Linggo, Marso 9, 2014

Imelda

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." 




Geshabelle B. Apura                                                                                                                           2012-49906

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