Movies
I studied Communication Arts in De La Salle University. I enjoyed filmmaking as a subject. Our group thesis was a film on old age where we hired the late great thespians Mary Walter and Adul de Leon. My professors were the famed scriptwriter, Doy del Mundo, now the chairman of the Department of Communication, the late great Hammy Sotto, the Philippine Francophile who perennially attended the Cannes Film Festival and the telenovela director of ABS-CBN, Trina Dayrit, among others.
I grew up with LVN movies in the afternoon. I saw Fernando Poe, Jr. fence with mestizo looking villains. I watched Ramon Revilla massacre the Americans in Balangiga. I mimicked every move that Ramon Zamora did in the movies aping Bruce Lee. I was a Vilmanian because my mom was and I hated Nora Aunor because of Maria Leonora Teresa. I can memorize lines in movies better than I can memorize quotes from the Bard or the Bible. In short, I was weaned on movies.
They say watching movies is fundamentally escapist. And I say why not? What is wrong with watching movies when you want to blow off steam. What is wrong with watching movies when you want to forget the miseries around you even for only two hours. They said Lord of the Rings was an escapist novel. Look how the movies turned it into 3 megahit morality films. What is wrong with watching movies when you can stop blabbering for a change and be a silent witness to the magic of the celluloid? Peace and quiet are the intended but happy consequences of movie watching. And that is good.
Movies were never meant to be the solution to anything. They were meant to expand our horizons, to experience things that our present realities in life may not have the luxury to give us. Movies were made to console us that in whatever station in life we are in, be it in sorrow or in joy, we are not alone. Without movies, imagination would forever be limited to the mind of the dreamer. Books can move you to action but movies made mass empathy instantly universal.
So, the next time you watch a movie, do not denigrate the time value spent inside the cinema. All the emotions you may not experience or all the sights you will never see or all the galaxies that may never be explored are now within reach through the magic of the silver screen. And that is something worth more than the hundred pesos we pay to get in.
Therefore, keep on watching movies to appreciate life and explore it. So, sit down, relax, grab a popcorn and enjoy.... A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.....................
I grew up with LVN movies in the afternoon. I saw Fernando Poe, Jr. fence with mestizo looking villains. I watched Ramon Revilla massacre the Americans in Balangiga. I mimicked every move that Ramon Zamora did in the movies aping Bruce Lee. I was a Vilmanian because my mom was and I hated Nora Aunor because of Maria Leonora Teresa. I can memorize lines in movies better than I can memorize quotes from the Bard or the Bible. In short, I was weaned on movies.
They say watching movies is fundamentally escapist. And I say why not? What is wrong with watching movies when you want to blow off steam. What is wrong with watching movies when you want to forget the miseries around you even for only two hours. They said Lord of the Rings was an escapist novel. Look how the movies turned it into 3 megahit morality films. What is wrong with watching movies when you can stop blabbering for a change and be a silent witness to the magic of the celluloid? Peace and quiet are the intended but happy consequences of movie watching. And that is good.
Movies were never meant to be the solution to anything. They were meant to expand our horizons, to experience things that our present realities in life may not have the luxury to give us. Movies were made to console us that in whatever station in life we are in, be it in sorrow or in joy, we are not alone. Without movies, imagination would forever be limited to the mind of the dreamer. Books can move you to action but movies made mass empathy instantly universal.
So, the next time you watch a movie, do not denigrate the time value spent inside the cinema. All the emotions you may not experience or all the sights you will never see or all the galaxies that may never be explored are now within reach through the magic of the silver screen. And that is something worth more than the hundred pesos we pay to get in.
Therefore, keep on watching movies to appreciate life and explore it. So, sit down, relax, grab a popcorn and enjoy.... A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.....................
posted by Edwin Lacierda | 11:25 PM
5 Comments:
You better show us some moves of Ramon Zamora then (I do not know who he is, though...hindi ko ata panahon yun...hehehe!) By the way, you can also be a great composer...Jingle Bells!
Kristhine, maybe because he's a guy?
I dream of making a film which will be written, produced and directed by me alone.
I want it to be a sad-ended story like Nicholas Spark's "Message in a Bottle."
I dream of making a film which will be written, produced and directed by me alone.
I want it to be a sad-ended story like Nicholas Spark's "Message in a Bottle."
Sir Doy introduced me to some of the black & white Filipino films. i was amazed on their sense of arts and how creative they are on the early days. i haven't even watched a single Indonesian old film. there are so much things to learn about old films. especially the filmmaking. watching movies is not simply to entertain ourselves, or to escape from reality... there are much more reasons to be considered.
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