Imelda
"Perception is real, truth is not. I'm not fighting for money and possessions. I'm fighting for something more precious. I pray that as we enter the cyber age -- the Age of Transparency -- the facts and the truth will out." – Imelda Marcos, cited in The New Yorker, April 1998 (by Margaret Phillips)
Ramona Diaz captured the most entertaining Filipina ever in her documentary, ‘Imelda’. This ‘star’, as she refers to herself, did not appear in any episode of the telenobelas or Kuya Germs’ That’s Entertainment. For us martial law babies, she was the constantly gown-donning, well-coiffured First Lady who could cry at the drop of a lace hanky or laugh or smile on cue. She was also the reason many of us despise the song ‘Dahil sa Iyo’. Ramona Diaz’ film does not condemn her nor ridicule her. In fact, the subject of the documentary pretty much excels at accomplishing the latter herself without help from anybody. Neither does the film justify her eccentricities. It creates moments of enlightenment as to how famous people become self-absorbed and self-centered.
Fr. James Reuter, SJ recalls how when he had come to visit her, she talked endlessly about herself for 3 hours that he did not even have the chance to utter an ‘oh’ in between her monologues. And when after 3 hours she had gone weary, she had put on a video of herself on the TV for him to watch. He ended up being inundated by two Imeldas – one in person and another on the dumb box (pun not intended).
Diaz gives equal air time to the so-called Steel Butterfly’s detractors and loyalists. It is however Imelda who creates the over-all tone and message for the movie. Her obsession to replay images of her and her husband during their glory days on video and even as her children take their turn into the political arena, her focus is still on how they will describe her to be the master in the art of politics. She will even nudge the viewer to pay attention to how Bongbong and Imee will exalt her in a few seconds. And then you will relish how her face acknowledges with approval and agreement her children’s praises.
The flaunting of the ostentatious lifestyle is of course, inevitable. A parade of her burdado gowns and the infamous 3500 pairs of shoes (which is claims isn't true as there are only 1,200), the parties with George Hamilton serenading her, the diaper boxes with the jewelries all reminded us once again why the anger among the thinking Filipinos eventually led to the EDSA revolution.
A hilarious moment is when she tries to prove to her audience that she has a philosophical streak. She begins to explain using picturegrams her ‘Seven Portals to Peace’ which eventually wound up to ten to which she concludes that computers, this one a drawing of an apple (yup, sweetie, your Mac) are somehow linked to the great Creator. You have to see the movie to appreciate that joke… err, philosophy pala.
On the web, a post-movie visit should be: The Wit and Wisdom of Imelda Marcos.
You shouldn’t miss the movie – regardless if you are Filipino or not. It once more underlines the truth that the rich are not like you and me. And for that I say: THANK GOD!
"If you live the way I do, you think heaven and paradise is after death, after the sementeryo. No sir! It can be here. And so can hell be. So you've got to have the right attitude to be in paradise. And I want you all to be in heaven with me. Really, it's true. I can assure you really. I will find for you paradise and heaven even after I come down from Malacanang. And I will have happiness and paradise even after Malacanang." -- cited in Beatriz Romualdez Francia's Imelda: A Story of the Philippines
P.S. As per Philstar on June 17, Imelda has filed with her lawyers a request NOT to show the documentary in the Philippines.