Facebook repost: May 18, 2017

MIGRATION AND CINEMA. 6. The Filipina as nurturing figure in the world's imagination: the nanny, domestic help, the caregiver.

Inadvertently, the massive response to the publication of Filipino American journalist, the late Alex Tizon's personal essay about his family, in particular of his lola, practically a "kasambahay" or domestic help in the US, prompted me to re-visit films that explore this modern phenomenon - mostly Filipina domestic workers working in foreign lands, a character so pervasive that it has been solely the Filipino's as an identifiable, so ethnically-specific when seen through the eyes of non-Filipino filmmakers.

Not that Filipino directors failed to dramatize the stories of the help because they do, most exemplified by Eddie Garcia's much acclaimed film, ATSAY (1978) with Superstar Nora Aunor in an iconic role which served to cement her enduring image as the oppressed, maligned and ill-treated character.

What is intriguing and not-so-surprising is the consistent characterization of the Filipina/o as a nurturing figure - be she/he a caregiver, a nanny or a domestic helper - in foreign films.

To cite a few films.

- Swedish filmmaker, Lukas Moodysson's MAMMOTH (2009): Filipina actor Marife Necesito, in a role as a nanny in New York that for me, eclipsed those of Hollywood stars Michelle Williams and Gael Garcia Bernal, that more or less, defined early on, this Filipina character on the world stage, her split-screen conversation with her son in the Philippines is simply heartbreaking;

- Israeli filmmaker, Etgar Keret's JELLYFISH (2007), with Mane-nita de la Torre as a domestic help finding difficulty in communicating with her ward, one of the three women characters whose lives depict the travails of secular life in Israel;

- Singaporean filmmaker, Anthony Chen's debut film, ILO ILO (2013), with Angeli Bayani as the nanny with whom the young boy developed an emotional relationship. Incidentally earler, another Singaporean filmmaker, Kelvin Tong had a horror film, THE MAID (2005), the Filipina domestic help/nanny (Alessandra de Rossi) in a battle between good and evil, found the truth to the murder of another Filipina domestic help in the same household.

With these, uncomfortable it may seem, can we re-set the dial and forge our own voice, create our own image?

- Mauro Feria Tumbocon Jr, Director, FACINE

58Robert Cerda, Fiel Zabat and 56 others

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• Teresa Opaon-Ali

  this is nice mau, tama ka , but remember the famous flor contemplacion? also that vilma santos and claudine movie about hongkong domestic helper i forgot the title

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    Mauro Feria Tumbocon Jr

    Just included here those films directed by a non-Filipino; hence, in the foreign imagination, what strikes is a Filipina as a domestic help.

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  • Danilo Galang

    I guess if you do one from Philippine cinema, the list will be really long. The pain and suffering of alila have been one of many staples of Philippine movie stories... from the alipin of historical dramas to Crispin and Basilio, to the OFWs of today.

    

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  • Teresa Opaon-Ali

    hahahaha oo nga

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