DEKADA 70

GARCIA, JUSTIN ALBERT

GELLE, FRANCES DIANE
LIM, JELENA
RODIL, KIAH
HUB31

MIDTERM EXAM Art, Man, and Society

1. List the following:

a) Plot Elements: Dekada 70 is directed by Chito S. Roo. Bartolome family
has their joyful and happy life before entering the 70s.
INTRODUCTION: The story tells about their life during the martial law in
the Philippines during the 1970s. Amanda Bartolome (Vilma Santos) and
Julian Bartlome (Christopher de Leon), who are a parents to the all boys
Julian "Jules" Bartolome (Piolo Pascual), the eldest son, the second son
Isagani "Gani" Bartolome (Carlos Agassi), third son Emmanuel "Em"
Bartolome (Marvin Agustin), fourth son Jason Bartolome (Danilo Barrios)
and the youngest, Benjamin "Bingo" Bartolome (John Wayne Sace).
RISING ACTION: Their blissful life changes when Philippine
president Ferdinand Marcos declared the martial law. Amanda and Julian
always fight about Amanda who wanted to achieve other things rather
than being just a housewife. They had suspicions about Jules about being
an anti-Government winger, at first they are not convinced but later on
they accept their sons decisions and eventually became proud of him.
CLIMAX: One day, Rene a friend of Jules stayed with the family for some
time while recuperating from an injury. Rene was an operative of the
government and exposed Jules participation and involvement in the NPA
movement, thats why he was sent to prison. Isagani became a member of
the navy. But before that he made a mistake of getting his girlfriend
pregnant and suddenly became married. Yet, their marriage did not work
because his wife has something to accomplish with her life and decided to
become friends. Emmanuel wanted to become a writer and a noble
profession.
FALLING ACTION: Jules and Emmanuel are partners in fighting the
government because Emmanuel writes what Jules dictates. Jason is a
typical teenager, a happy go lucky teenager that enjoys life too much. He
brings cheers to the family especially when struggles come. But Jason
died, not by his witty acts, but because the police killed him, unjustified.
Benjamin is still young in the movie and perhaps doesnt have a broad
understanding about what is happening around him.
 RESOLUTION: At the end, Jules is release in prison and Amanda decides
to join a large group of activists at to overthrow the Marcos regime once
and for all.
b) Total emotional effect: Dekada 70 stirs the emotions of the viewers with
its family-oriented theme. Filipinos are known to be inclined to their
families in many aspects of their life, may it be socio-politics or religion.
Filipino viewers tend to be emotional to themes that include family
because they can relate to it. The struggle of the family in Dekada 70
inspires many Filipino families facing a crisis in their lives. The movie had
shown that family life is not all bed of roses but also a path of torn.
Viewers of other nationality will appreciate the closeness and bond of a
Filipino family, and as well as learn of the history behind what the
Philippines is today.
c) Central Idea theme: The central idea or the main theme of the film is
patriotism or love for ones country and subsequently, freedom. Jules was
shown to be very patriotic towards his country, participating in rallys as
such to express his love for his country while Gani was said to have a lack
thereof according to Jules as he what he wanted was to enlist in the US
navy. In the film, freedom was also a central idea due to the declaration of
the martial law, leading to the limiting of the citizens freedom. Aside from
through the situation during martial law it was also shown in the scene
where Amanda and Bingo released two of their own pet birds to fly away
for their freedom knowing that they will come back to them, perhaps a hint
that they will one day be free again too by the time the birds comes back.

2. Was the film successful in its objectives? Yes, because the film Dekada 70
successfully show what happen during martial law, especially in the part of
Jason, he was killed unjustified and not given the chance to say if the accusation
of drugs is true and killing Jason is not fair the way the witness said it, the police
was brutally killed Jason.

3. Which element / part of the film made the strongest contribution to its
central idea or theme? Why do you say so? The strongest element in this film
may be its storyline or plot. The plot shows how in one moment can a blissful life
turn into a life without peace. It just shows that things can turn around any
moment, anything can happen, now or later, no one knows. It shows how a
family can fall out in desperate times, and how decisions that we make in life
affect the people around us. It shows how can society around you affect the
development of a child and its family. The story also tells of the brutal walks in
life and how in some point in time can those challenges bring a family closer or
 further apart. It also shows how can the oppression of the people bring together,
for better or for worse.

4. What is the moral statement of the film? How was this expressed?: The
moral statement of the film voices out against the oppression of the people,
stripping them of their freedom and rights The movie has expressed its moral
statement by portraying various activities that violate the basic freedom and
rights of a Filipino citizen during the martial law such as illegal detention, torture,
and extrajudicial killings.

