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Philipina A. Marcelo
Exhausted from "laboring hard" to finish grading quizzes so I could return them to my students before the final examinations week, I took a much-needed pause. I decided to give myself a couple of hours to decompress and refresh. I was debating between leisure reading/walking (in the Mall, that is, hehe...) or spending my time productively on the mindless activity of fixing my walk-in closet, which was suffering from terrible neglect over the past two weeks or so of marathon lectures that it was no
longer possible to walk in it! I absently reached for the TV remote control and pressed the "on" button while entertaining my tired brain with the trivial debate. I automatically surfed the cable channels without paying attention to the programs, just letting myself be lulled by the blur of images and sounds as I flipped from one channel to another. And then, something caught my attention - a familiar music... from a long time ago - a slow melody on piano, melancholy but so sweet... my mind switched to "alert mode" instinctively and I started to pay attention. Hmmm... that music - unmistakably Vangelis! The movie... I retraced my way back to where the sound came from as my mind did a rapid scan through my memory shelves... there it was! Ooooh, of course it was "Missing" by the brilliant film maker, Costa-Gavras! It is one of my favorite movies of all times! All of a sudden, memory lane beckoned... and I allowed myself to be transported back in time when films were made for high-quality value first and commercial value second! Sweet!
"Missing" was one of Costa-Gavras' highly acclaimed political films - bold and daring in its exploration of power struggle in a country ruled by terror, a classic in its brilliant screenplay and editing, highly artistic in its beautiful cinematography and incredible musical score. It exposed the brutality and the utter absence of respect
for human life in places where lust for power reigned... and the conspiracy that involved powerful nations that aided them, rather than abating the monstrosity's rise to power, in order to protect their selfish interests. The lies made and the willingness of democratic nations to turn a blind eye from the death of the very democracy that they stood for to win the favor of those who were unjustly clinging to power were horrific! Citizens were expected to align their thoughts with the powers that be without questions, otherwise, they would be eliminated. And so, people were constantly rounded up and arrested without apparent reason... if there were reasons at all, they were fabricated from the vile of sheer lust for power and the abhorable thirst for blood. The arrested usually never returned. In some cases, people merely disappeared... and were reported as missing... and never to be found again - alive. The plot involved a man, Ed Horman (played with such rare powerful impact by Jack Lemmon), and his daughter-in-law's search for his missing only son, Charlie Horman (played so effectively by John Shea). The place was Chile, during the time of the infamous coup d'etat in the '70s. Charlie was an idealistic Harvard-educated journalist and artist who ventured to Chile with his politically left-leaning wife, Beth (played by the brilliant Sissy Spacek), much to Ed's
disapproval. Propelled by his instinctive journalist's instinct, he uncovered the inner dark workings of a coup d'etat that pushed his idealism to its very core. Always optimistic even when faced with the most horrific of situations, he dug deep. His tenacity to get to the heart of the truth led him deeper into the dark pit of conspiracy between his government and the military strongmen that were to overthrow the oppressive yet legitimate government of Chile... the aftermath of the conspiracy plunged the country to a deeper pit of violence and disrespect for human life via military rule. As he pieced the clues and hard-dug little pieces of information together to draw the picture of truth, he became a target of the coup plotters and their supporters' disdain. Soon, he was picked up from his house by the military and disappeared... missing. Upon learning of his son's disappearance, Ed traveled to Chile from New York to aid Beth in her search for Charlie. Ed and Charlie never saw eye to eye in their political views - Ed's political beliefs were conservative and he saw Charlie as an unreasonable and stubborn idealistic Marxist while Charlie saw his father's opposition to his political beliefs as an expression of his disapproval for the path he'd chosen for himself - that of a penniless journalist whose life was always on the line. Being a successful New York professional, Ed had big dreams for his only son... but Charlie was inclined to fulfill his big dreams for humanity - freedom and equality. Beth had the same idealistic mind and had chosen the same path as Charlie's, much to Ed's disapproval. Little did father and son knew about their much deeper oneness in thoughts and principles - that they had the same dream for
humanity... the father's approach was through uncomplicated practice of profession and obedience to authorities without question, the son's approach was through writing about the truth and subscribing to the ideals of Marx. Both had kind hearts and simple desires... and a deep love for each other. But such love was cloaked with the superficial difference in approach to fulfill their common dream. The superficial polarity between father and son caused a rift between them, surmounting the much-deeper and more important similarities. As Ed and Beth searched for Charlie, the father came to know more about his missing son... Beth served as the link between the two, introducing the son to the father by mirroring him to his father through herself - the true "other half" of the missing son... and the father came to realize how he and his son, and even Beth, were so alike... that in various circumstances - easy and hard - he found himself choosing, mostly instinctively, the same choices as his son made, which didn't surprised Beth as she got to know Ed better. Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek gave great performances in the film... as I always say, "whenever I think of great actors, Jack Lemmon in 'Missing' always comes to mind". And, for actresses, Sissy Spacek in "Missing" would definitely make the short list.
