When a film falls flat on its face: A review of Emir

MAINSTREAM filmmaking in the Philippines is a private enterprise and its main goal is to make huge profits. That is why our movies are star-oriented, so that stars will draw crowds to the cinema. There are monikers like “Superstar," “Star for All Seasons," “Megastar," and many other “titles" that marketing people have created. We have more movie stars than actors, which is one reason why the Philippine movie industry is barely alive today. As a lover of Philippine cinema, I was pleased when I learned that the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) had entered into a partnership with Viva Films to produce a musical to be directed by acclaimed director Chito Roño. I thought it was high time for government agencies to support filmmaking in a major way.

This is the reason why I was so excited to see the film Emir, especially since the people behind the project are saying that this is “a tribute to OFWs." My father is an OFW – a sailor – so the movie’s theme is dear to my heart. The last Roño film that I watched was Caregiver starring Sharon Cuneta, which is about the plight of OFWs in the United Kingdom. It was a well-made film. I went inside the cinema anticipating to see a good film. For one thing, the sarsuwela is my favorite theater art form. It has alternating spoken and sung dialogues. It has spectacular dance numbers. It is always a love story between a poor boy and a rich girl or vice versa. A film that is a musical is really a sarsuwela on the silver screen. Beautiful music, bad film But I was so disappointed with Emir. It is a badly directed, badly written, and badly edited film. It has many ridiculous parts and is in fact a boring film. I saw some people leaving the cinema in the middle of the screening. The only thing that made me stay was that I have to write a review about this lousy film. The song and dance numbers are over-extended. The lyrics of the songs are repetitive to the point of being didactic and stating the obvious. In a musical, the song must be used to push the narrative forward; it should not serve as mere extender, or worse, as a vehicle for stating the film’s message or, que horror, moral lesson. The exposition part is long and tedious, eating up two-thirds of the film’s screening time. The only time I saw a semblance of a plot is the part where the emir’s household is attacked and everyone is massacred except for Amelia and her ward. The real story began only during this part, but it came too late. This is why the film’s ending is so abrupt, and I can’t swallow it even if Amelia’s ward became a very handsome young man who reminded me of the magic of the flying carpet, and no matter how much suspension of disbelief I was forcing myself to do. As for the historical background of the film, the setting is not clear. What part of the Middle East was that? What is the story’s time frame? The 70s? The 80s? The 90s? If it is contemporary, why are the domestic workers fighting for the opportunity to use the land line to call home? Haven’t they heard of roaming sim cards and OFW sim packs? Is the story set in the pre-cellphone era? What is that war in the film? Was that Kuwait being attacked? Was it the Gulf War? Because of these unanswered questions, the film’s story is floating somewhere in the clouds of idiocy. I don’t know what happened to Jerry Gracio’s craft. His previous films like Santa Santita and Imoral were well-written. Another thing that I observed is that the film did not benefit from proper editing. The film should be re-edited if only to save those beautiful songs (and the beautiful cinematography, especially the scenes shot in Morocco). This brings me to the film’s only saving grace: the beautiful music. The songs are well-written in terms of melody and lyrics (although most of the refrains should not be repeated to make the film tighter). Gary Granada, Vin and Chino Toledo should be given credit for the songs. The singing is also very good. Special mention should be given to Dulce. Frencheska Farr as the lead character “Amelia" is beautiful and lovable. She looks so Pinay and she also sings well. If there is a CD of the original movie soundtrack of Emir, and I am really looking for one, I will certainly buy a copy. Empty sobriquet The film also failed in its objective of “giving tribute to the OFWs." The phrase “Bagong Bayani" always makes my eyebrows fly. It is nothing but an empty token of a sobriquet. The hardships of Pinay OFWs are portrayed in the film, especially those who are working in the Middle East. They are overworked. They are robbed by their unfaithful husbands. They are raped. They are killed. There are “lucky" ones like Amelia, but the unlucky ones are far too many. What now? These are all too common stories. I grew up in the poor province of Antique, surrounded by OFWs. When I was small, I thought good parents really go abroad so that their family would receive dollars regularly. I had a playmate whose father and mother were hanged in Saudi Arabia. My father was even imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates. The vital question of why the OFWs are there in the first place was not addressed. In fact the film refused to answer this question, or at least offer an explanation. Submission to patriarchy For me the most serious fault of the film is its total submission to patriarchy. At the beginning of the story, the emir’s wife is expecting to give birth and everybody is wishing that the baby would be a boy, for the emir already has two daughters. Only a male child can inherit the father’s title. It is a fact that Arab culture is patriarchal, ultra-patriarchal even, so I was expecting that the film would subvert this anti-women ideology. After all the film is entitled Emir so I was expecting that we will be presented with a different emir, with the help of Amelia. Remember that small Englishwoman who influenced the life of an Asian king in the musical The King and I? Emir is the Arabic word for “commander," “general," or “prince." It came from the word “amir," meaning “chieftain." It is a very macho title. The third child of the emir turned out to be a boy and everybody was happy. Amelia was given the task of taking care of the baby. She trained the boy to speak Tagalog. Okay, this is cute. It reminded me of Jessica Zafra’s project for world domination, in which she plans to rule the world with the help of all the Pinay domestic workers across the globe. But then there was no subversion, only total submission to the rule of males. C’mon, we cannot take Zafra’s idea about our beloved Philippines dominating the world seriously. At the end of the film, I was stunned when the first credits that appeared on the screen thanked “Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her support and vision" or something to that effect. I almost forgot that FDCP is under the Office of the President. Well, that explains everything. That explains why the film does not have a vision, or says anything about the Filipino diaspora. That explains why the film does not have a stand on this shameful issue of exporting our precious human resources. That is why this film does not offer any subversion, or even just a critique of bad governance that created acute poverty, and of the status quo especially that of patriarchy. What is funny and irritating is that the film only blamed the rats for destroying the crops of farmers in the country, which is why young farm women like Amelia thought of going abroad to work. I hope this is just a metaphor (for the scriptwriter Jerry Gracio is an excellent poet) because we know that the real peste are not the farm rats but the politicians who in their own little and big ways are milking this country to death. The problem with the film Emir is that it is beholden to a president whose vision of economic growth is anti-poor, whose government reinforces the unwritten policy of exporting professionals and laborers to rich countries, whose nine-year leadership did not benefit the suffering poor nor change the odious political culture. That is why the film Emir falls flat on its face. The Philippine government wasted a lot of money on this film. The millions of pesos used to produce this film should have been spent wisely, like building badly needed classrooms which would have been more useful. Films like Emir only hasten the death of Philippine cinema. – YA, GMANews.TV