Fatima's hard to defend--but I do think it's brilliantly directed (the bell tower sequence I thought was lovely), and for what it's worth, Kris gave her best ever performance. Actually Zoren was great, real surprise, and John Regala showed the kind of acting Robert Downey Jr. could do when sober, and on top of his game. Janice was excellent here too, as was Gina Paredes.
I think you can argue Fatima is O'Hara's Lola Montes. A good even brilliant film with a vacuum of artistic competence for a center.
Bulaklak is one of O'Hara's best, sure. But prisonscenewise, I think those in Kastilyong Buhangin are as good, if not better.
Take notice of the corridor compositions. O'Hara gives you a strong sense of the narrowness of the jail's main corridor, how danger (an icepick, a sharpened spoon) can suddenly pounce on you from all sides. Notice also how when Gina Alajar escapes, the LRT train interiors mirror the corridors of the jail--in effect, Alajar only escaped to a larger prison.
The ending could easily be considered a cop-out, but I love the way O'Hara edited the talking heads discussing Nora's situation, and I love it that Nora couldn't survive on virtue alone--the ony reason she got any kind of compassion was because she knew something or was able to testify to someting some rich woman wanted in court. Bautista was always careful to turn her plot points on realistic details like that.
I got an email from Raymond Lee. He said he saw Pan's Labyrinth, was thinking of Mario's Pangarap ng Puso. He thought that Mario's film was somuch better. I think I agree.