At the end of their search for Charlie, Ed found himself in exactly the same spot where Charlie was before he went missing... and with all the bitter realization of his son's true whereabouts as he himself uncovered the truth, he found joy in knowing that their every footstep matched, and that he arrived at exactly the same decision as Charlie had that caused his disappearance... the only difference was that Charlie was braver to have actually taken the selfless choice, for which Ed was absolutely awed by his son... and his love and respect for his son intensified - in ways that Charlie will never find out.
While the film narrated the violence that defined the coming to power of a military rule in a democracy-starved nation, the film also explored the beauty and complexities of human relationships... how some could be pure and easy in their honesty and openness, as that of Charlie and Beth's, while others can be overwhelming in their utter intensity that love was often mistaken for hatred, like that of Charlie and Ed's. Still, others are pure and beautiful, and yet they are hard to decode in their subtlety, like that of Ed and Beth's. Costa-Gavras' wonderful story telling was at its best in this film - he left his audience at the edge of their seats in suspense. At the same time, his artistic exploration of human relationships appeared to be a vital part of the storytelling rather than another objective. And so, in the end, he left the audience wondering whether the storytelling is a means to understand human relationships, or the exploration of human relationships was an artist's tool to make the storytelling more interesting and effective. In any case, the film was absorbing in ways most fascinating - an absolute classic in film making artistry!
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The Costa-Gavras obra, "Missing", was one of the last few films I've watched with my late mother before she was taken away by cancer. She had such a great taste when it came to films, TV programs and books. I learned about "Peter the Great" of Russia and the venerable Padre Pio of Italia while hanging out with her and my siblings in front of the TV, snacking on her to-die-for pancit. I grew up wondering about India after watching with her the screen adaptation of "A Passage to India" by the legendary David Lean as well as the great Attenborough film, "Gandhi" in the early
'80s... Films of brilliant local film makers like Lino Brocka ("Tinimbang ka ngunit kulang"), Ishmael Bernal ("Himala") and Mike De Leon ("Kisapmata") who made big waves in the '70s and '80s were part of our early education in local critically acclaimed film literacy, thanks to our mother.Like my Mother, I was awed by the talent of Barbra Streisand, especially in "The Way We Were", and the classy grace and intellectual air that surrounded Ali MacGraw in "Love Story". And yet, I developed a liking for beautiful "techie" guys as I spent evenings savoring my TV time reward after finishing school homework with her and my siblings. We were big fans of Jan Michael Vincent in "Airwolf", Richard Dean Anderson in MacGyver, Pierce Brosnan in Remington Steele, and even the guys in "A Team". I became a big fan of Portia of "The Merchant of Venice" at the age of 10 because she told us the story with passion before I ever got to read the William Shakespeare romantic comedy a year later. My siblings and I are John F. Kennedy fans even if we all were born many years after his assassination - all because of our mother's books, magazine and
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newspaper cut-outs about JFK. I became a Charles Dickens believer after she suggested that I read "Tale of Two Cities", which I did in my early years as a devout bookworm. Most of my High School literature readings, I've already read even before stepping into High School - all out of inspiration from my mother. I've enjoyed debating with her over Elias' personality and principles while I was reading "El Filibusterismo" - one of the immortal novels of the Philippine National Hero, Jose Rizal. There was so much to remember about her... and about the many lessons learned from her... and through her. She was a most wonderful woman, my mother - beautiful, totally intelligent, outspoken, brave, idealistic, artistic, thoughtful, loyal and loving. But, just like Ed, her love for us, her kids, were masked by the oddly focused and strong desire to get us to the shore of success... even willing to carry us through to the finish line herself when we were faltering. When I think about it now, perhaps she had a premonition of her early demise, passing away at the age of 48, and therefore was eager to set us on our feet - strong and on track - early on. While I had so much admiration for her - more than I ever had for anyone else I'd admired in my life - as a teenager it drove me crazy how she seemed so controlling and domineering - always had opinion about things, especially regarding what I should do with my life. In her awesomeness and perfection, it was hard to grow in her shadow, however warm it was there... she was the persistent voice in my head, telling me what to do whenever an unusual circumstance occurred and I had to summon "untried wisdom" to come up with a decision... and it pissed me off how she was always right, no matter how hard I tried to use all the logic I so painstakingly learned in school just to come up with something akin to some reasonable decisions!
