HELE SA HIWAGANG HAPIS (A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery) ****
Cast: Piolo Pascual, John Lloyd Cruz, Hazel Orencio, Alessandra De Rossi, Susan Africa, Joel Saracho, Sid Lucero, Angel Aquino, Cherie Gil, Bernardo Bernardo, Bart Guingona, Menggie Corrarubias, Ronnie Lazaro, Ely Buendia.
Dir: Lav Diaz.
This is director Lav Diaz's latest opus, an 8-hour long reflection on Philippine history and politics. It's basically two parallel story lines: One is about a character in our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal's celebrated novel, El Filibusterismo, Crisostomo "Simoun" Ibarra getting shot and having to journey into the forest to a safe house with a poet named Isagani. The other is about a real-life historical figure, Gregoria De Jesus' vain search for her husband's, Andres Bonifacio (a major figure in the Philippine revolt against Spain, betrayed by his fellow Filipinos - which is an entire movie in and of itself), corpse. This is co-produced by a mainstream studio and top-billed by two of the biggest names in Philippine mainstream showbiz, yet Lav Diaz still made it into an 8-hour black-and-white historical period film....and it is pretty great. I personally would love to talk to a foreigner with little-to-no knowledge of Philippine history what he or she thought of it since I think having a working knowledge of Filipino history, culture and politics makes this film work in a deeper, more meaningful level. But I guess since it won in Berlin, it worked enough! I will say it feels surprisingly brisk for an 8-hour film. It gives you a lot to chew on and think about especially if you're a Filipino. It may not be for everybody but the open-minded and the cinematically adventurous will find this a rewarding experience. P.S. The tikbalangs stole the movie for me.