The Philippines has a rich
history of government and politics and none is probably as controversial and
famous as the former first lady, Imelda Marcos. The film is a good portrayal of
the inside life of the Marcos’ —the couple known for dictatorship and
embezzlement of billions of dollars. The documentary is narrated by Imelda
herself, with an interview of her son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and other third
party interviews. In her own words, Imelda recounts the past and tells an
entertaining, and a bit intriguing tale.
The documentary tells of her rise
to power from being an orphan girl in the province to a beauty queen to first
lady, and of her affairs in the governance of the country during the presidency
of her husband. Marcos and Imelda’s
partnership was such a good combination (Marcos was seen as the future
president, and Imelda belonged to the Romualdez clan, a very powerful,
political family) that one of her relatives commented, “It was the beginning of
the end.” Add to it Imelda’s charm, good looks and voice, Marcos won the
presidency of which they stayed in power for two decades.
Journalists and critics all had
their fill of how they felt about the Marcos’ and now, Imelda, in her own words
now tell of her version and one thing is certain, she has this obsession of
beauty. For her, beauty is everything. Beauty is love, God, harmony, etc. She
is quoted to have said that to be beautiful is inexpensive, and yet, she had made a lot
of women go blind doing hand embroidery of dresses she demands in such short
notice, and not only that, she has a collection of over 2,500 shoes and lots
and lots of costly jewelry, all in the sake to look beautiful. She also has
this convoluted thing of representing the people. She said it takes her an hour
to prepare when meeting with kings and queens and double the time when she’s in
the provinces because the poor people needed a role model like her, a star in
the darkness, which was contradicted by her daughter Imee, who said that she
just wore a tee shirt and denim shorts when going from village to village
because she doesn’t think it appropriate, and that it would have been funny,
which I totally agree. It is a nice thing that she identifies with her people
but she has an absurd way of representing the people. An interview with someone
on the film said that Imelda told him of how she serves as the representative
of the people and that she felt the poor Filipinos experienced life
through her, that when she lived well, they felt good. It’s like saying, I
won’t go hungry if Imelda has eaten in full because Imelda represents me.
But then, in all of her
self-centeredness and obsession with beauty, she has done good things too—she
led the building of theaters and museums we probably wouldn’t have had before.
She has a point when she said that we had a crisis of identity. She also built
hospitals, heart, kidney, and lung centers, population control program, roads,
housing, settlements, social welfare, etc. In a way, she has been a mother to
the Filipino people when she had been the first lady, but as it goes with
people who are in power and in possession of the excess money in government
budget, turn corrupt and all.
People have called Imelda many
names—her children called her a political animal, others called her the Steel
Butterfly, but more appropriately perhaps is for being known as Imeldific. To
quote Imelda, "I was born ostentatious. They will list my name in the dictionary
someday. They will use
Imeldific to mean ostentatious extravagance."
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