What do we truly value in times of hardship and crisis?

IN continuing the celebration of my third anniversary with this esteemed newspaper, I am pleased to share another set of film reviews — the third of the five series — on the finalists of the recently-concluded Klima Film Festival.

“DRAWINGS” Reviewed by Marianna L. Vargas

How do the natural elements shift the balance in our lives? How do they shape our memories and those we create with those we love? Set against an audibly visceral backdrop of unrelenting rain, “Drawings” is a poignant story of how one’s experiences, more significantly, his memories are inextricably tied to the unforgiving weather that sweeps through a person’s life and home so frequently that it becomes an accepted way of life. Through the imagery of everyday belongings and personal possessions, the film takes us through the memories of the main character, an older brother and his younger sister. Memories that were framed by the uncertainty of weather and conditions that should have essentially offered them security.

Following the characters’ development from youthful naiveté to hardened drifters, forced to flee their home when the rains battered down, the film’s focal point embodies resignation to circumstance yet longing for days untroubled with recurring scenes of him gazing at his sister’s drawings. A sister who eventually refuses to accept circumstances as her brother does and pulls away from the strong sibling bond the film works so hard to establish. The impact of water, though cleverly understated throughout the film, is evident in how it shapes the experience of the siblings and ultimately determines their fates.

This intimately personal account, set almost entirely within the brother’s modest surroundings, surfaces questions about what do we truly value in times of hardship and crisis? What are the belongings we must carry with us throughout our lives that, despite the most intense onslaughts, cannot seem to leave behind? And in the face of recurring hardship are we able to part ways with the things and people we hold dear?

These are important questions for a country like the Philippines whose collective resilience is delicately buoyed by the social cohesion among communities and families. Thus, a story on how these relationships are being pulled apart at the seams by the same forces that are believed to have coalesced us merits our attention. If anything, it challenges us to reassess our romanticized notions of Filipino collective resilience.

“TINIG”

Reviewed by Katherine Mae P. Sarmiento Directed by Mark Andrew Lim and produced by Prima Lente, “Tinig” is, at its core, a coming-of-age story depicting how an avoidable tragedy set a young man’s path toward finding his place and role in society. On a deeper level, it is a story of how a young man’s voice finds its way from a place of fear and helplessness to become a beacon of hope, a point of reference, for those unable to find the way out on their own.

Through flashbacks, the film provides a glimpse into the life of a young Makoy living with his parents in their modest seaside home. In a household with many worries, he looked to his father for stability and assurance in caring for his very ill mother, coping with the demands of school and making ends meet. Adapting to a changing climate was not a priority until his parents perished during a strong typhoon. Years later, he becomes a known climate advocate, choosing to use his voice and story to help others avoid the same fate.

While the production was not able to hide its struggles with telling a complex story while filming during a pandemic and meeting competition guidelines, which helps explain the youthfulness of its cast, the film illustrates three powerful images of climate vulnerability.

The first image is how constant exposure to extreme weather can make people minimize the risks that extreme events or slow-onset climate hazards may bring, especially when compared to other more “immediate” issues, such as health and economic concerns. In the film, Makoy’s father unwittingly and easily put himself and his family at risk simply by considering the weather report as “just another” typhoon and not preparing for the potential onslaught. Still, we cannot fault him for his lack of foresight, for prioritizing other concerns. It is a reality that there are people, especially those living in vulnerable areas, that cannot reduce their climate risks.

The second image of climate vulnerability is the struggle the Filipino youth faces in getting their voices and concerns heard. A young Makoy tried to get his worries across to his father several times, only to have his concerns gently downplayed. It did not come across that the father meant to be dismissive but that he was trying to look out for his son and thought that his son need not worry about such issues. While it is true that there is wisdom in experience, there is also merit in seeing the world from fresh perspectives, in having the next generation have a say and be an active part of a family or a community’s resilience planning.

The third is of the mental and emotional impacts of climate change and extreme events. The film’s attempt to try and capture the inner turmoil that Makoy goes through — from being an anxious hand-wringing child to finding strength after a tragedy to become an advocate — is commendable. Even the older climate advocate, Makoy, is not depicted as an infallible hero but as a sensitive and convoluted individual who struggles to overcome the ghosts of his past to make way for a better future for himself and others.

What the film lacks in production finesse it makes up for in the interior strength of its main characters and in its brave approach to tackling the complexity of climate vulnerability and action.

These two short films — Drawings and Tinig — are part of the Top 10 Finalists to the first-ever Klima Film Festival jointly organized by the Climate Change Commission and the Oscar M. Lopez Center, which aims to mainstream the effects of climate change through the use of short films. The trailers are available at the CCC’s YouTube account: https://www.youtube. com/c/cccphl/videos.

The author is the executive director of the Young Environmental Forum and a non-resident fellow of Stratbase ADR Institute. He completed his climate change and development course at the University of East Anglia (United Kingdom) and an executive program on sustainability leadership at Yale University (USA). You can email him at ludwig.federigan@gmail.com.