The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Alvin I. Dacanay
Like many filmmakers of his generation, Gil M. Portes has worked with some of the most admired screenwriters in the Philippines, and their collaborations have resulted in a number of prize-winning films. These include 1990’s Andrea, Paano Ba ang Maging Isang Ina? (Andrea, How Does One Become a Mother?), written by Ricardo “Ricky” Lee; 1984’s ‘Merika (America) and 1996’s Mulanay, scripted by Clodualdo “Doy” del Mundo Jr.; and 1999’s Saranggola (The Kite), penned by Palanca Award Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Jose “Butch” Y. Dalisay Jr.
Add Enrique “Eric” Ramos to that short list of screenwriters. He seems to be Portes’ writer of choice right now, especially since he wrote the 70-year-old director’s last seven movies: Pitik-Bulag (Flip-Blind; 2009), Two Funerals (2010), Bayang Magiliw (The Town of Magiliw; 2013), Ang Tag-araw ni Twinkle (Twinkle’s Summer; 2013), Hukbulan (Decrepit; 2014), Ang Hapis at Himagsik ni Hermano Puli (The Agony and Fury of Brother Puli; 2016), and Moonlight Over Baler (2017).
It’s a fruitful collaboration that actually began in 2008, when OctoArts Films wanted to produce a sequel to Portes’ 1980 Vilma Santos-starrer Miss X, in which the actress plays a woman victimized by an illegal recruiter and forced into prostitution in Amsterdam. Portes commissioned Ramos to pen the sequel, and although the script was finished, the project didn’t push through.
“We work well,” Portes said of his partnership with Ramos on the sidelines of the Moonlight Over Baler press conference in Quezon City on January 31. “Ang (mga) vibration namin ay nagkakatugma, kaya maganda kami magtrabaho (Our vibrations match, and that’s why we work together beautifully).”
Ramos agreed. “There’s really a meeting of minds when we work. I feel the respect when we work together,” he said. “He lets me do my work, and then he would give feedback. (If) I feel valid ‘yung (feedback) niya (If I feel his feedback is valid), then I make the adjustments.”
Our creative process is “very healthy,” he added. “Sa experience ko, mas collaborative ako with direk Gil. At sa (pito) na nagawa namin, about four (started) from scratch (In my experience, I’m more collaborative with director Gil. And of the seven films we did, about four started from scratch).”
One of these was Moonlight Over Baler, whose script won third prize in the screenplay category at the 2009 Palanca Awards and was based on the story of Portes’ unmarried aunt. The aunt, who lived in Portes’ hometown of Pagbilao in Quezon province, was a schoolteacher whose soldier-fiancé left her to fight the Japanese during World War II and never returned. Many years later, the aunt met a drug salesman who closely looked like her former fiancé.
In the film, Elizabeth Oropesa plays the teacher, named Fidela, while Vin Abrenica portrays both her fiancé Nestor and the young man resembling him, a Japanese photojournalist named Kenji, who is visiting Aurora province’s Baler town after covering the first Edsa Revolution.
“Na-challenge ako doon sa premise (The premise challenged me),” Ramos said, adding that he also found it “very compelling.”
Renewed interest
Considering that their last two films are not just set in the past, but are set during or in the wake of imporant events in Philippine history, what do they think of the renewed interest in historical films?
“I think (Jerrold Tarog’s blockbuster biopic) Heneral Luna (proved that) there’s a big audience for historical films. We just need to tap it,” Ramos said.
“Again, it’s a question of marketing, of (maybe) relating the concerns of the past to the concerns of the present,” so that they would “resonate with younger audiences,” he added.
“We should always mind the past. Ang daming lessons of the past na kailangan natin i-bring up para marami tayong matutunan (The past has so many lessons that we need to bring up and learn a lot from). We should do more,” the screenwriter said.
Portes echoes Ramos’ sentiment, saying he’s glad there’s a trend of historical films being produced now, “because we have to look back.”
“It sounds clichéd, but we have to look back para maka-move on (so we could move on). At tsaka, marami sa mga millennials—sa mga batang viewers ngayon—(ang) hindi alam kung ano’ng nangyari (sa nakaraan natin). Even martial law, hindi nila alam. Alam nilang there was Martial Law, pero hindi ang implication (ng mga) nangyari noong martial law (Also, many millennials—many of today’s young viewers—don’t know what happened in our past. They even don’t know Martial Law. They know there was Martial Law, but not the implication of what happened during Martial Law),” he said.
“It’s the responsibility of responsible filmmakers—I like to count (myself) as one of them—to look back (and make) films” that look back to the past and see the future.’Yun ang importante (that’s what is important),” the director added.