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| Nora Aunor and Bembol Roco during the shooting of the film 'Thy Womb'. |
Condensed
from Noralyn Mustafa’s Article ‘The veil, and an untold story’
Philippine
Daily Inquirer
August
6, 2012
Link:
http://opinion.inquirer.net/34133/the-veil-and-an-untold-story
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“‘Thy
Womb,’ Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza’s new film about the
seafaring Badjaos, is headed to Venice—though not literally sailing on a vinta…
(Inquirer, 7/30/12).
“I’m
more excited about sharing the story of the Badjaos with the whole world. I
will get the chance to present a different face of Mindanao…. (In this film) I
focused on a peace-loving people who live in Tawi-Tawi, a group of islands in
the south,” Brillante said.
“I
am not denying that there is conflict and poverty in our country, but there are
untold stories in our midst,” he pointed out.
“I
never knew there was such a story in our country,” he said. “The Badjaos are a
generally passive people, not aggressive or quarrelsome, and very much capable
of unconditional love.”
The
Venice invitation that “Thy Womb” got somehow lessens the sting of its
noninclusion in this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).
“Okay
lang yon,” said Mendoza. “I am sure the MMFF committee has its reasons for not
picking my movie.”
No,
direk, it is not okay. This story about a Badjao midwife is a beautiful one. No
wonder it was invited for screening at the Venice Film Festival. But the MMFF
does not deem it good enough for inclusion in the local filmfest because it
does not measure up to the standards of “Tanging Ina” and “Shake, Rattle and
Roll.”
Still,
Mendoza is right. There are so many untold stories about Mindanao and Sulu, the
Badjaos and the Tausug, the Sama and the Yakan, the Mapun, etc. Like what Susan Calo Medina in her “Travel
Time” said, “to know them (the indigenous peoples), to know their history and
their culture, is to respect them.”
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