Horacia (what a familiar name!---r.s.*) was a woman that Fate has twisted. A woman who suffered much and loved greatly. A soul, so strong enough not to be curved by the wind or swallowed by the many storms and hurricanes... A spirit unforgotten, undefeated.... and unbroken.
Horacia was the only woman left standing, and in the film "Ang Babaeng Humayo", she's the all-woman there, and her story was uniquely told in captivating words, picturesque scenery, subtle emotions, fits of angers, prolonged artistry and frame-like stills.
It dwelt more on the moment she left the prison and embraced anew her past. But what could be more saddening was the fact that the only man she loved was already dead when she came back to a town in which they bore their two kids. What could be more painful to discover that there was already no life there, and her son missing. How could she ever start again?
The only thing left was her daughter. But she didn't bring her along anymore to her new and more profound journey. It was a quest. It was a voyage. TO RUN AND CHASE AFTER THE LIVING COLD.
The coldness of this new rebirth did not eat her up. She needed to do something. She needed to seek some answers. And she wanted JUSTICE.
But somehow, her goodness overlapped everything- more so, her most evil plan of killing the man who was the cause of her life's twisted Fate. She was saved by her own angels whom she did help along the way. Because after much surveillance and careful planning, she was stopped by the series of events that went along the way. She saw the goodness of the people around her.
If not for Hollanda (the gay transvestite whom she rescued from a group gang rape) who suddenly appeared on her doorway, all-wounded and bloodied, she could have gone too far of shooting the man who made her go into prison. But Hollanda took her time as she nursed him and bonded with him in a drinking spree.
After a day or two, she discovered that the man she was planning to kill had already died. Shot by a gay transvestite. And that gay transvestite who shot the man was Hollanda.
And it was Hollanda's own way of thanking the woman who had helped her much. The only woman who was kind enough to care for a stranger like him.
The Woman Who Left had sought her justice, after all.
Superbly directed, edited, photographed and written by no less than Lav Diaz, the film was so memorable to cherish, penetrating deep within your muscles and any intellect of your choice. Yet, the movie has a SOUL. A kind of a woman's soul that would rock you further in a cradle until you fell asleep. A motherly soul who'd do everything for her family and for her friends.
Diaz certainly knew the psyche of a woman. And how amazing to feel, that a straight man like him could present a more "justifiable" character of a LGBT person. A more gentle way of looking at gay transvestites and their hearts. Thanks, Lav, for picturing "us" in a more honest and kinder way.
Diaz' style in film making could outrun the boundaries of time itself. His camera did not move in many of the solid scenes in the film "Ang Babeng Humayo". But the entities moved, cried, reached-out from within you. This was an approach that's so hard to deliver, and yet again, Diaz accomplished it.
Ms. Charo Santos-Concio as Horacia and later on, Renata in the film, was so genuine- her acting like a 24-karat-gold. But we loved her more in her tomboyish scenes and surveillance schemes- she did it so well that you'd feel you're almost there among her, participating in those dark streets of a seemingly eternal wait.
Her eyes could still speak, just like those eyes in her very first film "Itim" (her launching film in a not-so-forgotten-era). Amidst her Golden years, the sourness was much felt. And she tasted like a sweet wine hidden for centuries in a vault of forever. A true actress headed for more in the prime of her years.
The cast ensemble of this film did not act. It was THEM. Oh, my. It's the kind of style we've been wanting for a long time.
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People come and go. Places far and wide. Feelings kept and feelings opened....
But the most important thing is, a man had done his BEST. His very best!
Seeing actor John Lloyd Cruz in this magnifying and almost unending film was like seeing the boundaries of TIME and SPACE.
We never knew that John Lloyd could act that way and feel that way. For a staright person to feel a gay character, internalize it and project it properly with such a meaty angst and delicate concerns- WOW. John Lloyd was that kind of actor, indeed.
A thirst was quenched. Of seeing an actor portrayed a role so bravely and so greatly...
ONE could be
ONE
again....
JUST LIKE FOREVER.
(as the words were written by ROBERT MANUGUID SILVERIO)
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| john lloyd: eternal |
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| charo: redeeming |
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| lav: a wonder |
