更新时间:2017-03-27
CasaBlanca • 邦塔颂歌:Film Review of Bontoc Eulogy
The film Bontoc Eulogy, released in 1995, is a mockumentary filmed in United States and the Philippines. This mockumentary was directed by Marlon Fuentes and Bridget Yearen, and it was produced by Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Marlon Fuentes devoted much attention to this film, he was the director, producer, screen writer and the main character of this mockumentary. What’s more, this mockumentary was based on Marlon’s real story (Fuentes, 2006).
The background of this film is the complicated immigrant issue. Although racial discrimination has disappeared in the United States legally, however, racial discrimination still exists in everyday life. The manifestation is the opposition between white people and black people. Apart from the conflict between the black and white, with the increase of Hispanic and Asian population, the conflicts among the black, Hispanic and Asian ethnic are also increasingly apparent, which makes racial relations more complex. Around 1990, there were several conflicts in United States. In 1992 while policemen beat black drivers in LA, which aroused ethical conflict in public, which was a large scale in the history (Fuentes, 2007). In 1995, millions of African-American people went on parades in the Capital of US. Although many immigrants get legal residence cards in US, they cannot get equal rights as local white residents.
This mockumentary Bontoc Eulogy, talks about a Filipino-American immigrant thinking of his days in the Philippines and starting to find his grandfathers. He was curious about his past and keen to find his kin. By narrating, the Filipino-American immigrant revealed the internal conflict within his family. In this film he showed his sadness that he did not belong to either country: the United States or the Philippines (Blumentritt, 1998).
I think the plot of Bontoc Eulogy is predictable as it unveils the situation that most immigrants are faced with. They do not belong to either country as they don’t fit in either totally. I infer that this mockumentary ends with the narrator’s loss about his identity and call for people’s care and room for immigrants. This film makes me thinking as well, although I am not an immigrant, I live in foreign countries. I live with foreigners and the local people regard me as a foreign. Although I can communicate well with them, I still think there is an invisible gap between me and the local people.
As for the themes of this mockumentary, I think this film is about the conflict of two cultures. With the narrator keeping memorizing his childhood and his grandfather in the World’s Fair, this film highlights the theme of cultural conflicts, which in this case are Filipino people’s simplicity and their loss in western culture. In the narrator’s eyes, the innocent children symbolize the simplicity of his hometown, which makes his feelings in US more outstanding.
In terms of the visual elements in Bontoc Eulogy, the whole film is immersed with a grey color, which shows the narrators’ pessimistic look to the future and also lays the basic foundation for the whole film. Also, the director uses black and white as the main color of this film, which creates the feeling of obsolescence for this film.
References
Blumentritt, Mia. "Bontoc Eulogy, History, and the Craft of Memory: An Extended Conversation with Marlon E. Fuentes." Amerasia Journal 24.3 (1998): 75-90.
Fuentes, Marlon, ed. 2007. Bontoc Eulogy. Cinema Guild.
Fuentes, Marlon. "Extracts from an imaginary interview: Questions and answers about ‘‘Bontoc Eulogy’’." F is for phony: Fake documentary and truth’s undoing (2006): 116-129.
The background of this film is the complicated immigrant issue. Although racial discrimination has disappeared in the United States legally, however, racial discrimination still exists in everyday life. The manifestation is the opposition between white people and black people. Apart from the conflict between the black and white, with the increase of Hispanic and Asian population, the conflicts among the black, Hispanic and Asian ethnic are also increasingly apparent, which makes racial relations more complex. Around 1990, there were several conflicts in United States. In 1992 while policemen beat black drivers in LA, which aroused ethical conflict in public, which was a large scale in the history (Fuentes, 2007). In 1995, millions of African-American people went on parades in the Capital of US. Although many immigrants get legal residence cards in US, they cannot get equal rights as local white residents.
This mockumentary Bontoc Eulogy, talks about a Filipino-American immigrant thinking of his days in the Philippines and starting to find his grandfathers. He was curious about his past and keen to find his kin. By narrating, the Filipino-American immigrant revealed the internal conflict within his family. In this film he showed his sadness that he did not belong to either country: the United States or the Philippines (Blumentritt, 1998).
I think the plot of Bontoc Eulogy is predictable as it unveils the situation that most immigrants are faced with. They do not belong to either country as they don’t fit in either totally. I infer that this mockumentary ends with the narrator’s loss about his identity and call for people’s care and room for immigrants. This film makes me thinking as well, although I am not an immigrant, I live in foreign countries. I live with foreigners and the local people regard me as a foreign. Although I can communicate well with them, I still think there is an invisible gap between me and the local people.
As for the themes of this mockumentary, I think this film is about the conflict of two cultures. With the narrator keeping memorizing his childhood and his grandfather in the World’s Fair, this film highlights the theme of cultural conflicts, which in this case are Filipino people’s simplicity and their loss in western culture. In the narrator’s eyes, the innocent children symbolize the simplicity of his hometown, which makes his feelings in US more outstanding.
In terms of the visual elements in Bontoc Eulogy, the whole film is immersed with a grey color, which shows the narrators’ pessimistic look to the future and also lays the basic foundation for the whole film. Also, the director uses black and white as the main color of this film, which creates the feeling of obsolescence for this film.
References
Blumentritt, Mia. "Bontoc Eulogy, History, and the Craft of Memory: An Extended Conversation with Marlon E. Fuentes." Amerasia Journal 24.3 (1998): 75-90.
Fuentes, Marlon, ed. 2007. Bontoc Eulogy. Cinema Guild.
Fuentes, Marlon. "Extracts from an imaginary interview: Questions and answers about ‘‘Bontoc Eulogy’’." F is for phony: Fake documentary and truth’s undoing (2006): 116-129.
