With the moryonan just around the corner, the stoic Tasyo (Arnold Cruz Reyes) finishes making another Morion mask out of soft dapdap wood, wraps it in an old newspaper that shows the photo of President Ferdinand Marcos declaring Martial Law, calls teenage son Mario (Jao Daniel Elamparo) and asks him to deliver it to a barrio wholesale buyer.
This is the opening scene of Panata, a made-for-television movie for May 2017 as helmed by TV5 content provider and Cannes Best Director Brillante Mendoza for Brillante Mendoza Presents, which broadcasts tonight at 10:30 p.m.
Panata is a Tagalog word for a “vow” or “oath,” usually religious in nature. The pledge here is that of local farmers and fishermen particularly in the island of Marinduque participating in the colorful festival held during the Holy Week.
Wearing costumes and wood or papier mache masks replicating the garb of Roman soldiers and Syrian mercenaries to re-enact the Passion of Christ around town streets, participants depict the story of Longinus, a Roman centurion who is blind in one eye. He was the one who pierced the side of the crucified Christ, where the blood that spurted forth touched his blind eye and fully restored his sight. This miracle converted Longinus to Christianity, which earned the ire of fellow centurions. The re-enactment searches for Longinus for seven days and reaches its climax when he is caught on Easter Sunday and beheaded.
Brillante Mendoza Presents: Panata reflects TV5’s strong commitment to be the TV network to provide differentiated entertainment broadcasted every month such as Tsinoy on February 4, Everlasting on February 25, Pagtatapos on March 22, and its freshest edition Panata on May 27. To follow are Anak on June 24, Kadaugan on July 29 and Habilin on August 26.
TV5 CEO Chot Reyes was absent during its advance screening at the Director’s Club of SM Megamall’s Mega Fashion Hall as he was coaching the Gilas Pilipinas at the 2017 SEABA Championship. So he was represented by Mendoza and Marketing head Cholo Magtoto along with the indie cast and crew.
Among the invited viewers were Marinduque Governor Carmencita Reyes, who extended assistance throughout the four-day shoot. Accompanied by daughters Gina Reyes and Dr. Violette Reyes, they graced the special screening that directly shows the Visayan province’s natural beauty, colorful culture and the tenacity of its people.
THE NARRATIVE. Based on the script of Kat Marasigan, Panata is the found story of Mario (Kristofer King in the adult role), a moryon mask maker’s son, who performs the moyonan Lenten rites for his father’s return amidst an impending rebellion during Martial Law.
Father Fernando (Lou Veloso), the parish priest who warned Tasyo and wife Azon (Sue Prado) who are New People’s Army sympathizers, of their impending arrests. The military uses editions of the festival to catch and kill rebels, treating them as substitute Longinus.
Mario and his best friend, Toto (Felix Roco in the adult role and Vince Rillon in adult role), are witnesses to the brutal and unjust arrest of Mario’s father during the early years of Martial Law.
The desperate longing leads Mario and his mother to devote and surrender themselves to a higher power and perform various Catholic rites and rituals for the desperado patriarch’s return. Years of prayer and devotion have passed, still no father is found.
Mario, who is now married to Ising (Jill Palencia Ibuyan in the adult role and Crystal January Bravo in the adult role), takes his father’s roles as breadwinner, mask maker and rebel sympathizer.
Later on, Mario is reunited with his childhood friend, Toto, now a student activist enlightened by higher ideologies in his studies. They visit a funeral home based on the buzz Tasyo’s cadaver was deposited there, only to find out it’s a lie.
Exposed by the chaos brought about by the decline of Marcos’ regime, Toto brings Mario news of the rebel group’s impending victory against the dictator and invites him to participate in a clandestine gathering in the mountains. He gets shot in the head, which causes his right eye to turn blind like Longinus.
Preparing for another Moriones festival, Mario tells his wife with dire sureness, “Huli na ito (This is the last).” The Moriones coincides with the death of their life tormentor, Marcos. But he is back in the streets in the next panata.
COMMENTS. Panata weaves an intense and immense neorealist interpretation of life and death that pictures harsh historical realities in the Philippines created by religion, politics and culture.
King’s unconvincing eye makeup gives the naturalness of his acting a high degree of conviction. Sue gives an undemanding lesson in understated acting that makes her performance the film’s centerpiece. Given the epic treatment, their performances undeniably lead to the inevitable conclusion of life’s existential nature.
The allegory turns out how the common people’s slow-changing lives intersect with their sufferings such as poverty, fight for justice and how the government as represented by soldiers are their never-changing tormentors as if acting their own private moryonan.
Mendoza is instinctively at his best here in imbuing the narrative with multi-level meanings that squeeze valid truths in every scene through the nuances of script, cinematography, production design, music, editing and their unobtrusive stir, sometimes mocking itself with misuse in high decibel still.
He makes possible a new kind of differentiated television with ease such as what the network shoots for, showing feasibility in the time of melodrama and pseudo-entertainment.
This asserts his role as master filmmaker without trying, such as the effect of Masahista on me. But that’s too far back. How about Serbis instead? What a feeling! For the longest time, I had severely avoided making a personal assessment of Mendoza’s ability as filmmaker.
With Panata, I am forced to do just that although I shamelessly gave him a standing ovation in an almost empty cineplex upon viewing Thy Womb. After sitting through Panata, I stood up to shake Mendoza’s hand for the superb enlightenment and entertainment, marks of an all-important feature.
I have to make an admission. Brillante is now in my shortlist of mogul Filipino filmmakers,
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‘Panata:’ TV5’s differentiated entertainment
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