Survival and a sturdy matriarch

MANILA, Philippines - Everything about Brillante Mendoza’s film is familiar — the grim neighborhood, a feisty matriarch (Jaclyn Jose) and what remains of a weak patriarch (Julio Diaz) taking to the prohibited substance in an effort to cover up for his paranoid existence. He is supposed to be the protector and main provider of the family but there he is consuming what remains of his absurd existence by way of that escapist substance.

The story of Ma’ Rosa has been told many times in soap operas and films but Brillante gives it a cutting edge by avoiding the emotional hysteria and defining his characters for what they are. You can’t help turning to the cliché, “as timely as today’s headlines” as the story of the family is revealed every day in primetime news as the new dispensation takes over.

Wrapped up last year while the ruling party was obsessed with “Tuwid na Daan” posturing, the Brillante film is the ugly face of truth as we see it in the everyday life of the Filipinos someone classified as “nasa laylayan ng lipunan.”

The scene of the Brillante film is like Insiang (a Lino Brocka film) revisited the way the film characters survive by the skin of their teeth.

Jaclyn with Mon Confiado, Andi Eigenmann, Felix Rocco and Jomari Angeles show the face of truth at its most surreal moment

Ma’Rosa has come to terms with her existence and she has learned the only way to survive: To put up a sari-sari store and sell “ice” (crystal meth) on the side. It is a risky way to live but the matriarch is unfazed, concerned solely with putting food on the table and raising three grown-up siblings.

The film is austere, the characters look inwardly insidious and beyond their existence is the world of their supposed protectors — the policemen — making life miserable for them as they demand bribe from a family already on the edge of hand-to-mouth existence.

Even the film scoring of Teresa Barroso and the cinematography of Odyssey Flores reinforce that austere aura of the film, especially in its most surreal moments.

As it is, the film is an indictment of the police hierarchy as it portrays a police headquarters with two fronts: One for normal police work and another for facilitating bribes. What goes on in the inner sanctum while poor members of the family try to raise the amount is a stark portrayal of scalawags in the police establishment. They are into karaoke singing and drinking spree while poor family is raising bribes by mean fair and follow. Poor daughter (Andi Eigenmann) turns to well-off relatives (the haughty one played to the hilt by Maria Isabel Lopez), another son sells the family TV set and another son (Jomari Angeles) sells his body to the first lusty bidder.

At the end of the day, the family still cannot raise the full bribe and the policemen are adamant: It has to be the full amount or no freedom.

The matriarch goes back to her territory and turns to the neighborhood’s astute moneylender. It is a degrading exercise in haggling as lender deducts interest right there and then leaves the poor woman still short of the demanded bribe.

Walking back to the police station, she pauses by the street corner and contemplates her existence. Everything about her miserable life as matriarch is at once reflected on her face. There is neither sadness nor bitterness. There is only acceptance.

One could very well agree that in that single moment of reflection, Jaclyn deserved her Cannes Best Actress trophy.

Just as gratifying as part of a versatile ensemble were Baron Geisler (as Sumpay), Neil Ryan Sese (Olivarez), Angeles (Erwin), Felix Roco (Jackson), Lopez (Tilde) and Mon Confiado (Sanchez).

Brillante’s stark brand of storytelling will not appeal to moviegoers used to seeing suffering portrayed with maudlin music in the background. The director wants to confront truth for what it is and here he triumphs on all fronts.

Ma’Rosa is now showing in theaters.