Imelda the movie

So my quest to watch Mean Girls last night sort of backfired. I texted my friend R3: "Mean Girls or Imelda?" and he said the latter. I know that's a rather weird way to decide which movie to watch. But then I saw this:



Emphasis on the "definitely." I was a bit surprised to see the film playing in like 3 cinemas the day after the Cine Manila premiere. Which was robbery in plain daylight, I think. Php300 for a screening? Get real. I know they have lots of expenses and all, but to see it playing for like Php75 (less if you see it in SM Cinemas, I suppose), I definitely felt a bit vindicated.

I thought I better see it now before Imelda decides that she really doesn't want Pinoys to see this movie. So I had my leisurely dinner, even browsed some at PowerBooks, then trooped to the cinema to catch the trailers. Then no fanfare, there it was, the movie. There must have been 50 or so people in the theater, mostly occupying the upper seats.

I really don't have very strong opinion about the Marcoses or Martial Law. I was born in the last days of their reign, and my parents weren't particularly opposed. That was pedestrian opinion: For them, Martial Law was a time of piece when you could walk down the street at midnight and no mugger will get you. My memory of Ninoy Aquino's assassination was me standing in front of the tv, listening to the news people blabbering about "crying ladies" and all that. I remember riding a bus with my  mother and kept asking her, "Who are you going to vote for in the elections?" To which she said, "Nora at Vilma," then proceeded to muzzle me down. Little did I know that that was a contraband conversation topic.

Anyway, what am I saying? That it was only when I went to the university that I heard and realized the gravity of it all. I've seen Imelda when she returned to the Philippines and visited the old Romualdez house--a stone's throw away from my grade school, and lots of people were waving and all that. She was a big woman, beautiful too. But that's that.

I was convinced that she's somewhat deluded. All that blabber about truth and beauty. A person who's beautiful can't be evil. Then again, I don't think evil people are aware that they're evil.

My favorite part of the film was when Imelda was illustrating her theories for a holistic self on a notebook, where "tree + man" etc meant a whole person. She had some way weird out theories, and the director fast forwarded her drawings and most of us laughed out loud when the "Pacman moment" came on. If only for that, it's worth the price of admission.