REVIEW: 'Ang Kwento ni Mabuti'

By Randy Renier I. Espinoza

Morality gets thematic focus in Ang Kwento ni Mabuti, the latest full-length feature by maverick filmmaker Mes De Guzman, who is also a recipient of multiple awards from the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. Shot entirely in Nueva Vizcaya, with dialogues rendered in the Ilocano language, the film is lifted by the noteworthy performance of Nora Aunor, dubbed the country’s "Superstar," as Mabuti de la Cruz, who faces a dilemma when she comes across a bag containing peso bills worth 5 million. Written and photographed by the director himself, Mabuti tied with Ang Huling Cha-cha ni Anita for the Best Film plum and won for De Guzman the Best Director and Best Screenplay awards at the recently held CineFilipino Film Festival 2013.

The story follows the pastoral life of Mabuti, a faith healer in a highland village who is known for her benevolence She practices traditional medicine without accepting payment for her services, and she takes care of the sustenance of the household, which comprises her mother and four granddaughters. Her son and daughter have left their children in her custody to seek livelihood elsewhere and do not give financial support for the kids. Complications come to the self-complacent and easygoing Mabuti when she learns, apart from her daughter being pregnant for the fourth time by a fourth lover, that the parcel of land on which their house and hillside farm are nestled will be sequestered if they can’t pay their overdue taxes.

Mabuti seeks help from their barangay captain, who refers her to a land registration officer in a distant town. She then sets out on a trip, delayed by unfortunate circumstances, where she meets a friendly woman who leads her to her destination. She experiences another setback and is not able to accomplish her task until the next day, with no clear resolution of her problem. On her return trip, she again encounters the friendly stranger, now aloof, who later leaves her a bag and asks her to look for her daughter in Santa Clara and take care of her, after which she runs off and gets shot by authorities. Mabuti learns that the bag contains cash worth millions.

Mabuti spends the following days mulling over the windfall, torn as to what to make of it. She seeks counsel from her ailing mother, Nanang, who tells her that she will not pass judgment on her whatever she decides to do with the money, Just when she’s on the verge of reporting it to the authorities, happenstance prevents her from turning over the booty. The final straw comes when Nanang’s failing health brings them to a situation where only a costly operation can prolong her life, a deciding turn of event for the generally upright Mabuti to turn to her stash of money as last resort. But the mother passes away even before an operation could be had. What she eventually decides to do with the money is implied by the happy disposition of the family, reunited with Mabuti’s son and daughter, on board an SUV driven by the son, leaving Nanang’s final resting place. Mabuti then tells her son to head towards Santa Clara.  

Parable

Mabuti can be seen as a modern-day parable set in a rural context, with Mabuti de la Cruz serving as an allegory for the Filipino whose sense of right and wrong gets put to the test when saddled with huge problems, mainly of a financial nature. While its premise justifies whatever decision Mabuti undertakes, the film’s rationale could have achieved more forcefulness had the setting been in the metropolis, where more dire circumstances would have put the protagonist in a deeper moral crisis. An urban setting is too overworked, though, that it may diminish a film’s seminal quality. Perhaps De Guzman opted to locate his story in the countryside to lend a freshness of approach on a rather cliché theme of moral dilemma. He traded the explicit corruption and debauchery of the big city for the sparse indiscretions of country folks. In this mountainous region, simple and self-sufficient living is the espoused mantra. If there’s anything that disturbs the relative quiet of the area, it is the armed encounters between the insurgents and the government forces, the petty misdeeds of local officials, or infrequent criminal activities such as robbery.

Against this milieu, Mabuti is depicted as a noble person who spends her everyday life happily doing her chores and nurturing the bountiful nature that surrounds her, from which she gets sustenance for her family. She is a pillar to her household, a reliable faith healer, a friend to her neighbors and a good member of the community. Almost half of the film is devoted to establishing the integrity of her character, until the life-changing moral crisis she finds herself in.

Excesses

The story is simple and spare, but the narrative takes a circuitous route, encountering roadblocks along the way. Instead of plunging headlong into the conflict of the story, the camera wanders, spends too long a time on Mabuti’s activities of daily living, her encounters with her neighbors, her communion with nature, her interaction with her family. The film’s first half comes off as a pseudo-ethnography that seeks to show the geography, language, people, and ways of life of this side of the province. It’s interesting, especially for a city denizen, to get a glimpse of bucolic life, but it gets interminable after the first 15 to 30 minutes.

