AN EMMY-award winning filmmaker hit the Marcoses’ attempts to revise history in the screening of the critically acclaimed documentary, “The Kingmaker,” at the University of the Philippines (UP) Cine Adarna last Jan. 29.
Laura Greenfield, who began filming in 2014, said she had hoped former first-lady Imelda Marcos would show repentance and make the film a redemption story.
“It was the opposite… she was an unreliable narrator, to say the least,” she said in a pre-recorded interview.
Patrick Campos, director of the UP Film Institute, said the film exposed how Mrs. Marcos attempted to rewrite history.
“When she [Mrs.Marcos] tells Greenfield, ‘Perception is real, truth is not,’ it is a chilling declaration from someone who has, but should have never, risen to power, someone who has never in her life lost and will always win,” Campos said.
Xiao Chua, a historian, said history is repeating itself, as the film featured the connection between the Duterte administration and the resurgence of the Marcoses.
“Madami na ang nagawang mga pelikula at dokumentaryo tungkol sa mga Marcos, pero ito ‘yong dokumentaryo na na-feel mo na ngayon siya. History is the present, actually. Nandito ulit,” Chua said.
UP Chancellor Michael Tan reminded the public to re-analyze the truth behind history.
“It was realizing that the good times of the 50’s and 60’s were artificial…that is what I hope we will remember as we watch this film, that something happened 50 years ago, keeps repeating itself,” Tan said.
Greenfield said the story portrayed Mrs. Marcos as the “politician” of the Marcos family and not just some woman who liked shoes.
“The only person more powerful than the king is the kingmaker,” she said.
The film also featured interviews with activist May Rodriguez and former Commission on Human Rights chairwoman Etta Rosales, who experienced first-hand the horrors of Martial Law.
“The Kingmaker“ was screened simultaneously at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and UP Film Institute Cine Adarna.
The film debuted in August 2019 at the 76th Venice Film Festival and was nominated for several awards including the Critic’s Choice Documentary Awards.
