A relentlessly hopeful Mindanao war movie

Hunghong sa Yuta ("Earth's Whisper") is an indie film not afraid to wear the nation's bleeding heart on its colorfully embroidered sleeve. Set against southern Mindanao's endless war, the story is a tragedy that doesn't flinch at the betrayals, hatreds, and bloodshed that have long been associated with that part of the country. Yet it is also relentlessly hopeful, imbued with the faith that a single individual can make an impact with his example of idealism, sacrifice, and ultimately, martyrdom. We find echoes of Rizal, Ninoy, even Christ in the figure of a city-bred wanderer volunteering to teach in an illiterate, war-torn Muslim and lumad community that includes family members of MILF guerrillas and a posse of deaf and eager children. The children are being raised to take up arms, but the teacher introduces them to an alternative universe of timeless humanities: the beauty of language, theater, music, and education. The teacher's efforts become the stuff of intrigue as a malevolent soldier-spy who has penetrated the community creates rumors that swirl through the neighborhood. The film poignantly captures the miracle of literacy as even elders are ushered by this modern-day saint into the world of letters. But that triumph, as with many good things in Mindanao, becomes short-lived in war. The film is the first cinematic collaboration of the Davao theatrical duo of director Arnel Mardoquio and musician Popong Landero, who convincingly plays the villain in this film. But in its blocking, choreography, expressive language, and sudden bursts of song, this is almost pure theater projected on to the big screen. By creating the challenge of teaching deaf children, screenwriter Mardoquio heightens the theatricality with the teacher's need to communicate through facial expression, and sign and body language. I was first impressed by the talents, versatility, and lofty intentions of the Mardoquio-Landero team when my documentary team recorded their traveling outdoor production of Antigong Agong, an original musical that starred youths from the embattled island of Jolo. Along with their Davao cohorts, the duo takes both physical and artistic risks by bringing theater to far-flung communities, driven by a faith that art can bridge communities and heal a troubled land. And so it is with this film, recently featured in the Cinema Rehiyon festival at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Hunghong sa Yuta features both trained theater actors and local amateurs that the artists train as a form of community development. Transplanted from their natural stage habitat, Mardoquio, Landero, and friends benefit from the poetic eye of cinematographer Egay Navarro, who is the very embodiment of indie, working mostly with a single Panasonic P2 camera and using home-made dollies and portajibs. (Egay also happens to be my cameraman on my I-Witness documentaries). The tender and robust melodies that Landero composed for this film evoke both the troubled land that he obviously loves, and the heartfelt emotions found in any film that rings true. The superb quality of this production by first-time filmmakers far from Manila reflects what the New York Times recently called an indie-film Renaissance in Philippine cinema, fueled in part by affordable digital technology, giving local story tellers a new power to share remote experiences with a shrinking world.