knowledge made me realized that we should fight for what is right because we are not deaf and blind to take for granted for what is happening in our in our homeland. The movie is very classical and genuine indeed. For potential viewers: it will help to open your understanding for the essence of democracy that our country is blessed today, it’s a worth movie to watch.