I am a millennial born after EDSA. Cory Aquino, widow of slain senator Benigno Aquino was already president, and fallen dictator Ferdinand Marcos was on the brink of death in America. Years would go before Martial Law would imprint, but not enough for me to understand. It was not taught in detail during formal schooling, and elders would even go as far as to say that things were "quiet" then. I used to have a friend who revered the elder Marcos, and I followed their lead in repeating what I know now to be lies: that Martial Law was anything but a dark period of torture, disappearances, and killings, and that Marcos did it to protect the country from insurgency.
The Kingmaker starts out cartoonish. It flashes bits and pieces of Imelda Marcos' lavish lifestyle with creepy art renditions of her and her "royal" family and her walls of shoes. Nothing we've never seen before. Then it goes on to talk about this weird delusion that she has mothered the world? Seriously, she repeats this throughout the film, it's so bizarre. I came in knowing close to nothing aside from what shows up in social media about Imelda's ostentation, but her levels of delusion about matriarchy and saving the world were new to me. And yet here she was, the world her stage, spewing her version of how Martial Law years were the "best years of Marcos, because he was able to give the Philippines sovereignty, justice, human rights". She seems high on some good shit.
The documentary tries its best to present an objective view of the phenomenon that is the Marcos family, but knowing the basics--that thousands were killed, tortured, or disappeared during the 21 years that they were in power--it's a difficult task to be unbiased. They do a good job of calling Imelda out on her lies, but as activist May Rodriguez states in a sort of meta manner, "I don't have an answer for why we allow Imelda to even open her mouth". The documentary becomes a pulpit for the Marcos family to repeat their propaganda. There are only bits and pieces of the truth peeking out--when they interview Martial Law victims (in the hardest 5 minutes of the film, Pete Lacaba, Etta Rosales, and May Rodriguez detail their moments of torture, from rape, the San Juanico Bridge, to electrocution.), Leni Robredo's courageous battle against the son Bongbong, and the displaced Calauit community, but it feels sorely imbalanced when much of the film is so focused on amplifying Imelda's lies. She is filmed shoving money down people's throats, cooing over cancer patients, and lamenting how the Aquinos were "unjust, inhumane" towards her family.
But it does its job. I came out of the documentary knowing more than I knew before, more solidly resolved that Leni must run AND win, because anything else would just be a conduit for the Marcoses to slink back into power. And we cannot have that. Never again.
Other thoughts I have on my notebook (Kasi dami kong sinulat, sayang naman di'ba).
1. Imelda "misses the clout of the presidency. You can do so much." She isn't even trying to hide her narcissism here. Barf.
2. Those paintings. YIKES ON SEVERAL BIKES
3. Admitting on camera that their marriage was a political strategy, and that his presidency was "to maximize his wealth and talent". Thanks, Imelda. And here I was, the idealist, wanting my presidents to serve the country. Of course they just want to plunder.
4. Admitting that she had no moral compass and coddled dictators and strongmen, from Gaddafi to Mao to Castro. Also while we're on the subject, bakit sila galit na galit sa komonesta pero BFF sa Communist leaders? Duterte really fashioned himself after Marcos, ano?
5. Emo band name ideas: Diamonds in Diapers, or Bulletproof Bra
6. "I don't remember any bad or ugly or sad situations (in our marriage)" and then the film cuts to Dovie Beams. LMAO
7. "That is mothering." - her justification for her excessiveness. Is there a psychological complex named after her? Maybe we can call it the Imelda Complex, much like Freud's Oedipus complex. Hers would be reserved for megalomaniac mothers who think their life purpose is to save the world through buying giraffes and buildings.
8. There is no pressure like Imelda pressure. I hate that this documentary almost made me feel sorry for Bongbong bearing the brunt of the pressure Imelda put on him to restore the Marcoses to glory. Thank God I remembered he was old enough to know what his father was doing at the height of Martial Law, and I come to my senses. Also, what a sore loser.
9. LOL that campaign sortie with Enrile beside Imelda
10. The real tragedy in this documentary is that maid hopelessly trying to clean a mirror with a box of tissues
11. "Penniless" daw si Imelda. Pota
12. Dito pala galing yung meme about BBM complaining about having to fly home in coach. Haha. As an aside, compare BBM's desk to Leni's. Hers is full of books and a couple family pictures, while BBM's is full of portraits of him. Also, BBM mentioned in the documentary how "dealing with the public is a chore", tapos gusto maging public officer. ?????
13. If there is going to be one takeaway here, make it this: $5-10 billion plundered during the Marcos years. I'm not sure if that accounts for inflation, but $5-10B. $4B pa lang daw ang nakukuha. Let that sink in.
14. That Monet painting story was hilarious
15. The last 5 minutes of the film is wasted on Imelda repeating her lie: that the past should be forgotten, "in fact it's no longer there". I would have done away with that and focused on talking to the Martial Law victims, but this is a documentary about the Kingmaker, so we were given that.
