TACKLING the aftermath of super-typhoon “Yolanda/ Haiyan” in Tacloban City, Cannes best director and UST fine arts alumnus Brillante Mendoza has come up with a poignant semi-documentary fictional tale of survival and recovery in “Taklub,” which opened the 11th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on Aug. 6.
Focusing on three families and their struggles in the wake of the biggest typhoon in history ever to hit land, the movie’s multi-pronged narrative is governed by the point of view of Bebeth, played by veteran actress Nora Aunor. When one of the tent cities in the refugee center burns, a family of five is consumed by the flames. The father Renato (Lou Veloso) becomes the lone survivor, and Bebeth comes to his aid, helping raise donations for him.
Bebeth lives with her daughter, Angela (Shine Santos), and earns a living by her eatery. She maintains her optimism all throughout, so that her small business becomes the refuge of other victims and survivors of the typhoon, such as Larry (Julio Diaz), a father of two, and Erwin (Aaron Rivera), who has become the family breadwinner for his two siblings, who have lost their families to the typhoon.
The film follows the characters’ daily activities, as they struggle to cope physically and emotionally with the effects of the disaster.
Although trying to maintain her composure and optimism, Bebeth is herself coping with the aftermath of the disaster. When her former husband says that he has not found their three children in the mass grave, she’s stoic about it: “Let God take care of it.”
This is no melodrama. The optimism of Bebeth is not embodied in the art direction, where dark and neutral hues take over, evincing the grim subject matter. The shaky camera work and extreme close-ups give audiences an intimate yet uncomfortable feeling of the characters’ ordeal.
The film seems to focus more on the spiritual devastation rather than the physical rehabilitation of the victims.
In another scene, Larry, a devout Catholic, buries a crucifix after his aunt has died from a landslide caused by a new typhoon.
Such spiritual symbolism is evident throughout the film, as if posing a test of faith to audiences.
Small wonder the movie, which was part of the Un Certain Regard competition of the Cannes international film festival, was given the Ecumenical Jury Prize-Special Mention.
But its spiritual bleakness, like in nearly all of Mendoza’s movies, does not really explain how the victims of “Yolanda” have survived to tell the tale. Mendoza shows that the victims are really trapped in their hapless fate: in fact, the title, the Visayan word for Tacloban. ground zero of the storm, means “tight lid,” or as the English title of the movie translates it, “Trap.” If there’s resiliency in the victims, the film seems to show, it is owing to their pessimistic fatalism, not their optimism or sense of hope.