Despite my quiet rebellion, I was never disrespectful to her. And, just like Ed and Charlie, my mother and I had a lot of things in common... our idealism for one, and our love for anything artistic for
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another. I think I inherited her love for reading and writing, and her natural inclination to arts. I remember being awed by the decorated walls of her "homeroom" in school - she was an elementary school teacher. They were very colorful, artful and, at the same time, so highly informative for the students. Parents were so appreciative of her work and her dedication to teaching their kids. While I do not have "homeroom" to decorate, I do have my way of liberating my artistic side in teaching - Powerpoint. :) I could almost imagine my mother rolling her eyes at me... but deep inside, I knew she would be proud and delighted. :)My mother was so committed to her teaching profession that as a little girl, I remember that our family's typical Saturday mornings were spent in her Graduate School - playing word games and doing school homework with my siblings while she
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attended classes. After her classes, my father would pick us up, from a weekend overtime in his own business, and Saturday afternoons were spent in the local parks close to her School. After church, Sundays were spent in her school "homeroom" helping her out with the wall decorations - cutting out letters, geometric figures, flowers and animals - and watering the plants inside and outside the room. And then my siblings and I were rewarded with a cone of ice cream, banana queue or her tastiest cookings afterwards - simple joys for big and meaningful efforts, simple rewards for big missions fantastically accomplished, and converting extra work time to sweet family time. That was our way of life, it was our frame of mind - it still is until now... all of it were borrowed from our mother - such priceless gifts that were absolutely irreplaceable.It was probably those experiences that made me so committed to my own Academic profession as well... finding joy in the little things of great sacrifice that
brought humongous success to my students - in many ways and in many forms...being free from the bondage of materialism and shallowness of purpose, and always having that voice in my head - no matter how stern and annoying - that kept me grounded and on course, especially in the most challenging times when hard decisions and choices were to be made. The lessons of idealism learned from my mother got embedded in my head and in my heart, more than I realized... and more than I was humble and brave enough to actually admit! Irreplaceable - my mother is, and I do love her - totally. And... I miss her so!
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Photo credits and Acknowledgement: (1) My photo (Part 1 of Thermodynamics Quiz #3); (2) "Missing" poster (grabbed from IMDb); (3) "Missing" still (grabbed from www); (4)"Missing" still (people were being rounded up by military, grabbed from www); (4) Collage of photos grabbed from various sources in the www, mostly wikipedia; (5)Collage of Mike De Leon, Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal films grabbed from various sources in the www; (6) My picture, "Morning with Mama" (with my mother and three siblings, waking up on a weekend morning and crowding our mother and father's bed, 1982); (7) My picture, "Weekend with Mama", (spending Saturday afternoon in Luneta Park with my mother and two siblings, and my mother's youngest brother, after my mother's Grad School classes, 1976); (8) My picture (thesis defense of my undergraduate students, January 2010).
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