Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis ( A lullaby for the Sorrowful Mystery)
Photo courtesy of: www.ten17p.com
Holy Week is a very ideal time to hike as we have a 4-day vacation. Last year, I remember being able to join Basakamp Trinoma's Bakun Trio- a very memorable hike which introduced me to my favorite mountains. This year, though I would very much like to hike, my knee pain keeps coming back just as I thought it is fading away. Hard to accept but on the positive side, I am able to watch Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis. Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis (A lullaby for the Sorrowful Mystery) is an eight-hour film by Filipino filmaker, Lav Diaz. I first heard about the movie late last year, 2015. A friend is a fan of Lav Diaz and his eagerness and acclaim for Diaz’s movies is so great that I can't help but be curious about it as well. It is quite overwhelming to think that a film you're going to watch will run 8 hours. I have been at the cinemas 6 hours the longest during the 2015 Danish Film Fest and with the same film enthusiast friend that introduced me to Diaz, watched 3 films in a row. It was exhausting and if the third movie didn't made me laugh, my mind would've short circuited. I was afraid of having the experience repeated at Hele. Moreover, I was afraid that I will get lost and will not understand the film as I have always been bad at history- there were just so many dates and people- and also, I'm not so good at piecing together meanings behind certain characters and events. The film however, is very easy to digest. The shots are long, yes, the conversations sparse but are powerful. I always have to think many times on whether or not to take a CR break as I don't want to miss the exchanges between the characters. I am not a film reviewer nor I am trying to review the film but I need to write something about it to sort out my thoughts. From what I acquired, Hele is a historical fiction film about the Filipino struggle for independence and freedom. Unlike other films that shows the brutality of the Spaniards and glorify Filipino heroism during the Philippine Revolution however, the film tells of the internal struggle and war between the Revolutionaries themselves. It was a very new take for me to look at the Revolution in that lens: the Filipino cruelty and brutality against his own countrymen. This is not something we learn from school. And I want to thank Diaz for being brave enough to show and acknowledge the flaws of his own race in the past.
One scene that is hard to forget is when a Filipino squad captain tried to rape Gregoria "Oryang" De Jesus- the wife of Andres Bonifacio. A Katipunero interfered by saying that what the captain is trying to do is embarrassing to the cause they are fighting for. Shot in black and white, and always with an ephemeral light and smoke casting dark shadows, the film succeeds so well in communicating the gloom and sadness of an era at war. There couldn't have been a better way of showing the defeat of a country from itself. Color would have been a great distraction. Also present in the movie are characters from the Philippine Folklore like the tikbalang or centaur (played by Cherrie Jill) and Kapre ( played by Angel Aquino), and some form of religious fanaticism- elements that characterizes Lav Diaz's films, I was told. The film alternates between the events that happened to a group of people during the Philippine Revolution- just after the death of Jose Rizal. One group is that of Gregoria De Jesus who are searching for the remains of Andres Bonifacio in Mt. Buntis at Maragondon, Cavite. The other group is that of Simoun (played by Piolo Pascual) and Isagani ( John Llyod Cruz) travelling in what seemed like the same mountain to go to a priest's house by the sea. Their journeys are parallel with each other and as they go through the brambles of life as symbolized by the seemingly treacherous forest around them, we are confronted by a certain darkness that still shadows us until now. We are haunted by questions we do not even know we are asking within ourselves- until now. The internal Struggle What impacted me the most in the movie is that the Revolution is not portrayed as Filipinos finally fighting against Spain for freedom. Rather, it was Filipinos fighting his own countrymen, his own Kababayan. The fall of the Philippine Revolution is not explicitly shown but the unravelling of the attempt can be felt in the desperation of Oryang and her group to search for Bonifacio- the father of Philippine Revolution; it can be detected in the way the Spanish Governor ridicule the fight made futile by the internal unrest. It was saddening. I have known about the cruelty and violence that the Spaniards employed to the Filipinos during the revolution. I have read about the rapes, the killings, the tortures. However, in the movie, I found out that these same brutalities were done by the Filipino revolutionaries against the same countrymen they are trying to protect. I can't help but remember George Orwell's "Animal Farm" where, at the end of the book, the ones who threw away the humans from the farm are doing the same misdeeds that their oppressors were once doing. The fact was hard to accept. Filipinos versus Filipinos. Simoun mentioned in the film that the darkness inside of men comes to light during those times. Art and the Artist The film also introduces us to other concepts like the role of art and the artist. Simoun and Isagani were having a discourse in one scene as it seems that Isagani- the poet- is already losing heart in writing poems. These, according to him, don't help in the current revolution. I was having the same drama as Isagani during the time I watched the film. What can a poem or a poet do with his piece of art, really? They are just words! It was through the character of Simoun that the answer was given to me. He said that a piece of art might loose its importance to the artist who made it, but it can be meaningful to another person. Art can be the key to open ones heart towards revolution, towards change. Freedom There were also philosophical dialogues on freedom that I loved hearing. Isagani was asking Simoun what is the definition of freedom, and Simoun replied that freedom is relative- its meaning can be based on one person's experiences, culture, norms, education, and status in life. That answer broadens then our understanding of other people and ourselves in the search for the things that make us "free". The question, " ano nga ba ang kalayaang Filipino?" (what is the definition of Filipino freedom?) was also left hanging to be answered. I take that the question is one that we still ask today, inside our hearts. A Call to Action The call to the youth must also be heard. After the questions on why is there cruelty, poverty, inequality, Isagani's uncle- the friar- said that the true revolution is just starting and it is now in the hands of the younger Filipinos- Isagani's generation- to act, and to avoid the mistakes of the older generation. xxx Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis might be fiction but it has basis from the past that are as real as it was then, as it is now. The movie, like a mirror, showed us our faults, our questions- it showed us ourselves. The picture that we saw is not an ideal one- but it has to be shown because how can we take actions if we don't even know where to begin. The challenge in the movie then is not whether one can endure the 8-hour production because everyone can act being patient until the end. The challenge here becomes, ultimately, having answer to the question on what can you do for your motherland as a Filipino and then acting upon it or simply, having the guts to finally ask that question.
