Review: Gutierrez Mangansakan II's 'Salome' (2024)
Gutierrez Mangansakan II’s Salome requires patience, a lot of it in fact. I went into the theater fully knowing that this might be a taxing experience on my end but I was determined as I know that the patience required in viewing the film will eventually reap its rewards and I was right. What transpired was a beautiful and poetic homage to the culture, art, and folklore of Mindanao, a recurring theme and motif in Mangansakan’s films that provides us with a deeper context with their history.
Intricately weaved into the film’s narrative are issues deeply rooted in the country’s history of colonization specifically that of the American period wherein photographs were utilized as means to justify the American imperialism in Asia. Mangansakan taps on various issues concerning folklore, religious sect, history, and surprisingly, queer ideas dating more than a hundred years back providing us with an understanding of how progressive people were back then comparing to the regressiveness of the country’s ideals and beliefs in the contemporary times.
The film started off with a slower pace giving us a glimpse of the life of Andy (Perry Dizon), an alcoholic professor who eventually sees visions of Salome that urged him to take a break with his cousin Christine (Dolly De Leon) in Mindanao. As we go deeper into the context of the narratives presented we see how all of them are interconnected just like the collective and intersectional experience of the nation’s people.
Beautifully written and directed by Mangansakan, Salome provides a deeper understanding of the past and how it relates to the future for us to never forget what imperialism and colonialism took from us. It’s not as simple as the resources and freedom that was taken but more so the culture and our own identity as a nation free from the clutches of western idealism. One can now only wish for a country rooted in its own identity, that like a jigsaw puzzle is hard to complete.
— Abubot by Ivan Gentolizo
#SinagMaynila2024 #Salome #PHCinema