By HERMIE BETRAN
Filipino movies are better than ever today. The 8th Manila Filmfest proves this as true. Thus, say our local movie producers.
However, a man who has gained prominence in the film profession does not agree with such an observation. Although it is true that all pictures shown during the latest Manila Filmfest were in color, he argues, this is not the true measure of an improving or improved Philippine movie industry.
Lino Brocka, a talented movie-director-turned-TV-director, says that Filipino movies have not become any better at all if they have not retrogressed. This is because the Philippine movie industry has continued to be primarily commercially motivated. And as long as producers are concerned only with profits, without caring about the artistic merits of a film. Philippine movies will not get any better. Directors can only do so much to make quality films but they are still at the mercy of producers.
A real big problem that has often failed directors in their efforts to make quality films is that producers rate films according to how much profits they turn out, Brocka says. If a movie becomes a box-office hit, it is a good movie. To them, content and artistry do not matter as long as they gain. Such an attitude on the part of producers has resulted to frustrated directors who are enthusiastic at first to turn out Philippine quality pictures. Some producers sometimes dictate on directors to replace or insert scenes to make a movie more palatable to an “immature” audience, regardless of the demands of the story or script. Aside from spoiling a potentially good film, this may also discourage directors, which may result in talents and enthusiasm going to waste. It’s sad that some directors later end up making commercials, he says.
Another factor that contributes to a setback in Philippine movies is its present indulgence in utilizing tall tales for a movie plot, like Dyesebel, Darna, and Pedro Penduko. Movies of this kind which picture the world of the unreal and hence are apart from reality are only good as a means of escapism. One criterion for a good movie is that it can provide both entertainment and enlightenment. Movies, as well as TV. must not only entertain but also help the individual moviegoer understand himself, his society, and his world. And if possible, they must make people act and do something good, he adds.
A lack of writers is also another obstacle to making quality films, Brocka says. We have so few writers who are not even mentally sophisticated. To be able to produce good films, smart writers are needed. And he mentions that TV’s Hawaii Five-O alone has ten writers for it.
Also, the technical personnel are not given enough time to be creative, particularly in TV. Channels seem to contest each other in the number of programs to show that those in the technical personnel often hurry as they work from one program to another. They are not given adequate time to be artistic and creative, Brocka says. This, too, unfavorably of technical personnel which in turn affects the quality of productions.
Training is certainly needed to prepare good performers in the profession, whether they be actors, directors, technical directors, etc. But training can be misused, he stresses, and it often is. Perhaps this is where professionalism becomes vitally needed. An educational cultural group like the PETA can perhaps provide a stepping stone towards this necessity, he says.
Lino Brocka is not pessimistic about the industry, however. There will always be hope, he exclaims. Setting producers aside, where to properly begin the task towards quality movies is also a puzzle to him, though. Perhaps, he would begin it with the writer because it is he who creates the germinal substance on which the whole craft will be based.
The director nevertheless has a vital role in this task. Possessing firm principles and creative talents, he can transform a material that has all the ingredients of a commercial film into a coherent, substantial, artistic film, he says with an assuring tone. His handling, for instance, of Wanted: Perfect Mother was such that the film had fairly outstanding composition and characterizations (not to mention other elements of a film) without having alienated an “immature audience. In fact, the director has to create his audience whose taste he will mold gradually. This cannot be done overnight, he explains, but the good director should always try to elevate the taste of an audience that never had a chance to appreciate Filipino quality films. There will always be hope for making Philippine movies a merger of art and entertainment.
This certainly needs responsibility as well as the passion on the part of the director. After having created and molded an audience that is prepared to see the real good things in Philippine quality films, perhaps, by then, the uncaring producer would even bow to him.
As Lino Brocka puts it, “The strongest weapon of a director is his audience.”
Published in print in the Collegian’s August 7, 1973 issue, with the headline, “Lino Brocka on Local Movies.”
