Is this alternate history? No. It is melodrama. It’s the Marcoses using cinema to re-create themselves as family wronged by history. The problem with that is how the audience will take this, given that we have been fed with that soap-opera theme for decades of rich families being wronged.
“Let us not allow this cabal to dictate on how we create art! They have no place in free speech! They have no right to prevent our right to create free art!”
But what perhaps connects to the viewers are grief and the grim reality of state repression. When some activists were abducted, their torture scenes seem to be lifted straight from testimonies of Martial Law victims. Name every method and it gets shown here. Here, the film becomes art that disturbs those who had lived in the comfort that Martial Law.
Effigies of newly-elected Presidents always come as a challenge. The effigy should reflect the country’s political condition.
“We will continue to write and tell stories about their lives.”
“Kupsilup” talks about police brutality like you hear it in the streets or in the neighborhood, devoid of metaphors, just straight talk, but also sans the indecency and vulgarity common to gangsta rap.
Ang koleksyong ito ay mga tulang naisulat ng kanyang mga kapamilya, mga kaibigan at mga nakasama at mga tulang isinulat mismo ni Kerima Lorena Tariman.
By its sheer title alone, the track “Kapangyarihan” stands out as the boldest and most powerful track in the album. This Ben&Ben composition which was originally released months ago was enhanced, and displayed even more grit, by introducing into the new version SB19’s own rap parts, with bars that simply spit fire. Ben&Ben deftly held the new version all together in denouncing the abuse of power.
“The Operation Pinta and Operation Dikit are unique because the message it carries is serious; issues and appeals that reflect the real situation of the masses such as ‘Land for the peasantry’; ‘Fair employment for the workers’. For most Filipinos, this is not difficult to understand.”
Lahat ng apat na kinapanayam ni David—sina Ka Omar, Ka Lorna, Rogelio, at Ka Roland—ay pawang mga namatayan ng mga mahal sa buhay dahil sa militarisasyon. Sila mismo ang nagsaad na ito ang pangunahing dahilan ng kanilang pagsapi sa kilusan. Pansinin kung paano ito tinunggali ni David nang sabihin niyang naiipit lamang sa magkabilang panig ang sitio, na parang tinangay lamang sila ng agos at walang sariling pagpapasya. Ibinababa lamang sa personal na tunggalian at paghihiganti ang usapin ng tunggalian sa uri at hustisyang panlipunan.
“We will not remain silent and allow the machinations of Duterte and his cronies to maintain power, nor let them sweep their sins against the nation under a rug.”