Figuring out the moving on sub-theme of "Ang Lalake sa Parola" (The Man in the Lighthouse)
I heard about this movie years ago but I only happened to find time to watch this because someone (finally) bought the VCD copy I have of this in 1 of my online catalogues. I decided that I should watch it first before packing and shipping it to the buyer, which I did in midst of other pressing assignments. And I would wonder how the customer who has an American-sounding name would be able to understand this film, when it has no subtitles (maybe, he understands Tagalog, I hope). The VCD itself was given to me by a friend who decided he'd unload a lot of his stuff to gain more living space in the process (which is a moving on step, in more ways than one).
And I was surprised it's written by Lex Bonife, whom I know personally and connected with as well through Facebook, and who has gone to make more fascinating films after this very interesting movie (apparently). And there were more surprises I had while watching the film. Although not linearly narrated, the film has at least 3 weaves of interconnected stories (there could be more, but I just focused on the 3 that caught my senses). One refers to the story being told by the guy who's tending to the tombstones of 2 of his beloveds (one of whom is a man, with whom he had a tryst that cost him the friendship); the second refers to the younger guy who's intimately involved with a neophyte teacher and who works as a lighthouse caretaker and would be involved with a young ad agency worker. And the third one is all about the mythical 'diwata', (or 'a fairy' or something similar in other cultures) which is a symbolic representation of unspoken fears, desires, and longings of people whose collective thoughts and actions are ignored and denied by the intolerant, deeply-frustrated, in-utter-denial-stage-of-life members of society (or the surrounding community).
I'd say the moving on sub theme can be viewed mainly at the end, when the young guy, after making strokes on his painting of a woman and would be standing before it and be facing the audience, would finally come to his own senses and finally admit to himself that he's gay and would like to move forward with his life. He will do this only in his own terms, and would accept people he has known before this phase if (and only if) or when they finally accept him as he is (nothing more, nothing less), i.e., his ex-girlfriend who's at such a loss because she seemed not to be shown as being able to discern what happened exactly to her beloved. Those scenes are, of course, open to interpretations. Yet, the 'diwata' serves as an allegorical symbol of a moving on element that individuals use and need to have in representing their efforts to overcome their perceived limitations (they exist primarily in our minds, although they're very real, as what we have in mind are very real things as they always should be) as well as failures of being unable to fit to other people's expectations. And believe me, I've seen my own set of many 'diwata's' in my life---some I've seen in the course of my outdoor trips up in the mountains (but those will be subjects of some other blog postings).
Beautiful. That's the last adjective I'll use to describe this indie film.
(Various segments of the film from YouTube, some have English and/or Spanish subtitles, can be found in the links below)
1) Part 1
2) Part 2
3) Part 3
4) Part 4
5) Part 5
6) Part 6
7) Part 7
8) Part 8
And I was surprised it's written by Lex Bonife, whom I know personally and connected with as well through Facebook, and who has gone to make more fascinating films after this very interesting movie (apparently). And there were more surprises I had while watching the film. Although not linearly narrated, the film has at least 3 weaves of interconnected stories (there could be more, but I just focused on the 3 that caught my senses). One refers to the story being told by the guy who's tending to the tombstones of 2 of his beloveds (one of whom is a man, with whom he had a tryst that cost him the friendship); the second refers to the younger guy who's intimately involved with a neophyte teacher and who works as a lighthouse caretaker and would be involved with a young ad agency worker. And the third one is all about the mythical 'diwata', (or 'a fairy' or something similar in other cultures) which is a symbolic representation of unspoken fears, desires, and longings of people whose collective thoughts and actions are ignored and denied by the intolerant, deeply-frustrated, in-utter-denial-stage-of-life members of society (or the surrounding community).
I'd say the moving on sub theme can be viewed mainly at the end, when the young guy, after making strokes on his painting of a woman and would be standing before it and be facing the audience, would finally come to his own senses and finally admit to himself that he's gay and would like to move forward with his life. He will do this only in his own terms, and would accept people he has known before this phase if (and only if) or when they finally accept him as he is (nothing more, nothing less), i.e., his ex-girlfriend who's at such a loss because she seemed not to be shown as being able to discern what happened exactly to her beloved. Those scenes are, of course, open to interpretations. Yet, the 'diwata' serves as an allegorical symbol of a moving on element that individuals use and need to have in representing their efforts to overcome their perceived limitations (they exist primarily in our minds, although they're very real, as what we have in mind are very real things as they always should be) as well as failures of being unable to fit to other people's expectations. And believe me, I've seen my own set of many 'diwata's' in my life---some I've seen in the course of my outdoor trips up in the mountains (but those will be subjects of some other blog postings).
Beautiful. That's the last adjective I'll use to describe this indie film.
(Various segments of the film from YouTube, some have English and/or Spanish subtitles, can be found in the links below)
1) Part 1
2) Part 2
3) Part 3
4) Part 4
5) Part 5
6) Part 6
7) Part 7
8) Part 8
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