August 8, 2024
The family of Dante (Nor Domingo) and Madonna (Mylene Dizon) Umali resided in a remote island community. Dante operated a boat service to ferry people from the mainland to the island and back. Aside from being a housewife, Madonna was an active member of the church women's group. Their eldest son, Lucas (Enzo Osorio), was a deaf-mute, while the youngest, Tomas (Ruslan Jacob Asumbrado), had no congenital disabilities.
One day, Fr. Mejor Lahay (Rom Factolerin) was brought to the island to say Mass. The kids were told by their elders to help bring the gifts for Fr. Mejor to the house of barangay captain Berto (Neil Tolentino). On their way home, Madonna noted that Lucas was not his usual self. He stopped in the middle of the road and began to cry. Madonna knew something was wrong, and tried her best to persuade Lucas to tell her what happened to him.
This film, written by Honeylyn Joy Alipio and directed by Law Fajardo, had two advocacies that it wanted to push. First is awareness about the deaf community, and second was about the sexual abuse of children. While the title "The Hearing" probably referred to the judicial process where the judge hears witness testimonies, it could also refer to the auditory sense which Lucas lacked -- both of which were integral parts of this film.
Unlike other mothers in typical Filipino melodramas, Mylene Dizon played the distraught Madonna in a most restrained manner. Nor Domingo provided solid support as Madonna's husband. I don't know if Enzo Osorio is a real deaf-mute boy or not, but his silent yet intense portrayal of Lucas was truly moving and riveting. That tense scene when Lucas was being grilled by cold defense lawyer Atty. Satparam (Atty. Francisco Salvador) was outstanding.
It was very interesting to see how the deaf were being treated within our criminal justice system. Having two sign language translators interpret and relay the deaf witness's answer to every question by the lawyers and investigators in order to assure accuracy and impartiality seems to be such a tedious process, yet the defense still attacked this process relentlessly to create a sense of reasonable doubt. I don't think I saw this in "Anatomy of a Fall" or any other movie before.
Fajardo's style of storytelling immersed us in the silent world Lucas lived in, seeing people and things in his 12 year-old point of view. We see how shaky and unsettling he saw the world to be. While we can see that he did not hear what the people around him were saying, I wish Fajardo could somehow have let us in on whether Lucas understood what was going on or not. I do not recall a scene where Lucas acknowledged his parents' concern for his well-being.
Curiously, Alipio and Fajardo chose to intertwine the domestic issues of one of the sign language translators into the story. Maya (Ina Feleo) was a SPED teacher who was occasionally called on by the courts to translate if there were deaf witnesses. At home, she endured her oppressive, brutish husband Joseph (Mark Dionisio). Of course, Feleo was excellent, but the connection between her problems with Lucas's case could feel rather tenuous. 8/10
shy is it a stretch?
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