REVIEW: Maid in Malacañang: A review? Well, this is my review of it

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 07 August) — Maid in Malacañang definitely is an entertaining film. This, plus the present context of a ‘Marcos restoration’ via the massive win of PBBM (President BongBong Marcos) in the last election, multiplied the Filipino curiosity about what drove the Marcoses out of the Philippines. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the very false expectation about the movie.

Movies are to entertain. Audiences get a bonus if ever they communicate some moral lesson, or an important insight into human psychology or history; but, fundamentally, movies have to entertain. If a movie is going to attract audiences, it must excite the senses – fear, anger, hate, loathing, sadness, sympathy, love. All the rest, new information and knowledge for example, are bonuses; because these are not what movies are designed to do, unless if it claims it is a documentary.

Direk Yap did not hide the real truth behind MIM. In fact, he is transparent declaring in a recent interview that, “This is a family in crisis film…” and is to be appreciated from the perspective of the maids, primarily the three Yayas – Biday (Beverly Salviejo), Lucy (Elizabeth Oropesa), and Santa (Karla Estrada).^[1] He also did not conceal the fact that the Marcos family had a direct hand in the making of the film, admitting in the same interview that Senator Imee Marcos deleted some from the original script, added some of her own, and approved the final script. Senator Imee Marcos is also the Executive Producer. It is in these regards that those behind MIM are honest and transparent as to the intentions of the movie.

I watched Maid in Malacañang yesterday, 6 August 2022, in a cinema in Davao City. There were very few vacant chairs inside the theater. I sat sandwiched between a middle-aged couple to my left, and a barkada of seven to my right who must be in their early 20s. I could hear them giggle during  the comedy scenes, and their soft sobbing in the teary scenes. I did as well enjoy the comedies among the three Yayas, and was carried away by emotion in some of Direk Yap’s dramatic scenes.

However, I could only smirk in one of the dramatic moments. It is when Irene (Ella Cruz) tells her father, FM (Ferdinand Marcos) Sr. (Cesar Montano) that he “did what he only thought is right for the people,” adding, “No government is perfect,” in trying to convince the Apo Lakay that it was time to leave Malacañang. Well, that general statement about governments being imperfect is true, but, hey, Marcos declared Martial Law and ruled as a dictator uninterrupted for almost fourteen years! I can never be convinced that what motivated FM Sr. to prolong his rule, unhindered by any form of checks-and-balance, was the people’s best interest. And whatever “imperfections” his government had were his own doing, being the Dictator.

But then I reminded myself that this is their story.

I have to watch Katips, too, and I hope it is still showing tomorrow, because I saw barely a queue (if you can call it that with just two individuals) outside the other cinema yesterday.

[MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Joel I. Rodriguez is a retired rural banker and NGO development worker. A movie aficionado, his Tatay began bringing him to movie theaters as soon as he was able to hold up his back while sitting on a chair. Raised and grew up in Lucena City in Quezon Province, he has been a resident of Davao City since 2013. He can be contacted via jrodoriguez@yahoo.com]

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^[1] “Maid in Malacanang stars hit the red carpet for premiere,” Philstar Global, 4 August 2022.