5. List 5 important facts/ trivia about the making of film.

a. Production started as early 2001, but was shelved for unstated reason. It
was revived in 2002 when it passed as one of Metro Manila film festival
entries.
b. Nora Aunor was initially offered to star.
c. Official submission of the Philippines for the 'Best Foreign Language Film'
category of the 76th Academy Awards in 2004.
d. Piolo Pascual was awarded as the Best Supporting Actor in FAMAS
Award.
e. Vilma Santos was awarded as Best Actress in FAP Awards, Philippines.

6. Was there an underlying social obligation (i.e. religious, political,

economic, social, etc.) contained in the film? Explain: Yes there was.
Because the film showed both the political and social crisis the country and its
people were undergoing during Marcos reign including the martial law. The film
heavily focused on the political affairs happening during Marcos regime and how
it greatly affected the people. From the curfews, to the numerous deaths, and so
much more.

7. Use the following philosophical approaches and explain the film:

a. Tolstoys expressionism Tolstoy defined art as a human activity consisting

in this, that one man consciously by means of certain external signs, hands
on to others feelings he has lived through, and that others are infected by
those feelings and experience them. He has also said that artists are people
inspired by an expression of deep emotion, and they use their skill to embody
that emotion in art. Successful art stimulates the same emotion in its
audience. The director of this film has succeeded embodying his creative
thinking and imagination for he has conveyed the emotions he has through
the films creative storyline and dialogues, parred with good cinematics and
music, the emotions were amplified and was felt strongly by its viewers.

b. Croces intuitionism - Per croce, art is essentially intuition. Having an

intuition must have consciousness and awareness. The value of an artwork is
 not just about physical manifestation it is about the effort, talent, and skill of
the artist. In the film, dekada 70 almost all the member of the Bartolome
family is aware about what is happening in their surrounding in the time of
Martial Law. In fact, Jules have a determination to fight and stand out for his
dignity. Bartolome family had their unity and they can express their feelings,
they engage their trust in God in what ever happen to Jules. Just like Croce
philosophy we need only look at the work itself and can ignore the world
beyond the work. Regarding about the director, he is successfully distributed
the awareness to the viewers about different kind of situation during Martial
law. Art is symbol, all symbol, that is all significant. Every characters in the
film have their own different significant.

c. Aristotles catharsis - In the Catharsis theory of Aristotle, artworks are the

reflection of an artist's emotional release. If we compare this to the movie
Dekada '70 which is about the antidictatorship movement of the middle class
Filipinos into the Martial Law that happened in the Philippines in the 1970s,
we can say that the movie reflected the emotions of the artist. Dekada '70
focuses on a woman and her family. This movie basically explained how a
woman felt unworthy because of everything that is happening in her
surroundings. She felt that because she is only a woman, she doesn't have a
voice. And even though she have, she doesn't have the right to talk and even
say opinions about anything because people around him, especially men, will
not listen to him. There was no equality. And those maybe the things that the
author felt or maybe what she thought the women felt during the Martial Law.
That is maybe why she came up with this theme in her novel.

d. Collingwoods expressivism - Using Collingwoods expressivism, Dekada

70 we can understand and recognize the emotion that stems from the films
very core, the message it tells as the story unfolds. We begin to see it from
the the directors point of view, what emotions he incites and what he wants
as to feel when viewing the film, envoking the very same emotions he wants
as to feel and recognize when the film was being created. The film envoked
emotions such as love, love for our country, our fellowmen, and our family.
Sadness upon realizing the various precadiments, feeling what the characters
were feeling, mourning as one of the characters died, and happiness when
Jules was freed and reunited with his family, happiness as the Martial law
ends along with Marcos reign, and peace begins as a new light emerges and
the people are freed.

e. Hegels cognitive aesthetics - Per Hegel, his philosophy states that a

progressive development over time in which the human mind comes to
understand itself more adequately in this film, the setting is during the martial
law, the people who experience it can relate to the movie. But people like me,
who dont experience martial law, it is a task for me to know what happens
during that time. This is when human minds come to understand different
situation in the movie. Human understanding differs in time and place, and
later times in different places come to a better, fuller understanding. Different
 people can react to the movie differently because of the time and setting of
the movie. Human knowledge and understanding is self-knowledge, because
it is knowledge of the animating spirit that constitutes our true nature and
history.

f. Goodman's art as representation - In the theory of Goodman as Art as

understanding in terms of symbols and representation. I believe that this was
also exhibited in the film Dekada '70. There are symbols and representations
in the film that the audiences must realize for them to understand what the
author wants the viewers to get from it. One example is the role of Vilma
Santos. She symbolizes the middle-class Filipinos who, because of the
people that makes her feel low about herself, just shuts up and not fight for
what she deserves and what she think her right is. On the otherhand, the role
of Piolo Pascual symbolizes Filipinos that fight for their rights but instead of
getting what they deserve, they get hurt and punished by those people who
deserves it more.