Even after a complication is introduced midway via a letter demanding payment of dues, the narrative stops and goes, like a public utility vehicle:  Mabuti gets delayed many times, sleeps at a military camp at one time and has to stay the night on the bleachers of a public gymnasium when the person she’s looking for isn’t available until the next day. And when she gets custody of the money, the narrative continues to take detours. Much camera time is spent on her deliberation, quiet thinking, and failed attempts to surrender the cash. Many elements are not integral to the story. The cursory depiction of the insurgency in the area doesn’t serve a political purpose. An effort at comedic relief via the village chief’s right-hand man fails. The character’s lines and moments, especially the one where he professes his love for a hen, are corny. The character is not at all lovable, and the amateur actor just makes the role even more dowdier.

Closer scrutiny will reveal a simplistic knowledge of folk medicine. Mabuti uses a stone, leaves and saliva which come in handy anytime and anywhere an emergency arises, but I believe faith healers employ other items to carry out their healing routines. Then there is a scene where Mabuti passes by a hut, where a neighbor is singing “Kahit Konting Awa” on the videoke. Not much criticism about it, but I still am skeptical about the viability of a videoke in a remote place in a household that is not particularly better off than Mabuti’s. The rub is that the song is the theme from Aunor’s 1995 film The Flor Contemplacion Story. Also, it is not one of the most popular ones that get sung on the videoke. A relatively young country girl will most likely prefer newer songs.

One factor that weighs down the believability of the story is the circumstances that surround the bag’s genesis. In a small rural town, it is unlikely that a robbery happens where a woman is part of the crime. And it is highly improbable that an establishment has readily available cash that amounts to millions and a member of the gang runs away with 5 million as her share from the loot.

Acting

Ensemble acting is the film’s waterloo. Picking bystanders for bit parts is forgivable, but casting amateurs that lack talent for critical support roles is downright inexcusable. The intention to achieve authenticity by casting residents that speak the language doesn’t have to hinder one from even considering tapping locals with acting experience. The four children give satisfactory performances, but the “actors” who interpret the elderly roles do not exhibit rapport with the camera and with their co-actors. The Kapitan actor is simply drab and Nanang is totally out of sync, unable to evoke the emotions required of her role. Arnold Reyes and Mara Lopez as Mabuti’s children are okay. Ama Quiambao appears only in one scene, while Sue Prado gives a pivotal turn as the robbery suspect.

Nora Aunor is the film’s saving grace. She reaffirms why she is the ultimate interpreter of roles that represent ethnic and minority groups. Relaxed and self-assured, she abandons the emphatic delivery of lines that has long been identified with her and speaks with fluidity in her passable Ilocano accent. Her movements and strides are smooth, natural, and appropriate as she explores the vast expanse of the country’s terrain. She registers ambivalence with her indescribable grin and her face that sometimes evokes rapidly shifting emotions, but overall her facial expressions are spot on. She again makes full use of her dewy eyes to express emotions that dialogues cannot convey, although she tends to overuse her prized assets in a couple of scenes where those eyes appear sharp and frightened. Her highlight is the riveting moment where she is at a crossroad, fully resolved to make use of the money, but she gets blocked by a series of jeeps with a signboard that reads “Santa Clara.” Her face and body movements powerfully communicate her strong will despite her confused state of mind.

Conclusion

The vision behind the material’s conception does not get fully translated in the execution. The hauntingly picturesque shots of the terrain that open the film, which get repeated towards the middle part, and some scenery shots that are almost lyrical are awesome, but most of the film’s cinematography is uneven and not awe-inspiring. It may be that the lensing is not really that great or Vizcaya’s terrain is not really beautiful enough to translate into enhanced celluloid vistas. Editing needs polishing as scenes sometimes do not flow smoothly. Mabuti’s worth resides in Aunor’s natural gift as a topnotch actress, its brave use of a regional language for its screenplay, and its attempt to showcase a little-known upland province.

RATING: 7/10

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