November 26, 2020
For the opening film of this year's 4th Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino online film festival, the organizers chose this latest film by the new National Artist for Film, Kidlat Tahimik.
Kabunyan de Guia has decided to move his family from Baguio to Davao City. He decided to take the scenic route, driving his trusty vintage Volkwagen van Jambalaya the whole way, taking the RORO ferries from the Batangas port, through three Visayan islands (Panay, Negros and Cebu), before reaching Mindanao. Along the way, he met up with various local artists who taught him valuable informative lessons about various native arts and culture, and the efforts they do to preserve them for future generations.
It was quite fortunate that before this film, I was able to watch an earlier opus by Kidlat Tahimik (a.k.a. Eric de Guia) entitled "Balikbayan #1" (2015) which was a tribute to Magellan's native slave Enrique as the first man to circumnavigate the globe from 1519-1522. That film introduced me to the members of the de Guia family: his German wife Katrin, his son Kabunyan and his grandson Kalipay, all of whom also appeared in this new film. At this time, Kabunyan would already have a second son named Binulan.
At first you'd think that this was basically a home video taken by someone on a long cross country road trip. However, the insights you get from the various artists Kabunyan visited were truly very interesting and eye-opening. We are more familiar about traditional Western art and artists, but this film introduced us to some fascinating artists, like Boy Masculino's bird architecture in Panay, Perry Angel's fungus art in Negros, Bambi Beltran's arnis skills in Cebu, and many more. Unorthodox and avant-garde they may be, but real patriots all.
Also in Panay, we learned from Momo Dalisay that the original name of our country should be Mahar-Likha, as the name Philippines commemorated Spain's most cruel king. There was a visit to a school of Living Traditions in Calinog, Iloilo where traditional dances and embroidery are taught to younger generations, which may be the same one I saw in "The Chanters" (James Mayo, 2017). Negros rock artist Nune Alvarado talked about how true art is stifled by lessons and he encourages artist to set themselves free to express their artistry.
As for our central character Kabunyan, he had certainly imbibed his father's artistic lifestyle and is also passing this on to his two sons, educating them in a Woldorf school. There was a lot of focus on being one with nature and preserving its beauty. Along with Kabunyan, we all vicariously took this trip to find Liwanag (the Light), and realize that it should be found inside each of us. Can we all reach this seemingly elusive destination? 8/10.
Postscript: In my profession as a doctor, I am disturbed by the apparent endorsement of the moma (betel nut) chewing habit, a practice which carries with it a very high risk for the development of oral cavity cancer, a most difficult and debilitating disease condition. I offer my unsolicited advice that Kabunyan would consider to stop this vice for his young family's sake.
PPS: I hope they can edit the subtitling in one scene where Kabu's word "stuff" came out as "junk" in the subtitles. Those various things in his van were gifts from the people he visited on his trip, and it felt rude that these were called "junk."
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