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Of motherhood and 'Anak'

by Rina Jimenez-David (At Large column)

YOU don't have to be an overseas Filipino worker, or be related to one, to be moved by "Anak," the latest Star Cinema production which is, fittingly enough, billed as its Mother's Day offering.

The movie was conceived and marketed as Star Cinema's tribute to overseas workers. But anyone who is or has ever been a parent, and anyone who has ever had a parent, will find many echoes of their own experiences in "Anak." It is this emotional resonance with the universal tug of war between parent and child that, I think, allows "Anak" to transcend its focus on the OFW's and appeal to a wider, general audience.

And yet, there was something very right, very fitting, in the decision to hold "Anak's" world premiere in Hong Kong, among the community of domestic workers whose "story" is told in the movie. The screening was peppered with moments of laughter and gasps of recognition. And by own reckoning, just 15 minutes into the movie, as the joyous homecoming of returning Hong Kong DH Josie, played by Vilma Santos, is shadowed by her re-entry problems, the tears start flowing. By the time Josie finally confronts her rebellious daughter played by Claudine Barretto, the sniffles and sobs that punctuated the quiet of the Cine Metro Theater had grown into a teary crescendo.

It was, indeed, cathartic. And if I, a journalist and working mother who had left her family behind for a mere weekend, was assuaged by pangs of guilt and regret, how could it not resonate in the most powerful way with the proud and hardworking Pinays of Hong Kong?

* * *

I MET with a group of domestic workers, including Linda Layosa, who had worked as a domestic in Hong Kong before being employed full-time as the editor of an international magazine for overseas Filipinos, for dinner after the "Anak" premiere Sunday morning. Unfortunately, none of them had seen the movie yet, but as I recounted episodes of the film, they all confirmed that similar events had taken place, if not to them, then to friends or acquaintances.

In "Anak," for instance, and I hope I'm not being a spoiler here, Josie is kept a virtual prisoner in her employers' apartment when they go on a four-week vacation. Cely Gorospe, coordinator of the Apollo Club, a social association of domestics, told me of a Filipina domestic in an apartment several floors above her place of work, whose employers kept her locked in each working day, not even allowing her to buy her own food but leaving her just a bowl of congee or some bread for lunch.

When her friend told her of her longing for Filipino cooking, Cely worked out an ingenious arrangement. "When you hear me singing by the kitchen window," she told her friend, "that means I've cooked my lunch and you can lower a container so I can give you some food." They devised a pulley system that worked fairly well until, one morning, Cely laughs, when she practically sang her lungs out and still no container came swinging by the window. It turns out that the friend's employer's mother was visiting, preventing the window exchange of Cely's cooking.

I thought the story not only entertaining but also symbolic of the spirit of cooperation and support that has blossomed among Hong Kong's community of Filipina domestics. "They say this is a DH's paradise," comments Linda, but when I ask if Hong Kong can be considered a "model" workplace for foreign domestics, Linda quickly interjects that "it's not exactly a model location, maybe just exceptional." And exceptional only because Hong Kong's domestics have so successfully organized and lobbied for legal protection and recognition of their rights.

* * *

PERHAPS this is something we need to realize here, especially among the bleeding hearts and do-gooders crying out for government to "do something" about the phenomenon of migrant labor.

The struggle to secure the rights of overseas workers has shifted to the OFW's themselves. Only when they assert themselves as a political force can they win respect and power and thereby determine and direct their own fate and welfare.

Critical to this development are movies like "Anak," that manage to move beyond stereotypes to paint both the good and bad side of migration, demonstrating the rewards and growth attendant to working abroad, even if "only" as a domestic, as well as the loneliness that assails everyone, or the abuse and exploitation that befall some.

"Anak" is particularly effective in that it strives for balance and realism. Scriptwriters Ricky Lee and Raymond Lee (no relations) told of basing and validating the situations in the movie on the real-life experiences of Filipina domestics in Hong Kong, though much of the film takes place here.

Director Rory Quintos is to be commended for the light and unobtrusive touch she gives to what could be melodramatic material. The ensemble acting is also remarkable, with Claudine Barretto giving a fairly impressive turn as the troubled and self-destructive daughter, and Amy Austria and Cherry Pie Picache delightful as the earthy DH friends of the beleaguered Josie.

Still, this is one movie that truly belongs to Vilma Santos, who is even more affecting and effective here than in "Bata, Bata...Paano Ka Ginawa?" for which she harvested many awards. As Josie, she is feisty and bubbly, steely and soft-hearted, the combination of grit and goodness that is the bedrock of every Pinay mother's heart.

Before the screening, she told the audience that after making the movie, she was more than ever determined to pursue a career in government to better help the OFWs. But watching her as Josie, I thought, it is not as a government official that an actor like Vilma best helps people. It's precisely as an actor, giving life to women like Josie and "standing up for the character," that Vilma and artists like her help us understand people and take them into our hearts.

from: The Philippine Daily Inquirer May 10, 2000