IA#5 Honor Thy Father (film reflection)
1. What roles does the character’s religion play in the narrative of the film?
In the movie, John Lloyd Cruz (Edgar or Egay) and Meryll Soriano (Kaye) is part of the Church of Yeshua as they call it, headed by their Bishop who was portrayed by Mr. Tirso Cruz III. The plot revolved around Edgar and Kaye being somewhat you may consider as networkers or breakers that offered their friends and co-parishioners that their money would grow if they invested in the company of Kaye’s father which was part of a scam all along which resulted that they needed to repay everyone that they have offered this service, and majority of these people were part of their Church of Yeshua. John Lloyd’s religion in the movie portrays an important role, it somehow showed stereotypes (some of those are partly true) against religion (I do not take this opinion on a specific religion though); the role of this Church of Yeshua in the movie gave two depictions of the modern stereotypes and judgments about religions, even before up until now. It plays the role of somehow a place where you can pray to the Lord and ask for His help, through the Bishop you would be comforted with his words, a typical scene in a religion, but on the latter part of the movie, it shows that the church only cares for its projects (building a church in Manila) and this was proven when John Lloyd and Meryll went to the bishop to ask for help by taking back the money they have given to the church and use it for the mean time to pay for the debt that they face against their co-parishioners, but what the bishop did was to decline their request telling them that it was no longer their money but the money of the Church, and that they should pray to Yeshua for help and if they would ask their Yeshua, their answers will surely be answered, which made John Lloyd very angry and since then despised the religion they belong into. Also the Church of Yeshua played a role in the movie by becoming the solution to the problem of Edgar and Kaye, which is why John Lloyd was tempted to steal money from the church by mining the ground below the church. Overall, the church has contributed a lot as to how the story will turn out to, by the pivotal point of the bishop declining their request; if only they were given an exception then the ending wouldn’t be so brutal and sad.
2. Describe the practices/beliefs of that particular religion?
In the first scenes of the movie, it shows that the Church of Yeshua mandates its followers to give money to fund the religion. The bishop (Tirso Cruz III) would always tell his followers that Yeshua would provide to the needs of the church and its followers, and that Yeshua uses its followers to help the church be built and grow. Every gathering, the Bishop would put up a front act and tell his followers that Yeshua talks to him through dreams, and tell people what Yeshua wants his people to do, and which pertains to give a huge chunk of money to the collection to fund the church. We can’t specifically say that they don’t help people who are in need, poor, hungry, but I assumed that they only cared for themselves when one of their believers (John Lloyd Cruz and Meryll Soriano) asked for help and was declined. It was a hypocrite act that you would ask help from the people to fund your projects but in return doesn’t do anything to help its followers, especially those who are in need. Kaye’s character wouldn’t have died if the Church of Yeshua lent Edgar money.
3. Personal reaction to the film
I have first seen the film, during the 2015 MMFF, where it was part of the official entries. My first reaction then was that I was baffled and disturbed at the same time, not only because of the plot, and that the brutal things people can do if something happens with their money, I am a religious person and I got baffled if my religion was anything like that in the movie. The director, Erik Matti was also the director of 2016 MMFF Seklusyon, and you can clearly observe that Erik Matti may have had troubled and unhappy experiences with his religion. But if you would have an open mind, the movie was critically and boldly done. In a country like the Philippines where we are deeply rooted with our Catholic faith, it may give you some questions to wander about. I was happy at the same time because these kinds of movies are the ones you wouldn’t usually see in cinemas, these are bold films, trying to break the stereotype that Filipinos will always fall for the boy-meets-girl setting in films, Filipinos are hungry for new plots, and Honor Thy Father is one of those films, it challenged me personally in regards with my faith and my perception of money. The movie’s problem overall will fall under the category of money. I can’t believe it but I think that it is possible to do all those things (the kidnapping of the wife and cutting the hair of the daughter) in exchange with money. I have seen how greedy humans can be, only caring about their money though we cannot blame them for being that angry because they were hardly earned, but I believe that no one wanted for the incident to happen, not even Kaye and Edgar wanted something like this to happen. Overall I liked the film, it challenged me as an expectator and an audience, I would say that it was a 7 out of 10 rating; great story, cinematography, actors, and the overall production. I am happy that Filipinos in our generation can produce quality movies like these and can be shown off to the rest of the world.
Life has so much things to offer, good or bad. In the movie, it was a series of unfortunate circumstances that even their religion couldn’t help them. I just really hoped that it was a happy ending, though the ending made it more realistic. Bravo!
