Name: Joshua Fidel Garcia

The film of Soxie Topacio, entitled “Ded na si Lolo” is a film about the death of Lolo Juanito,
the person who died in the story. The film is about a large family with lots of issues gathering
together to mourn the death of the family patriarch. But getting in the way of their genuine grief
is a bunch of superstitions about the dead, and the family's inability to deal with their issues in a
civilized way.

Elements:
The main character in the story is Tony Cruz who played the role of Lolo Juanito the dead in the
story. Including the five children of Lolo Juanito named Syano, Dolores, Mameng, and Charing.
Dick Israel acts as Syano in the Story. He is the eldest among the five. He is the key to the secret
of their father. The next character is Dolores, acted by Elizabeth Oropesa. Her character in the
story is a woman left by his husband. She has intimidation to Mameng and anger to her husband
Domeng which is acted by Froilan Suarez. Next is the character of Mameng acted by Gina
Alajar. She is the character in the story who’s living in the house of their father, which is the
reason for the anger Dolores to her. Next to her is Meng that is acted by Manilyn Reynes. In the
story, her character is a mother of two children. Everyone in their place knows her for having a
loud voice that makes them awake early in the morning. Then the youngest among the five is
Junee. He is a jolly gay who hates all the superstition in the story. He makes the story funny,
together with his gay companions. In the story, the child of Mameng and Charing was named,
including Jimmy. He is the oldest son of Mameng, which is found gay in the late part of the
story. Then Bobet, who is acted by BJ Forbes, the child who is always holding ammonia and
cotton. For the reason that his mother and aunts are always fainting in the story. The setting of
the story is at the house of Lolo Junaito (the dead) in Gagalanigin, Tondo Manila. The scene
when Mameng and Dolores fight about the money that they were going to use for the grave and
hospital bills of their father. This is the first argument of the siblings that make their hatred to
each other became larger is the rising action in the story Then when Mameng and Dolores fight
in front of the casket of their father and Junee was there to restrain the fight but both of them
don’t want to be defeated is the climax in the story. When the character of Aling Pilar appeared
in the story, it became clear to Dolores that their father loves her and her argument with Mameng
stopped. This is the falling action of the story. And the last element is the resolution, in the story
during the internment, Bobet is carried over the casket to and fro in order to prevent his grandpa
from exercising his visitation rights on little kids. Bobet’s protest that he is not a little kid falls on
deaf ears. He bids his “lolo” goodbye.

There is lot of superstition mentioned in the story including:

The first superstition is “No family member of the dead must help carry the casket”. Because in
the belief of the elders it is bad because the sin of the dead will become heavier and may cause a
bad luck to them. “Once inside, the casket has to be positioned in such a way that the feet of the
dead do not point to the door.” After some scenes, “Dolores puts some money in their father’s
hand for luck”. Accordingly, during the wake, the family must put money in the hands of the
dead and take it back before the burial, so they can enjoy financial success when they keep the
money in their wallets or use it for business. Next is “A rosary is placed around the hands of the
dead, but the rosary chain must be broken” in the traditional practice of the elders they put
broken rosary around the hands so that the perceived “death spell” in the family is broken. “It is
not allowed to wear anything red when someone dies.” People say that wearing red to a wake or
a funeral is an insult to the family because red could mean cheerfulness and happiness. It sends a
message to the family that the death of their loved one is a reason for rejoicing. “It is not allowed
to clean up, especially to sweep the floor, no matter how dirty it becomes. Junee questions this
belief. It’s been days since they cleaned up and he feels it has become unsanitary for them to
keep all the dirt and grime in the house. But his older brother says that it has been a longheld
belief by the old folks so they have to stick to such beliefs. Then, it is also said that crying is so
much a part of the whole dying situation but it is not good to shed tears near the casket because
on what “they” say it is bad for tears to fall on the casket. But the meaning of these superstitions
wasn’t mentioned. “They” also say that it is not proper for family members to thank those who
give them favours or donations for the dead. All donations for the dead must be fully spent for
the dead. According to our tradition, the excess amount must not be used by the living. There is a
scene where two guys throw money when the funeral service came. Accordingly, “anyone who
meets a funeral procession is lucky and must throw coins in the air to have some financial
success.”

