Diasporama
Caregiver directed by Chito Roño, written by Chris Martinez, and starring Sharon Cuneta, is a well-intentioned melodrama about the hardships of Filipinos working overseas. It belongs in the tradition of Anak (domestic helpers in Hong Kong), Milan (farm workers in Italy), and Dubai (hotel workers in the UAE), and should probably have been titled London. Caregiver is alright, But
Why do OFW movies always feel like wakes?
Why are the British actors made up to look like cadavers?
Why are the British characters so emotional?
Caregiver tells us that although millions of Filipinos are clamoring to work abroad, an OFW’s life is hard. Um, we already knew that. We appreciate their hardship, and we know that if they had opportunities in our country, they wouldn’t leave their families. Hey, we’re not exactly sitting by the pool sipping banana daiquiris either. Most of us work, all of us have problems. It is also possible to experience alienation and isolation in your homeland. How about a little respect for the Pinoys who stick around and do the best they can in truly trying circumstances? No one has a monopoly on suffering, but everyone has a unique story. We need fresh insights on the Pinoy experience at home and abroad, not recycled cliches.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
June 11th, 2008 at 03:02
Well, having seen none of these films (although Milan is on my Netflix queue, while Caregiver is another I’m looking forward to seeing), it’s difficult to judge. Still, aren’t the vast majority of Pinoy movies about life at home: the struggles, the pain, the loneliness, the joy, the tears, blah blah blah? With millions of OFW’s overseas, maybe a half-dozen flicks devoted to their stories isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There’s no one definitive OFW story; rather there are multiple — millions! — each one of them unique. It’s not surprising that filmmakers would want to explore as much as they can of the experiences. They’ve become such a huge economic, social and cultural force that it would only be fitting that more attention is being paid to them.
Cheers,
Marjorie
p.s. Couldn’t stand “Sana Maulit Muli,” with Aga and Lea, by the way. (I’m ashamed to say I’ve seen it a dozen times, but only because I had very few movies to choose from at my local Pinoy video store in South Carolina.) Talk about an extremely unrealistic portrayal of the OFW experience. Lea goes from being a nursing home attendant wiping California’s wrinkled asses to a real estate mogul living in a mansion in Half Moon Bay…in less than 18 months. Seriously. Oh, and somehow she lost her heavy Pinoy accent and gained a smooth, Midwest-American accent in the meantime. Yeah. Right.
June 11th, 2008 at 13:09
Oi! The three other films you mentioned starred Claudine Barreto. If it had been titled London, maybe the lead role was entrusted to her, too…
June 11th, 2008 at 13:19
I haven’t seen any of those movies, yet. Though the mention of Chris Martinez caught my attention. Hmm, I liked his Last Order sa Penguin.
I dunno why I seldom watch Pinoy movies. Maybe because in my personal opinion, they’re just like elongated versions of those telenovelas, always talking about suffering, suffering, suffering. Nothing new. Indies are better.
By the way, would you happen to know when the Cinemalaya 2008 would be? I tried finding the schedule online and failed to see one.
June 13th, 2008 at 01:06
That’s right, JZ. Mabuhay ang mga LFWs, or “local-based Filipino workers”. Those who choose to stay anyway in the midst of all these mess deserve the same accolade as our OFWs. I’m here, I’m self employed but not necessarily comfortable. I constantly worry about gasoline prices, taxes (Damn the BIR!), rice and commodities prices, pollution, heat,traffic, corruption, garbage,squatters near my house,uncouth fellow Pinoys,criminals everywhere,and the fact that I could get gunned down anytime while transacting in banks (!). And ultimately, it takes an extraordinary heroism to be driving around Metro Manila any day of the week, battling with those pesky tricycles and jeepneys. My biggest fear is whether my future offspring/s could survive in such harsh conditions.
June 13th, 2008 at 15:24
I’m not sure I’m going to see Caregiver. I’ve seen Anak and that was enough. What I always wondered with all these Pinoy dramas, bakit laging may namamatay. Why can’t we have simple drama without all those death hysterics. Like Educating Rita, it’s a nice subtle drama without anybody dying.
I wonder if we’re preoccupied with death happening on the day-to-day business of surviving.
Plus I am not a fan of OFW stories. Too much hype on their sacrifices, I don’t buy it. It’s like any decision you make, face the consequences, don’t whine about it.
June 14th, 2008 at 10:40
Spot on, Ma’am.
Can’t these artsy-fartsy filmmakers depict the Philippines and its people in a less-gloomy and depressing light? Seems to me they’re saying,”Hey look, world, this is the Philippines; look at our communities. They’re called squatters. And look at its people. They’re mostly maids and laborers in foreign lands who gets raped, abused, and degraded. Look at how they suffer! Cool, huh? So, is this art, or what?”
Surely our country has beauty that is worth being showcased? And I don’t mean Boracay.
The Philippines is not the slums of Tondo, nor our country the oft-portrayed Ermita at night, sinister and filled with furtive figures that lurk in its dark corners; its people not only the OFW’s that are raped and killed, victims of abusive employers.
Many of these so-called “artists” claim they merely show the “truth,” which always makes me think of Pilate.
Ours is a sick society, we all agree on that, but hey, baka puede iba naman?
The abused and long-suffering OFW’s are becoming cliched, which should not be the case. I know many OFW’s that are successful, happy individuals.
We are a resilient, dignified people; proud, hardy, skilled, hardwoking; we are not all prostitutes, we are not all maids, a very few of us have boils on their pwet.
Oh, well. I guess there’s no art in depicting the average life. But what about Amorsolo? Or even Robert Frost? Perhaps.
But in Pinoy “art” films?
June 14th, 2008 at 20:55
Hey guys, just one more thing. Any of you remember that OFW movie last year, the filmfest? I don’t remember who directed it, but the main protagonist was the “dashing” Jinggoy Estrada… ta-daaa! I think it was entitled Katas ng Saudi. Of course I didn’t watch it, but I’m sure it involves heavy over-the-top family drama like all the other OFW movies. It was, uh, a blockbuster movie (sabi nung mga production people behind it) and I think Mr. Estrada walked away with the best actor trophy. Good for him. See, there is no hope here when people like him manage to get elected senator without any credentials or qualifications, while still pursuing an acting career which nobody cares about, except maybe his family, his father’s friends, his friends and political “constituents.”
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:25
jediknight alluded to the film Serbis (“boils on their pwet”), recently shown in Cannes. These “its-so-wretched-its’gotta-be-art” movies get my goat, too.
The late Lino Brocka founded this film tradition of presenting the squalor and degradation of the most wretched inglorious parts of the city as high art. But those were different times. His films were a form of protest which aimed to expose an alternate reality opposite to Marcos’s propaganda.
We’d like to think we’ve moved on since, even a smidgen, that we have other loftier things in our culture or national life worth the cost of celluloid. And it’s not just films either where our artists like to exercise cultural self-mutilation. I remember the book “Dogeaters” (by a Filipina, Jessica Hagedorn) which made waves in the US, even translated to Broadway. The title made me flinch. Filipinos in the US are an unseen, under-appreciated minority and the book’s title doesn’t help. Contrast that with the Indian-American auteur du jour, Pullitzer winner Jhumpa Lahiri who tells stories about upwardly mobile, professional Indian immigrants, which tend to raise the image of her country and its people.