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When Timawa Meets Delgado
(Written, directed and edited by Ray Defante Gibraltar)
by Alexis A. Tioseco
It is the point where two streets meet, and where a nursing school stands; but we don’tneed to know that.It is the last names of the two lead characters in the film; but we don’t need to know that.It has been touted by a number of those with reliable taste as perhaps the best Filipinofilm produced last year; and it’s good that you know that.~The topic of the Illongo feature
When Timawa Meets Delgado
is nursing, but that isn’tquite what it’s about. It’s both a comedy and a delirious essay-film, precise and elusive,concrete and poetic. At its heart is simply a question, posed to the audience but not askeddirectly by the film, one written subtly in the works last few revelatory moments.When not indulging itself in travelogue and AVP footage to the tune of indigenoushiphop, deftly visualizing hilariously brilliant poetry, or providing glimpses into the ironyof its two main characters decisions, much of
When Timawa Meets Delgado’s
schizophrenic 80-minute running time is spent discussing nursing. On an elementarylevel this is what the film is considering—“the great migration” we might call it, theculture (I dare not say phenomenon, it’s roots are much deeper) of Filipinos flocking tonursing school with dreams of visas and dollars (or Euros or Pounds or…), better weather and more opportunities.Between in-depth interviews with current nursing students, many of whom are secondcoursers, having given up their original choice for the promise nursing brings, we are toldin flashback the fictional stories of our title characters, two nursing applicants who sit andwait patiently for their interview. The Ruben Timawa is (was) a lovelorn gay poet from arural town who moved to the city and fell in love with a communist guy, and Jun Delgadois (was) a lovelorn and frustrated filmmaker whose girlfriend is about to leave him.While Delgado’s righteous rants about how the pornography he is making is art are tiringto watch and listen to – though they are not necessarily unwarranted, as we do have manya pornographer/faux filmmaker posing as artists in the country these days, it is Timawa’s poetry, written by J.I.E. Teodoro, beautifully delivered by actor Kristoffer Grabato, and perfectly illustrated by Gibraltar, -- sexual, sincere, serious and ridiculous in equalmeasure-- that gives the film its breath and depth.An early champion of the work, Raya Martin described the film on his blog as such:“It’s subversive in that it laughs at the inevitable pathetic state of non-choice by runningits imagination through rivers of capitalism, communism, then achieving a kind of transcendence towards the end.”
How is ‘kind of transcendence’ achieved? The films last two scenes illustrate this:(1)Throughout the film random people have been approached and asked if they’re interestedin enrolling in nursing, in the second to last scene, the filmmakers approach two younggirls and pose the question. They girls stop, but shy as they are, perhaps because in frontof a camera perhaps not, scratch their heads, smile but don’t say much. The filmmakers prod further, laughing at their knowing manipulation while as they try to illicit their desired response, “It’s nice to be a nurse…because a nurse earns lots of dollar. Come on,your turn!”(2)In the final scene, the carpet is pulled from under the rug as fiction meets documentary— or documentary meets fiction, or…Someone we least expect is in fact a nursing student and is now being interviewedhimself. Originally a theater actor he shifted to nursing and he speaks candidly and passionately about his process of learning to love the profession. When asked why hewants to become a nurse he spouts the same cheesy line Timawa and Delgado did earlier when interviewed: ‘because I want to serve humanity’, this time said with understoodirony and light laughter. Gaining his composure and continues, telling us that its hiscalling and he’s learned to accept it. He goes on… ‘You do not choose nursing, butnursing will choose you…nursing is not really about going abroad. Getting rich does notmake a good nurse. If you’re a nurse here in the Philippines, and you chose to stay, Ithink it’s greater. If OFW’s are called the new heroes of our times…what do we call thosewho chose to stay? Because I’ve met senior staff nurses who stayed. They went out,worked for a while, and they went back. And they stayed for good. If an OFW is the newhero…How do we call those who chose to stay? Martyr?
Gaga
?
Or a Hero?~The question this scene ends with is on the topic of nurses who stayed in the country, butI’m not sure an answer to it is what matters. If the point of the film was to take sides inthe nursing debate, to root for those who stay or point fingers at those who don’t, then perhaps we wouldn’t need the fictional story of the leads— Timawa, after all, doesn’tseem to care about the American dream or dollars, he just wants to chase a lost love. Byshowing us the attempted manipulation of the two girls in the scene just before, this thefilmmakers are ostensibly telling us that they aren’t to be trusted (who knows if the lastinterviewee is in fact a nursing student—he probably is, but we the viewer have noevidence), that it isn’t their opinions on the subject that matters. If we gain any further understanding from the last interviewee, it isn’t necessarily from the quality of hisargument, but rather the sincerity with which he delivers it; with which he speaks of hissubjective experience. It is this, ultimately, that is being measured, being put intoquestion by the film, and it is we who are being addressed: how sincere are you in your work, in your writing, in what you film, and in who and how you love? In the end, those
are the answers that matter.
~
Note to editor
: Below is a transcription of the English subtitles for an important poemthat appears in the film. I would highly recommend including it with the article. Itranscribed it here for you to see. I think it would be great to have both the English andoriginal Tagalog version printed together. If you would like to use it, let me know and Ican ask the producer of the film and/or the poet to send it later today, as well to clear permission for its publishing.
Sa Isang Lalaking Komunista
We talk lightly of our ideologies As if they are just fried chicken and chopsuey for our dinner In this hut under the firetree By the runwayYou just laugh when I tell you… that I’m a capitalist at heart and mind And you asked me for an explanation I laugh because… How can I tell you my only dream in life? Ah, I want to own a big mangoand cashew orchard, And there in its center, I will build my house of bricks, I will store there Boxes of books and novels and poems that I collected Whole day I will read While stealing glances at my spacious gardenof bougainvillea and white orchids I will leave to my workersthe tending of cashew and mango trees. And in the evening after supper Under the light of a rose-scented candleWhile listening to the concert of crickets, I will go to my room and write poemsWhile enjoying the scent of flowersand the ylang-ylang tree outside my window. I will celebrate in my linesThe beauty that resides
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