Reflection:
The plot of the movie orbits on a Filipino family grieving due to the death of one of its members
which is Lolo Juanito, the grandfather, as seen in the movie’s title from the perspective of Bobet
(BJ Forbes). The story started when Charing (Manilyn Reynes), one of Lolo Juanito’s children,
and her family received the news about her father’s death. They went to her father’s house where
the wake will be held and where her sister Mameng (Gina Alajar) also lives. The oldest sister
Dolores (Elizabeth Oropesa), the oldest son Isidro (Dick Israel) and the gay son Junee (Roderick
Paulate) also came home to mourn their father’s passing. But as the story continues, the siblings’
issues with each other arises. The movie then concluded with a happy ending as the family found
out a secret, resolved their issues, and bid goodbye to Lolo Juanito. As far as I could remember, I
was still a child when I last went to awake. Watching the film made me feel like I went back to
my childhood. As I started to watch the film, I primarily assumed that it was just all typical
humour and drama like most Filipino films nowadays. But as the story unfolds, I noticed that the
movie was actually enlightening us about a piece of our culture, specifically the superstitious
beliefs associated with the dead. Some of the superstitious beliefs, especially those seen in wakes
held at home, that were present in the film were: No one is allowed to wear red when someone
dies because it symbolizes happiness, anyone living in the house where the wake is held is not
allowed to take a bath inside the house, the house where the wake is held is not allowed to be
cleaned even if it gets very dirty, it is not good to shed tears on the coffin, all donations for the
dead must be only spent for the dead, and the family has to provide food for the guests. There are
also beliefs that were unfamiliar or unaccustomed to me like no family member of the dead can
help carry the coffin, the coffin has to be positioned in such a way that the feet of the dead do not
point to the door, a rosary is placed around the hand of the dead so that there will be no other
family member that will be dead, putting some money in dead’s hand and taking it back before
the burial for good luck, children should cover themselves with a red blanket to protect them
from being visited by the dead, and a family member is not allowed to walk guests out of the
house when it is awake. I think that most of the things that I’ve listed were still prevalent even
today especially those that I am familiar with. As the new technology arises, a lot of Filipinos
were greatly influenced by other nations’ cultures making them mock and forgot their own. I am
quite surprised that most areas in the country still value some of these beliefs, particularly in the
rural areas, by continuously practising and teaching them to young Filipinos. Another thing that
caught my attention in the film was the resiliency of the Filipinos. It was evident in the story that
even the family was entangled in an unfortunate circumstance, they proved to us that love for the
family is stronger than any other problem. The movie having a happy ending showed us that
Filipinos can still make it through bad times. The Bayanihan of the community in the story was
also evident especially in the part where they are carrying the coffin into the house. What I also
noticed in the story was that Filipino children are really obedient to what their parents tell them
to do. It seems to imply that Filipino parents or the elders should always be followed by the
children. As part of the youth, watching films like this seems boring but I am glad that I watched
something different. Aside from enjoying watching the film, I also learned a lot from it. I like
how the film incorporated humour into the story because it made the mood lighter. When in fact
for me, the film as a whole speaks profoundly about a current issue that we face in our society
today which is the negligence of our own culture and the rise of doubt among the people whether
some beliefs are worth practising. In my own opinion, I think we all have a choice if we want to
practice these beliefs and I chose to respect the beliefs of the people around me. There are some
people who do not want to practice these superstitious beliefs because they do not have concrete
explanations and they seem ridiculous. On the other hand, some people wanted to practice these
because these are already part of our culture. I actually think that there is nothing wrong with
believing these things. Truthfully, I also think that some of the beliefs were absurd. As for me, I
do practice some of these beliefs because I want to value our culture; It is my choice. I could try
convincing other people, but I cannot force them to believe in what I believe. In conclusion, the
movie was good even though it was really old and the quality is low. Nevertheless, I can
recommend it to other people most especially to my fellow Filipinos so they could be more
knowledgeable of the superstitious beliefs taught to us by our ancestors. They will definitely find
the film hilarious and worth watching.