Emotional Battlefields

The Cinemanila Film Festival is probably the most welcome development in a country where the hard currency of commerce supercedes all artistic endeavors. Of course one can’t really expect much when more than half the population lives below the poverty line. But one can certainly hope.

It is with this thought in mind that this column wishes that the ongoing festival be extended...indefinitely. To quote a friend, so many films so little time.

No Man’s Land Directed by Danis Tanovic

Winning an Oscar is a dubious thing. Think about it, who in their right mind would really put much credence to an award-giving body that has snubbed the likes of Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese in the Best Director category? Still unconvinced? Just rent this year’s Best Picture A Beautiful Mind and judge for yourselves.

It is however a pleasant surprise to watch Danis Tanovic’s No Man’s Land, this year’s winner in the Best Foreign Language category. The setting for the most part of the film is a trench in between the Serb and Bosnian lines where two wounded soldiers from opposing sides confront each other for survival. The potential Waiting for Godot scenario is made worse by the presence of another Bosnian soldier lying prone on an active mine that will detonate if his weight is lifted. Add to that the bureaucratic mess that is the U.N. peace-keeping forces and you have a film as entertaining as Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 and as moving as Kubrick’s Paths of Glory.

Dispensing (for the most part) the usual political-correctness (and subsequent blandness) of most war pictures (i.e. Platoon), the film does not choose a particular side but is adamant in its condemnation of war. It also does not jackhammer its message across like a Goebbels propaganda reel but instead eases it in, displaying a flair for gallows humor and tender insight. It can be said that the film takes a genuine interest in human folly, letting the drama (and a quite a number of laughs) flow in an effortless stream of unforgettable images.

Seafood Directed by Zhu Wen

Seafood is centered on a young prostitute who travels to a town called Beidaihe during the winter season to kill herself. There, the potential suicide is averted when she meets a policeman who by some strange reason takes an interest in her. He follows her, watching her every move until she relents to go out with him in his car, eating at restaurants where he waxes poetic about his favorite cuisine.

Featuring raw performances from its lead actors, the film is an emotional tightrope, the characters’ ambiguity being the balancing stick. It’s never clear just where this odd couple is heading; the only certainty is that isn’t going to be a pretty one.

Director/writer Zhu Wen though pushes the boundary further by continuing the story long after the policeman is out of the picture. He shows us the young woman resuming her life as a prostitute and the petty joys she manages to squeeze from it. A little anti-climactic, the movie though never falters in presenting an honest, battle-scarred portrayal of the character.

Filmed with only a small digital video camera (and for the most part in secret), Seafood almost qualifies as a Dogme 95 film. But for one detail, it is faithful to the movement’s Vow of Chastity. It however lacks the verve displayed by other Dogme films like Thomas Vinterberg’s Festen or Søren Kragh-Jacobsen’s Mifune. To be fair though, Wen’s intentions may be different; the resulting film is still a bold experiment and triumphs in its own way.

* * *

Notes from Underground: This column is urging you to go to Gweilo’s at Carlos Palanca every Friday 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. as NU 107’s Mondo spins the hits from Europe. Great crowd, great beer and great fun. The only thing they’re guilty of is good taste.