The fast, and she's furious

Film review: Thelma

MANILA, Philippines - Positioned as an underdog, against-all-odds sports film, Paul Soriano’s Thelma breaks from formula and tradition, eschewing the fireworks and grandiose ending we’ve come to expect from films of this genre.

A Time Horizon production and distributed by Star Cinema, the Maja Salvador starrer is an inspirational, thoughtful movie that whispers its message, rather than blaring it from the rooftops. And when I refer to the film as a Maja starrer, let that be in “all caps,” for she carries the film with a gutsy, winning, luminous portrayal that apparently called for dedication beyond the call of cinematic duty.

Take one stubborn, almost delinquent Ilocana barrio lass, saddle with her with more unkind twists of fortune than most soap opera heroines would encounter, and then give her the gift of speed — and you would have budding track star Thelma, as created by the pen of direk Paul.

A poor family, a poor attitude towards school, a sister who is crippled by a road accident, a mother who gets sick just as Thelma’s tentative grasp for greatness is slowly taking shape, it would seem that the odds are firmly stacked against our heroine. But thanks to spunk, a sense of humor, and never-say-die attitude, Thelma would have us believe that problems and worries are best serviced with a frontal attack, and a heart that no physical world can contain.

With Tetchie Agbayani as Thelma’s mother Floring and real-life sports icon Elma Muros as Coach Rose

Thanks to the cinematography, Ilocos Norte has never looked more poetic. And thanks to Paul’s deft directorial touch, there are shafts of humor (provincial teachers) and irony (the foreshadowing of the wheelchair) in Thelma’s realistic character and story. She isn’t some stoic automaton; but a flesh and blood creation imbued with frailties, vices and lapses of judgment. And the support cast is just as impressive: Tetchie Agbayani and John Arcilla as Thelma’s parents; Jason Abalos as a fellow athlete Thelma meets in Manila; and the wonderful young actress who plays Thelma’s younger sister Hannah. They all add to the depth and texture of this “quiet” film.

As for the subdued resolution and ending to the film, I spoke to Paul, wondering if a more grand, even Pyrrhic victory, would have been more in keeping with films of this type. To his credit, Paul explained that he knew this would have been the obvious way out, but he had precisely avoided this, so that the audience would be left to take what they wanted from the film and apply it to their own lives, and not see the film as a mere sports story.

It’s this careful balance between the sports story and the personal story (which in other hands, would have been relegated to mere back story), that makes the film a unique, rewarding, viewing experience.