2005/03/27
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# 23:09
ImeldaImelda Marcos was the Eva Perone of the Philippines! Imelda is an amazing documentary by Ramona S. Diaz, who received unparalled access through a connection with one of Imelda's closest friends, who also happens to be her aunt.
Imelda Marcos, is one of the most frightening and enigmatic women I have ever seen a documentary about. The story follows her life just prior to meeting the former President/Dictator Ferdinand Marcos until present day. Filled with historic footage and interviews from childhood friends, their children, and detractors, the film presents a broad and disturbing image of Imelda Marcos. The cognitive dissonance is amazing, as she contradicts herself from one sentence to the next.
Interesting tidbits about Imelda:
Marcos sometimes speaks of herself in the third person, especially when questions are raised about her character.
She seems to display some dramatic OCD tendencies (I recognize this, trust me). This is probably best showcased in her diagrams of her spiritual philosophies.
Going against the Catholic church, she implemented birth control measures and made them widely available through the Philippines, actually decreasing the birth rate.
Humorously, the doc is filmed with excellent Imelda-isms like:
"When I see ugliness I turn my back or seem to skip it."
"The shoes saved me because when they went to my closet they found shoes, not skeletons."
This documentary is a fascinating portrait of a woman who was arguably one of the most powerful women in Asia in the last 50 years.
As a footnote, the legal battles and fallout Diaz faced when trying to screen the documentary in the Philippines is equally as fascinating. She eventually suceeded in releasing it over Marcos' objections and the film eventually outgrossed Spiderman 2 in 2004.Comments:I always ask the same question on this blog: Do you know when and where this film will be shown in California? It would fantastic if you could include a calendar or some sort of nifty computer program that shows dates and venues of screenings for the films reviewed on FlickNut.
Hi Khanh - 2046 has a release date of "Summer 2005" - just received the PR notice. Imelda was released in "limited release" last year. I'm not sure Diaz secured nationwide distro for a wider release, though I know she is now using NAATA for educational distribution.
In the future, I'll try to post at least the context of how I was able to view the film, but sometimes I don't have an idea of when it will be released esp. for HK films.
Thanks! I like your pick of movies reviewed on the blog, which provides a cool alternative to the daily and weekly newspapers. I'm giddy with anticipation in seeing 2046.Post a Comment
