The film “Dekada ‘70” of Chito Rono is the actual play of the novel of Lualhati Bautista that features the events and heartbreaks of the Marcos regiment. The story circles around the Bartolome family which consists Mr. Julian Bartolome, played by Christopher De Leon, the father of Jules(Piolo Pascual), the eldest and the bravest who joined and lead the union against the government; Emman(Marvin Agustin), a journalist; Isagani(Carlos Agassi), the one who engaged in an early marriage and entered the US Navy; Binggo (Danilo Barrios), the youngest and lastly Ms. Vilma Santos as Amanda, the loving mother.
Every character has their own different stories for instance: Jules as a New People’s Army (NPA) and Gani in an early marriage. It is Amanda’s role to put those stories together as a representation of the trials or hardships of a mother. The story is very precise with the right emotions that carries the story to make it more realistic. In every year in the 1970’s that is being featured in the film from the start of the of Marcos’ reign as president to the start of Martial Law and ends in the death of Ninoy Aquino. In the duration of the film, the problems of the Filipino family is being described; On how they should follow the rule such as curfews and limits in writing or rebelling against the government and also the punishment to be given to those who violates this rules for instance, a friend of Jules and even Jules himself suffer from the vigorous tortures when they were caught and being asked to reveal the location of the other rebels. It is a good thing that Jules survived this kind of punishment and make himself more stronger for his family and to his fellowmen, This presents one of the messages of the film which is love for our country by risking his life to make a stand to fight against the tigers of the government.
The film features some problems of the Filipino during that time like pre-marital sex or early marriage which Gani got into. Also He succeeded to join the US Navy as planned showing that the Filipinos want to work overseas because of the promise of a bright future. Engaging love during the siege of Martial Law period, is also shown in the film when Jason risked everything just to see the woman he is courting that leads to the point that he goes home very late and even wants to sacrifice a Christmas with his family just to see the one he loves. In connection to this, when he wasn’t able to meet his love in that day, depression took over him that leads him to run away, engage to drugs and got himself killed unknown to his parent which is still searching to him.
It also tackles about the life of the Filipinas in that time represented by Amanda as a mother and Evelyn, the wife of Gani as a women engaged in an early marriage and Mara, wife of Jules as a brave and nationalistic woman that entered the world of the NPA to fight against the government. In the case of Amanda, at first she wants to be a working mom to prove that Filipino women can do things more than just being a mother in a house worrying about her husband and her children but Julian, her husband didn’t allow this because it is an insult for him. As time goes by during the break of the Marcos regiment, she is adjusting to the concerns of her kids. As a mother, she wants her children to be safe but her kids have their own different views and priorities in life that challenges herself as a mother. Now returning to the perspective of Julian, the film shows that the men in that period is very manly, proud and is the one who should be always in command that they think that are the superior in the family. Thinking that it is a bad thing, Julian said sorry to Amanda and told her that being a man is as much as hard as being a mother because a lot is being expected from them. In relation to this, before this point, Amanda wanted to break up with Julian as a representation of the Filipino family being broke down during that period because of a lot of hardships that they both carry but thanks to the release of Jules, this was prevented and made them a much more stronger family.
To sum up all, the film is a description of some the conflicts, trials and the heartbreaks caused by Martial Law or the reign of Marcos itself but it also tells about how the Filipinos stand up together to fight for freedom. This is a film that features not only about the Filipino family in that particular period but also the spirit of Nationalism that the Filipinos have.
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