By PABLO A. TARIMAN
IT was a good thing that Channel 7 showed four landmark films of Marilou Diaz-Abaya on the weekend she was laid to rest.
It is a coincidence that GMA Films produced three of them – “Sa Pusod Ng Dagat,” “”Muro-Ami” and “Jose Rizal.”
Like it or not, these films make up for an excellent trilogy of Abaya’s output.
For what it was worth, Abaya’s “Milagros” was indeed existential and it showed that Abaya is one of the original indie filmmakers whose mainstream films don’t always conform to the tired-and-tested commercial formula.
“Sa Pusod Ng Dagat” is Abaya’s tribute to the sea and it is amazing how the film flows spontaneously like the life cycle in the rural areas. The inhabitants are virtual captives of the island they consider home. To most, this is where they are going to live and die. A few wanted to leave it for a better life in the city.
But those who wanted to remain the film exalts with bold strokes. It was refreshing to see the village comadrona taken over by a young man (Joemari Yllana) who narrates his idyllic beginning in this village by the sea and ending with a shot of him trailed by children whose birth he had facilitated and witnessed.
“Jose Rizal” remains an engrossing film and surely the acting here was the best of Cesar Montano and Jaime Fabregas as Rizal’s lawyer.
Watched by TV audiences on a weekend, “Muro-Ami” remains a towering film.
It doesn’t evoke the societal moment of truth in “Karnal” or the complex relationships explored in “Moral” or its sequel, “Noon at Ngayon” or the degradation and redemption in “Brutal.”
What unfolds in “Muro-Ami” is a quiet but symbolic exploration of the deep, blue sea, its latent power, its bottomless mystery and how its cycle relates to human life as it were.
But as the story begins, the contrast between life at sea and the life ashore begins to unfold.
As it is, the film documents not a few shocking scenarios on how child labor reaches abominable proportions in the high seas.
But the expose ends there.
How the voyage begins and how nature exacts its vengeance on the voyagers brings us to the other message of the film: that greed can wreak havoc on the environment.
Technically, the film is already a winner. The production design of Leo Abaya is excellent and the photography of Rody Lacap has breath-taking elements. The sound components give the impression of the audience literally watching the film in the middle of the sea.
The music of Nonong Buencamino using the Loboc Children’s Choir and some instrumentalists from the Philippine Philharmonic captures the ebb and flow of the sea and simulates the breathing of the sea divers.
As for Cesar Montano, he has found a new vehicle in which to chart a new height in his acting skill. His absorbing moments are those he shares with the muro-ami boy and his lover (Amy Austria). The material greed of his character, his depression over a family claimed by the sea and the ensuing moments of awakening Montano delineated with quiet but powerful dispatch.
What is commendable is that both lead actors and the youthful ensemble all shine in the acting department. Pen Medina as the father of Montano carves an uncanny portrait of a fisherman whose knowledge of the sea has philosophical undertones. His approach has depth and even his looks show how deeply he has absorbed the part.
“Muro-ami” is a not an easy film to appreciate. Watching it is like going through an uphill climb and after a few gasping moments as you reach the top, you get an exhilarating view of a film masterpiece.
In “Muro-ami,” Abaya has stopped being lyrical and melodic for its own sake. She has explored another dimension of filmmaking which is bound to baffle some sector but would excite those who want to look farther into the future.
Relating her films in the realm of music, Abaya’s “Milagros” is very atonal and very Phillip Glass. “Sa Pusod ng Dagat” remain a lovely tone-poem and to some extent, very Chopinesque. Her “Jose Rizal” can be compared to a grand opera in the tradition of Verdi and with “Muro-Ami,” Abaya has stopped being an experimental melodist and has opted to a quiet but powerful entrance in the universe of Brahms.