“Thy Womb” is ostensibly made for the art house circuit and for filmfests abroad. More than a vehicle for Nora Aunor, it’s an eye-opening glimpse into the life of poor seafaring people in Tawi-tawi whose shanties are built on stilts. It shows the Muslim culture and traditions of the Badjao, complete with an elaborate wedding ceremony and rituals that will appeal more to foreign audiences who’ll no doubt find it all exotic. But local viewers used to superficial entertainment at Christmastime will surely shun it. They just want to be entertained, not to watch the impoverished lives of marginalized ethnic people.
Take note that when it was first entered in the filmfest, Thy Womb was rejected by the screening committee even if it’s the comeback film of the legendary superstar Nora Aunor and directed by the only Filipino to have won best director at the Cannes Filmfest, Dante Mendoza, who made a name for himself as indie filmmaker and has yet to experience a box office hit.
“Thy Womb” has a very thin story line. Nora is Shaleha, a “hilot” (midwife) and the film starts and ends with a childbirth scene. She’s married to Bembol Roco as Bangas-an. They earn a living by fishing and weaving mats. Nora wants to give Bembol a child but she’s infertile so she scouts around for a new wife for Bembol. After several tries, she finally finds one in Fatima (Lovi Poe, in a short guest role), who requires that Nora leaves Bembol the moment she begets a child. It’s Nora herself who helps her deliver the baby. The end.
More than dwelling on the story of Shaleha, the film is more interested in showing the lives of the people in Tawi-Tawi, full of local color, with the war intruding every now and then with gunshots heard elsewhere.
Technically, the movie is quite superior, particularly the lyrical cinematography by Odyssey Flores that’s full of awesome nature shots like a cluster of huts in the sea while it’s raining or some butanding whales swimming beside the boat of Nora and Bembol.
The muted, abbreviated style of “Thy Womb” is more akin to that of “Lola” than Mendoza’s more violent works like “Kinatay”, “Tirador” and “Captive”. Viewers who prefer fast paced, event-oriented films will find it tedious viewing, including the abrupt “bitin” ending when things are just starting to get more interesting.
The characters are also so underwritten in Henry Burgos script you have to make up your own interpretation when it comes to their motivations. Why is Nora so obsessed in finding a new wife for Bembol and is not even jealous at all? Why did Lovi who’s young and beautiful easily agree to marry a man old enough to be her father?
In foreign films, it’s usually indicated that “no animal is hurt in the making of this movie.” But here, we saw a cow helplessly falling into the sea and then being ruthlessly decapitated on cam. We closed our eyes and couldn’t bear to watch that scene.
As for the acting, we have to salute Ate Guy for accepting this role where she is totally deglamorized. She really looks like a sunburnt Badjao woman who’s past middle age. Her face is puffy, wrinkled, has definitely seen better days. She has no explosive acting highlights, no volatile confrontation scenes here. Everything is placid, controlled but poignant. But as always, her eyes say a lot, easily depicting the pain she’s going through while finding a new wife for her husband. She doesn’t display her usual kind of intense acting here that her fans often imitate, including her trademark delivery of her lines. She just becomes her role here, totally. She’s not Nora, she’s Shaleha, a Badjao native. And for that, she absolutely deserves the filmfest best actress award.
Tomorrow, our review of “One More Try”.
