THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

Dekada ’70. This was a novel by Lualhati Bautista before it was made a film during
2002 - portraying the life of a family during the infamous Martial Law, as they struggle to
face the reality of violence and family. The story revolves around the Bartolome family
whose views are apolitical but is set in a political standard of society.

The film showed how conflict could affect one’s life, as Amanda Bartolome, a wife to
Julian and a mother to five sons; Jules, Gani, Emmanuel, Jason, and Bingo; a woman whose
life revolves around her family. As a mother, she witnessed every struggle that their family
surpassed coinciding to her own struggle as she partake to the reality of oppression and self-
discovery. As Vilma Santos portrayed Amanda she showed no fear and took the duty of how
a mother should be – realizing that she isn’t only a mother to her family but as well a citizen
to her country. As struggles were shown and realized, the film emphasized the issues towards
freedom, oppression, and gender inequality during the Marcos regime. With that being said,
the issues were very sensible during that time for which needed a bigger scope of
translucence for which the movie showed it powerfully.

The movie, per se, was very timely with its issues and morals showing how the novel
was written. It really took the conflictions to other variations, as the children of Julian and
Amanda unfolds their own stories to tell; Jules as portrayed by Piolo Pascual became a high-
ranking official in a resistance movement against the government; Emmanuel by Marvin
Agustin, loves literature and because of that he starts to write revolutionary pieces for which
was banned by the government for its content; Gani acted by Carlos Agassi, was an ambitious
man who wants out of the Philippines to work as a soldier in U.S.; Jason by Danilo Barrios,
was in the state of puberty and rebellion; and Bingo who was portrayed by John Wayne Sace
is the bystander of the family who witnessed every changes his family gone through. The
distinction of each child shows the different ambitions of the citizens during Martial law, one
solely carry a pride of determination for the freedom of state.
 Although it was filmed on the set of 1970s during 2000’s, its cinematography wasn’t
at its best compared to what we have now, nonetheless, for its time it showed classically
outstanding features of the movie. It gave more than its cinematography, as the production
design, musical scoring, and lighting were on-point of what the story pertains. However, the
fashion sense in the movie were a bit overrated – during the 70s the fashion was colorful:
double-knits in all colors, corduroys, nik-nik shirts and even velvet pants for men. The state
during Marcos regime was rich as it was considered the golden era of the Philippines because
of the growth of the economy globally. Unfortunately, the ‘70s in the movie was the most
somber politically since this was the era of Martial Law. There was curfew and curtailment of
freedom of expression. It lacked the essence of richness during the era of late President
Ferdinand Marcos, instead, it showed the creativity of the movie; allowing the viewers to
grasped the hardships of the movie basing on its fashion and actions.

As Amanda goes through a painful process from the abuses of Marcos system to her
self-discovery, it took her a decade to understand the reality of her family. The movie showed
not only the determination and the life during the Marcos regime, but the truthiness of a
Filipino family of how a mother who cared so much to her family got to witnessed the death
of her son leading to many conflictions of her own self and the society. Not only had it
showed prowess to its own story but also to the eyes of viewers in which many realizations
were set by the movie transcending from generations to generations.

It was an era of cruelty, but also of bravery – the movie showed translucence to how
the society was during the Marcos era that it was full of killings and lies, and that the country
was still suffering although there was growth to the economy. The movie was the cause and
effect of the Marcos regime; we were rich on the eyes of the others but every other citizen
was suffering to its fear of the harsh environment. Dekada ’70 holds a definite power as it
was able to show the realness of every individual striving to get the freedom they all
deserved, showing the other side of the coin during the battle of dictatorship.