Reader's Review: Honor Thy Father

Image courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

HONOR THY FATHER (Regal Films, 2015) : Starring John Lloyd Cruz, Meryll Soriano, Krystal Brimner, Tirso Cruz III

Directed by Erik Matti; Written by Erik Matti and Michiko Yamamoto

A Second Chance For Philippine Cinema

by. Atty. Ferdinand Topacio

The folly of excessive piety. Religion as business. Fighting back to gain respect. Greed trumping fraternal love and prudence. These are only some of the lessons “Honor Thy Father” teaches the viewer, with as much subtlety as being hit by in the face by a sledgehammer.

The plot itself is not your usual Filipino movie fare: A young couple, Edgar and Kaye (played by John Lloyd Cruz and Meryll Soriano, respectively) with an adorable young daughter Angel (Krystal Brimner), experience a series of setbacks: their daughter falls gravely ill of dengue and almost dies, they both lose their jobs when the company employing them folds, their business never gets off the ground. But thanks to their investment with Kaye’s father’s business, which pays handsome dividends, and – as Kaye firmly believes – her devotion to a cultish congregation called Church of Yeshua, their fortunes turn, and they become millionaires. This luck they share with their brethren in the church by persuading them to also invest in Kaye’s father, and by tithing heavily. Edgar, though, is skeptical of Kaye’s religion, or more particularly, its leader (Tirso Cruz III), whom he thinks is a fraud.

Their good fortune is, however, short-lived as the bottom falls out from under the said business, which turns out to be a Ponzi scheme. Kaye’s father is abducted from his house and later found dead in a swamp. His body has not yet become cold, so to speak, and is lying in state at Kaye’s house, when they are swamped with irate investors asking for their money back. Kaye tries to reason with them, explaining that they, too, lost considerable money, but the mob would not be pacified. They invade the couple’s house and cart away all that they could. When Edgar tries to defend his home, he is attacked and savagely beaten.

The investors file a case before the prosecutor, but the couple is exonerated, as the investigation finds them to have been equally victimized. But some big investors, backed by politicians, are not so easily convinced: a prosperous-looking couple (Yayo Aguila and Dan Fernandez) kidnap Angel but returns her, giving Edgar and Kaye two weeks to produce 6 million pesos or else. Kaye approaches her “Bishop” to borrow church funds to save her family, but is rebuffed; incensed, Edgar nearly chokes the life out of the preacher. Desperate, Edgar buys a gun and tries to rob a financing company, only to lose heart at the last minute. He then goes back to his kin in the Mountain Province, which he left for a more urbanized lifestyle in Baguio City when he married Kaye. As it turns out, his family is engaged in gold mining, but moonlights as robbers from time to time, using their tunneling skills to dig out from under bank vaults to steal their contents. In the meantime, the kidnappers, getting antsy about the money, and this time abducts Kaye to insure that Edgar will return their investment. With Edgar’s family rallying behind him to save the lives of his wife and child, they plot to steal the church collections to ransom his wife.

It is in this dark and disturbing world of greed, violence and religious chicanery that John Lloyd Cruz shines as never before. Freed from the strictures of a formulaic dramatic movie, his thespic skills are given free rein, and how! With total economy of facial expressions and bodily gestures, JLC plays with absolute conviction the turbulent quiet of a man seething with internal turmoil. The conflict is at once palpable and restrained: the cynicism of a man in the midst of worship services; a husband who feels that his wife is responsible for all their woes but still tries to save her; a brother and son who disapproves of his family’s mode of living but is compelled to depend on them to save his family.

The thing is, no other actor could have pulled it off. JLC is the quintessential “everyman” in looks and demeanor, and his skills as an actor enables him to disappear into his role with seeming effortlessness. In “A Second Chance”, he proved that he could make more money than any other actor. In this movie, he proves that he can act better than any of them. Verily, no other actor in the present generation, or even a few generations back, can touch him when it comes to acting. His depth, intensity and emotive force are evocative of the early Bembol Roco and Philip Salvador.

Meryll Soriano is a revelation, playing deftly and intelligently the role of a wife in thralldom of her church’s leader, naively believing that all of her family’s problems can be solved by pure faith. It comes to a head when, after her unsuccessful talk with her “Bishop”, she exclaims to her husband, “Diyos ko”, and he shoots back with “Diyos mo!” A succinct exchange that underscores the futility of spiritual beliefs in the face of worldly woes. After seeing her performance, I dare declare that Soriano is one of the most underrated young actresses of our time, someone whose abilities are at least at par with the greats (Bea Alonzo, Claudine Barretto).

The rest of the cast do not disappoint. Special mention must be made of Tirso Cruz III, whom I started to admire after watching him in “Ikaw Lamang,” who read the part of the religious leader with equal measures cunning, creepiness and concern for the brethren.

This review would not be complete without mentioning the look of the film which, while typically dark and brooding Erik Matti, goes several grades beyond chiaroscuro. Light and shadow apropos for a film noir is elevated by the use of accentuated lighting in key scenes: fireflies at seaside, glowing lamps in subterranean locations, and even lights and shadows in a daytime scene, which to me are no easy achievements. And the internment scene at the cemetery, composed like a Japanese Edo-period painting, is one of the most visually striking I have seen in years!

In conclusion, “Honor Thy Father” is an important film that must be watched. It is a powerful commentary on religion, materialism and societal hypocrisy, contrasting at the same time paralleling the superficial purity of a church as a money machine for its officers and the criminality of an organization engaged in pyramiding, as well as a mining family engaged in robbery, saying that many churches and businesses are no better than crime families.

Interestingly, JLC fans who expect “hugot” lines need not feel neglected: quotable gems such as “Ang bukang-bibig Diyos, pero demonyo naman”, “Kung kaya ka nila, kakainin ka ng buhay”, and Edgar telling his siblings “Kahit anong katangahan ang gawin niya, asawa ko pa rin siya; kaya wala sa inyong puwedeng mambastos sa kanya”, are interspersed liberally in the screenplay.

Movies such as “Honor Thy Father” show what our movie makers are capable of, and should get the box office attention they deserve. They are our film industry’s second chance. And if we fail to take this chance, then we will have naught but ourselves to blame for the onslaught of crappy movies. We’ve seen local movies at their worst; it’s time to see them at their best.

Please feel free to email your movie reviews to michaelsylim@gmail.com.