WHEN THE product of men’s violence and cowardice affects women and children, how does one survive the remnants of a war?
Jun Robles Lana’s historical thriller Sisa, set in the waning of American colonization in the Philippines, serves to illustrate the retribution of those women.
The film recently won Best Screenplay Award Directors Week Semana dos Realizadores at the 46th Festival Internacional de Cinema do Porto (Fantasporto) in Portugal.
Sisa marks the long-awaited comeback of Hilda Koronel, who is known for her starting roles in Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liawanag and Insiang, which made her Lino Brocka’s “muse.”
Koronel plays the role of Sisa, a mysterious and delirious woman found wandering in an American-run reconcentrado, a reconcentration camp established by the Spaniards. She is brought to the headquarters where she would then be transferred to the care of Delia (Eugene Domingo)—as per Commander Harrison’s (Kuya Manzano) instruction—one of the Filipino women in the reconcentrado.
Half of the film is slow and monotonous by intention, building up scenes that eventually set the stage for the events in the latter half.
An all-women affair, it manifests as a tribute to the women whose lives were ransacked by bloodshed. The materials were set for Sisa to be a film that showcases feminine rage and strength, yet the foundation and structure are weak due to the film’s time constraint. Exploring the nuances in these emotions and reactions then falls short.
Harsh realities are present throughout the film; perhaps a bit ‘tamer’ ones would be how Leonor (Jennica Garcia) becomes the center of gossip even among fellow women, being labelled as a ‘whore’ and a mere affair of an American savage. These fellow women, however, eventually stood by Leonor at her lowest—one beautiful representation of camaraderie among women.
Conversely, the film presented enough scenes that spark rage and sympathy. Albeit fictional in the context of the movie, the scenes in the film are deemed as real-life experiences that happened during the wars—slavery, sexual harassment, exploitation of children—which bring about feelings of anger and grief among its audience.
From the get-go, an act of revenge is the most predictable means of retribution for the barbarity women like Sisa and Delia have experienced in the film. While this act of revenge is eventually fulfilled, the film is severely underwhelming with its promise to the audience: defiance against colonialism through feminism.
The film delivers a thinly disguised historical lecture, framed through a fiercely anti-colonial yet unexplored feminist perspective.
The message of the film emphasized torture-laden spectacles meant to drive the point home. However, it fails to achieve its deeper purpose due to the tragic events after Leonor—whose heart seemed to be pure but bloodied and ‘ruined’ by both men and women in the film—has faced an end that wasted her character-building.
For a supposedly star-studded cast, the film’s acting is regrettably underwhelming. While Koronel’s character presents herself as ambiguous, indifferent and sometimes a lunatic, she does not seem to touch the necessary emotions among her audience, which are supposed to be either curiosity or awe.
Additionally, some dialogues are oddly spoken and feel more like a recital and less than acting, which is unusual for the veteran actors in the film.
Conversely, actors such as Angeli Sanoy, who played Nena in the film, handled their characters well. The acting, perhaps, is less on the delivery and more on the scriptwriting, which is weak in emotion, too literal, and too modern-sounding, given the film’s setting.
In the context of the film’s cinematography and scoring, it is enough that particular scenes looked like paintings, almost reminiscent of old iconic films such as “Himala.” For a film that intends to defy expectations, it is basic. Nothing extraordinary. Needless to say, the film is lacking the promised female rage, which also reflects how the visual and auditory aspects should have been just as jarring.
The production design is underwhelming, as the set design for the supposed concentration camp is rather plain and unassuming for a place that is presumably ransacked by the wars.
How Sisa is marketed through social media, with its star-studded cast, Hilda Koronel, Eugene Domingo and Tanya Gomez (Opelia), missed its chance to portray an intriguing story that is intended to resonate with the female populace. It could have been a historical-slash-feminist film because it clearly portrays the hardships women endure during war—a difficult portrayal, but a necessary one for people to understand why celebrating women truly matters.
The film can still serve as a reminder of the atrocities Filipinos, especially women and children, endured in the hands of colonizers. Whether at the hands of a foreigner or by one’s own people, women are most vulnerable in circumstances born from men’s irrationality and twisted sense of justice.
It is unfortunate that the film primarily focused on building suspense and the representation of themes and intentions was insufficient. Instead, it becomes a shallow attempt to captivate the audience with its women-centric narrative without delivering the promised climax from the suspense. The potential is there, the materials to execute an excellent film was there, but in the end, Sisa failed to fulfill these expectations and to deliver an actual feminist perspective that goes beyond surface-level “defiance.” F — Alyanna Ysabel Sacramento
