Huling Balyan Ng Buhi: O Ang Sinalirap Nga Asoy Nila
Philippines,
2007, 89 min
Shown in 2008
CREDITS
- dir
-
Sherad Anthony Sanchez
- prod
-
Ronald Arguelles, Sherad Anthony Sanchez, Dax Canedo
- scr
-
Sherad Anthony Sanchez
- cam
-
Mike Babista, Mark Limbaga, Sherad Anthony Sanchez
- editor
-
Kenth Bajo, Rolyn Pregunta, French Ian Guelos
- mus
-
Matilda Landero, Popong Landero
- cast
-
Marilyn Roque, Jelieta Ruca, Ronald Arguelles
- source
-
Cinema One Originals (ABS-CBN), CPI Programming Office, 10 fl., ELJ Comm. Center Bldg., Eugenio Lopez Dr corner Mo. Ignacia Ave., 1103 Quezon City, Philippines. EMAIL: Ronald_Arguelles@ABS-CBN.com
- premiere
-
North American Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Director Sherad Anthony Sanchez in attendance.
OTHER
Filmmaker Sherad Anthony Sanchez, educated at Ateneo de Manila University, wasted no time returning to his native region of Mindanao in the Southern Philippines to make this elliptical film—more of a cultural-political tone poem than a linear narrative—set in the lush green village of Napalico in North Cotabato province’s Arakan Valley. The original title, Ang Huling Balyan ng Buhi, means “the last priestess of life” in the local dialect. Amid damp tropical hills and forests, the action revolves around several groups of characters on a curious collision course. A band of New Peoples’ Army communist rebels, including committed revolutionary Gigi and her boyfriend Ronald, camps in the mountains, while a detachment of government soldiers, one of them nursing a gay crush on another, bivouacs in the village. The local priestess, Manay, meanwhile, talks to rivers and may be mad. And a young sister and brother, wandering in the jungle, never quite reunite with their mother. Other than proximity, only the barest hints of a relationship exist between these characters, at least on the surface. The terrain of their souls is another story entirely. Fans of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s jungle allegories will recognize the territory. Meanwhile, the NPA guerrillas complain about American imperialism and text-message each other deep in the bush, singing a wobbly rendition of the Internationale. The soundtrack, with music by Popong Landero and Matilda and folk songs of the Matigsalogan people, adds to the misty, dissatisfied mood.
—Kelly Vance
FACTOID #75
Italian screen siren and ’60s sex symbol Sophia Loren appeared in two films screened at the San Francisco International Film Festival: Ettore Scola’s A Special Day in 1977 and Francesco Rosi’s More Than a Miracle in 1981.
