We can learn a lot from acclaimed Asian films

She may have cut a controversial figure then and now in her lifestyle and politics, but the name Lupita Concio and later Kashiwahara will be remembered longer and better for her exemplary work as a director.

We met her early in her long career as a TV director (the drama anthology Balintataw and Nora Aunor’s musical show Superstar being the most famous). She only had six and a half feature films to her name but Minsa’y Isang Gamu-Gamo will always remain her crowning glory.

It has been said that had Orson Wells directed only one film Citizen Kane, he would still have been considered one of the great directors of the world. The same could be said in the Philippines of Lupita with her Gamu-Gamo.

“It was blessed from the start,” says Lupita, recalling this was the time when the bases agreement between the Philippines and the US was being reviewed and debated on. Shooting took 17 days in Pampanga, at the time when the star Nora Aunor was newly married to Christopher de Leon who had imposed certain disciplinary measures, and filming proceeded smoothly. “Everything just fell into place. When I needed an American jet in the scene, out of the blue a jet would appear.”

When the film was shown in 1976, it won Best Picture in the FAMAS and Best Director for Lupita. In reviewing the film Nicanor Tiongson commended it for having true social relevance and for being an authentic portrait of the contemporary Filipino, bravely defying the pull of commercialism so prevalent at the time.

Tiongson wrote that the story and screenplay by Marina Feleo-Gonzales “successfully strips the mask off the so-called ‘special relations’ between the Philippines and America... has excellent characterization and dialogue.”

“Lupita Concio’s direction is both sensible and effective... never becomes monotonous or flat. Sometimes it is enriched with symbol... (but) wherever there is symbol, it is worked in naturally. Not only symbol but blocking are both fresh and stimulating... Acting (by Nora, Jay Ilagan, Perla Bautista, Gloria Sevilla, Lily Miraflor, Paquito Salcedo) is superb.”

Of course Nora was already enjoying then directors’ and critics’ admiration. She has been known to turn silence into a great dramatic and emotional moment no dialogue could equal, with only her eyes talking. She didn’t win the Best Actress that year for Gamu-Gamo, however. She won for Mario O’Hara’s Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos, also produced the same year. “I think it is because Gamu-Gamo was ensemble acting, and all the cast were consistently praised as a group,” Lupita says, her hands busy at her therapeutic hobby of crocheting.

As part of the Aquino family of six siblings Ditas, Paul with Ninoy, Tessie and Butz who became senators, Lupita gravitated towards the broadcast media. “I consider myself a child of television,” she quips. It was on TV for several decades where Lupita honed her skills and won awards for directing live coverages, documentaries, drama anthologies, tele-movies as they were then called, musical shows, all of which, she feels, prepared her for her transfer to film direction. Her experience with actors, blocking, script analyses made the move easy.

When Martial Law was declared and Marcos closed down all the TV stations, Lupita began her directorial journey in the movies thanks to Digna Santiago of Premiere who has remained a good friend. Of the movies she directed (Gamu-Gamo, Magandang Gabi sa Inyong Lahat, Ibalik mo ang Araw sa Mundong Makasalanan, Babae, Hati Tayo sa Magdamag, Alkitrang Dugo, the back-to-back Dear Diary) the first four mentioned were for Premiere. Her last movie Babae was shown more than 20 years ago.

Throughout her career on TV and the movies, brother Ninoy was her inspiration. “He drove me to excel. I wanted to hear him say, ‘galing mo bata.’ That phrase to me was my driving force. It drove me beyond endurance. He said that of Gamu-Gamo. He was in jail when he saw it and he also said to me, ‘You know what, fifty years from now people will still be talking about that movie.’ And he was right.”

It’s been more than 30 years, and indeed the movie is still in the list of best Filipino movies, best performances of Superstar Nora Aunor, and Lupita’s best film. Even producer Digna Santiago is amazed at the film’s performance. “I didn’t expect it to become a classic,” she tells us.

Lupita herself admits that she doesn’t tire of watching the film. Her husband Ken Kashiwahara has practically memorized the entire dialogue, and the unforgettable heartbreaking ‘My brother is not a pig’ when Nora drives away the Americans over her brother’s coffin, after he was shot dead while scavenging in the base garbage dump.

Still, Lupita claims that technically, her best film was the much vilified Ibalik mo ang Araw which she calls her Gamu-Gamo of the Church. This is the film she would like to recreate. In these era of sine-novelas where the movies of yesteryear are revived on TV, it is not a far-fetched prospect. We can see this more immediately possible, however, in Gamu-Gamo, since Digna Santiago, Marina Gonzales, and Lupita are still very much around, not to mention the Superstar. And also because the issues concerning Phil-American relations still exist.

Although Lupita disavows any connection with the entertainment sector nowadays, we think it is more correct to state that her heart is still very much involved. She watches movies voraciously. She is now helping the Philippine Film Export Services Office of the Film Development Council under Digna in encouraging foreign movie producers to come to shoot their movies in the country. “We already have two Bollywood Indian movie producers doing pre-prod here,” she excitedly shares.

She is also avidly following the developments in Philippine cinema. Ibang-iba na, she observes, especially with the onset of the digital generation. “The only limit of the movies nowadays is the imagination of the creator.”

Lupita also similarly tries to discern the reason behind the slow plunging of Philippine cinema. She feels the culprit could be found in the material of our movies. “Our movies,” she says, “are very much like our food, which is not patronized by other nationalities. I think it has to do with masyadong maraming putahe, masyadong maraming ingredients, medyo nakakataba. It’s like our emotions. Even our stories are like that. So many subplots.” She suggests that our writers watch Asian films that have gained international acceptance — India, China — and find out why they have succeeded and we have not.

(E-mail the author at [email protected])