The Politics of Art & Authenticity

The film Bwakaw, directed by newcomer Jun Robles Lana, tells the story of an old man, Rene, basically living each day as if he’s preparing to die.  He is distant from people, and his only companion is his dog, Bwakaw.  It is not until Rene faces situations of death that he learns how withdrawn he’s been from his life.  Jun Robles Lana illustrates the important lesson of living life to the fullest by creating his own, unique style of filmmaking.

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Bwakaw opens with Rene getting ready for the day ahead.  Lana gives an insight into Rene’s simple life by having camera shots of objects in his home.  I noticed how all his possessions were packed away in boxes, which he would give to people in his will, once he died.  From the start we see that Rene is living his life waiting to die, and doesn’t even care when his neighbor, Nitang, greets him with food in the morning.

There are also other people in his life who care about him, including the workers at the postal office and his two flamboyant friends, Zaldy and Tracy, but it’s as if Rene finds them to be a nuisance in his life.  The only creature he actually cares about is his dog, Bwakaw.  Bwakaw symbolizes the small amount of will power that Rene has to continue to live.  Without Bwakaw, Rene would have no other companion in his life and would basically have no reason to live.

Throughout the film, Lana conveys the idea of Rene’s epiphany through moments of death.  One of them being when he good friend, Minda,  from the post office dies of a heart attack.  He didn’t think that she would die before him, and it makes Rene see that your life can be taken away from you in a split second.  Also, when Bwakaw begins to get ill Rene finally starts to care.  He sees how he doesn’t always have enough time to be with the people he really cares about.  It is at these moments of his hard times that Rene transforms his life into something more.  He begins to reach out to people he might not have before, such as the cab driver who he later befriends.  Rene is able to express his homosexuality and love himself for who he truly is.  *Spoiler Alert* After Bwakaw’s death, Rene realizes that he cannot go on being alone for the rest of his life, and he starts to finally live.  He takes everything out of his boxes, and once again we see the camera shots of objects in his home.  It helps to illustrate this new life for Rene.

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With each scene of the film, Jun Robles Lana style is seen through the simplicity of the camerawork, which adds to the simple life that Rene lives.  Lana makes the plot very basic, but is still able to capture the audience’s attention through his cross-genre approach to the film.

My critique might make it seem as though this movie was very depressing, but it was quite the contrary.  Every moment of sadness had some sort of comical relief, whether it was Zaldy and Tracy acting as their crazy selves or the weird face Minda was making while she died.  Lana was very successful at making the two opposites cohesive.  He used the irony of Rene sleeping in a coffin basically waiting for his death hysterical, by having his neighbors and loved ones crying over his body.  At moments in the film, I couldn’t tell if I was crying from laughter or from the upsetting event that occurred.

Besides the fantastic work of the director, the actors were very authentic.  Eddie Garcia, the actor who played the role of Rene, is very well known in the Philippines and was able to take on a role that he never has before and execute it perfectly.  I especially loved Tracy and Zaldy.  Their performances were hilarious and made me laugh every time they were in a scene.

For Jun Robles Lana’s first film, I would definitely say it was a success.  He was able to show how people can find reason to live after experiencing death.  It makes me think of what my friend once told me; when we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change.  Rene was able to change the way he lived his life after he faced the death of his one companion, Bwakaw.  Overall the film was amazing and I can’t wait to see what Lana creates in the future.

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