I’m no hypocrite. Like everyone else, I buy and enjoy my share of pirated DVDs. Together with downloading from the Internet, piracy has allowed us a cornucopia of material to choose from – mostly films unavailable anywhere else. A cousin of mine from England marveled at the selection of classical music DVDs I was able to find – artists such as John Williams, David Oistrakh and Glenn Gould to name but a few. Of course, the biggest attraction is the variety of cinema available. In the last six months, I’ve come across titles like Taboo, F.W. Murnau’s last film (in collaboration with Robert Flaherty) that he was unable to finish due to his untimely death in a car crash – which, if we are to believe Kenneth Anger happened while he was giving head to his Filipino chauffeur. It’s not uncommon to find Stanley Kubrick’s entire oeuvre beside Tinto Brass’s. Other prize finds from the past years include the following: Mel Brook’s Young Frankenstein, a couple of Ingmar Bergman’s early films like Summer With Monika, Yasujiro Ozu films like Late Spring, Floating Weeds and Ohayo, Woody Allen’s Happy Ending, Todd Solondz’s Palindromes, obscure horror titles like The Ordeal, Last House On The Left, Cannibal Holocaust and Nekromantik and other art-house fare that film critic Alexis Tioseco suggests I watch.
I feel no guilt about my habits. How else can I watch these titles? Even my aforementioned cousin – who used to work as an agent for classical musicians in London – says that the DVDs I found were unavailable in England, even the ones produced by the BBC. Plus, I don’t think they need my money – or any Filipino’s, for that matter. We can’t afford the originals anyway, even if we do manage to find them. Neither can the government, I’m sure. I’ll bet that if we were to inspect their offices – even Manzano’s – chances are the software they use to type up all those press releases detailing the war against piracy is… you get the picture.
That’s why an all-out assault will never prosper. Everyone knows it is futile because it is ultimately hypocritical. And during times like these, the last interest we all should have in mind is Hollywood’s.
My proposal is this. If Manzano and his office really want to accomplish anything, then just arrest vendors that sell pirated material produced by the local industry and artists. Never mind Tom Cruise, Will Smith or Eminem – they’re billionaires. Protect your own.
This will send a message, especially if you conduct raids and ignore the stalls that sell only foreign material. Confiscate the pirated copies of local movies and music. These raids are barely effective the way they’re being done now anyway: an hour or two later – after all the TV crews have gone – business goes on even if the stock has been depleted. The people who run these things are usually quite nice – they hardly strike me as criminals. I think if Manzano refocuses his strategies to fight battles that he can actually win, they will comply.
Before the last Metro Manila Filmfest opened, and before the film was actually finished with its sound, pirated copies of Joel Lamangan’s Zsa Zsa Zaturnahh became available. Inexplicably the transfer was good, suggesting it might have come from the master. Despite being one of the more entertaining films in the festival, it floundered at the box office. Although there were reports that other films surfaced on the market too, the one circulating all over was that one. I suspect that this must’ve contributed to the film’s (lack of) sales.
Despite the corruption that surrounded it, ex-Pres. Carlos Garcia’s "Filipino First" policy still has something of value to draw upon. Due to recent events, it’s clear that no one can save us but ourselves because no one else actually gives a flying f**k about the Philippines. Not the Americans, not our ASEAN partners, not the UN. We’ve got to look after ourselves.
There’s been a sea change the past three years in our culture. As Danny Javier noted, no one wanted to hear OPM when they started; today, OPM is all the rage. Bands like Bamboo are even topping the charts in other countries in Asia while back at home record chain Odyssey is reporting that 80 percent of their sales are by local artists. Local cinema is also rising from the ashes of its last death. More local films are being made than ever. A good number of them actually get shown in the theaters. If you ask independent film pioneers like Raymond Red and Roxlee, directors today got it good. With all these positive changes, it should be noted that all of this progress has been made with little or no help from the government.
Manzano is in the position to be the first.
I’m sure he has the brains to know that this is the only thing he can really hope to succeed in.
Here’s hoping he has the balls as well.