Why was Mano Po 6 snubbed at MMFF awards rites?

There are ancient Chinese customs and relatively newer, but already time-tested, Filipino traditions still observed to this day. And then there is the merging of Chinese and Filipino practices so common among Tsinoys today.

Too bad for a Tsinoy like this writer who is only one-eighth Chinese (I really look more Chinese than I really am — the only one in the family, in fact, who physically bears our Amoy, China origins), I am totally ignorant about how the Fil-Chinese celebrate the holiday season.

Without meaning to desecrate Tsinoy culture, the only Filipino-Chinese Christmas ritual that I do is to watch annually Regal Films’ presentation of Mano Po since its first installment in 2002.

The Mano Po film series, unfortunately, can be a hit and miss affair. There are years when these are way off from the standard set by the first one, which is still considered to be the best of the series. The good news is: Mano Po 6 is just as outstanding as the first one. It’s different, but it’s just as finely-crafted.

The currently showing Mano Po is considered a milestone because it marks Sharon Cuneta’s first time to work with Regal Films, which for decades was the chief rival of Viva that was home to the Megastar for decades.

But the wait was all worth it. In Mano Po 6, Sharon is given a complex, but solid drama (by Roy Iglesias) that begins in 1957. This is when the heroine’s mother (who would grow up to be Boots Anson-Roa) comes to the Philippines as a little girl to escape the harshness of life in China and their ship is overtaken by pirates.

After getting orphaned in the process, a Chinese couple adopts her, but as a young woman marries a Filipino and they have a half-Chinese daughter who would be Sharon Cuneta. Trouble begins when Sharon falls in love with a pure Chinese, Christopher de Leon, and his family despises her and calls her a mongrel (their birth signs don’t match either and are said to be unlucky when combined). But Sharon and Christopher fight for their love, raise four children and go through a hard life after he is disinherited.

Tragedy after tragedy befalls them — until Christopher dies and Sharon is separated from her children, except for the eldest, who would become Ciara Sotto as an adult. But the rest, Heart Evangelista and the two younger siblings are kept against Sharon’s will by her sister in-law Zsa Zsa Padilla. Oh, how she fights to get them back, except that the family of her deceased husband does everything to stop her: They get her jailed and even thrown into a mental institution.

Fortunately, Sharon’s finances improve and she finally has the means to recover her children, but it’s not all that easy since they had been brainwashed by Zsa Zsa. The real drama begins here and Sharon doesn’t only face the problem of getting back the kids and getting enmeshed in their problems, but also has to deal with health problems. But she fights back every step of the way till she triumphs in the end.

Mano Po 6 is one of the finest melodramas I’ve seen in recent years. The script of Roy Iglesias is very tight and he richly deserved to bring home the Best Screenplay award in last Monday’s Gabi ng Parangal of the Metro Manila Film Festival. Well, there are a few excesses — like the character of Sharon camping out in front of the house of her cruel in-laws, but that is very short and forgivable since Mano Po 6 is a soap opera after all.

Joel Lamangan also has a firm grip on the material and under another director with less talent the film could have been sappy and hopelessly lachrymal. But being a veteran in the movies, he is able to orchestrate all the elements and manages to bring out the best in each and everyone involved in Mano Po 6 — from the technical crew to his actors. For having achieved that, I am happy he won MMFF Best Director.

The truth is, everyone in Mano Po 6 deserves commendation, especially the cast members: Ciara Sotto (even if you ask those who have seen the movie, they will all tell you that hers is the most impressive performance among the secondary characters), Zsa Zsa (in spite of the extreme wickedness of her character, she still gives her best), Boots and Christopher (even if their roles are short). Even Kris Aquino, who requested not to be billed in the movie (she plays Sharon’s best friend) gives a quiet, moving and effortless performance. Her lines may be minimal, but her presence stays in your mind even after watching the film.

Also remarkable is the performance of Dennis Trillo as the hustler boyfriend of Heart. And speaking of Heart, though I would have been happy to see Ciara finally win an acting award (she so deserved it for this movie), I am not complaining about her Best Supporting Actress win because as I said everyone in the movie should be commended for giving their very best.

Mano Po 6, however, belongs to Sharon. Only she (or maybe Vilma Santos) could have pulled off the difficult role of somebody getting stepped on in the beginning and ends up rich and powerful. Her Best Actress win was easy to predict.

But why Mano Po 6 failed to bag even one of the Top 3 Best Picture trophies is something that the organizers of the farcical Metro Manila Film Festival should explain.

Those who have seen Mano Po 6 surely must have cried their way through the movie, got entertained in process, but must be fuming mad at the snub it got in the filmfest awards presentation last Monday evening.