Ang Kalatas November 2015 Issue | Page 19

THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA www.kalatas.com.au | Volume 6 Number 2 | NOVEMBER 2015 Western Union goes to the movies ENTERTAINMENT 15 Miss Philippines-Australia 2015 RICA SEY RICA Alido Sey, representing the Visayan Association of Australia, was crowned Miss Philippines Australia 2015 at the Fiesta Kultura held last month at the Fairfield Showground. IN conjunction with a Radio Pinoy promotion (98.5 FM), Western Union, leaders in money remittances, took a group of Filipinos to watch the historical film, “Heneral Luna” at Hoyts Theatres, Blacktown last October 30. With matching yellow t-shirts blazened with “Bilib ako sa Pinoy”, and patriotism pumping through their veins, the Western union group marched through the Hoyts Theatres to watch a slice of Philippine history. Tickets were handed out to callers of Pinoy Radio for the last couple of weeks. “We got a good response, said Ross Aguilar, the anchor man for Pinoy Radio. Unity for Purpose made it possible for the movie to be screened in Australia. The movie was shown in Melbourne, Sydney and is scheduled for screening in Brisbane and Perth in the next few weeks. Proceeds from the movie go to “Tulong sa Kapwa Kapatid” charity in the Philippines. “It was a fun night for the Filipino community. And more importantly, it was good to be reminded of History’s lessons.” said Western Union spokesperson, Benjie de Ubago. Rica, 19, also won Best in Evening Gown, Miss Photogenic and Best in Swimwear. She was the crowd favourite and her supporters from the VAA came out in full force to cheer her at the coronation night. “I’m so overwhelmed,” Rica said after the coronation. “This crown also belongs to all who supported me.” Rica is from Lugarno in Sydney south. She is currently studying a bachelor’s degree in teaching. She is the daughter of Alex and Lita Sey. Chit Serra, her manager and the former manager of Glyssa helped Rica in winning the title. The Charity Queen 2015 title was awarded to Susana Downes who was also named ‘Miss Popularity’. Runnerup was Jerelyn Tabuan who was also named Charity Princess 2015 and Best in Filipiniana. Gabby Escubio (won the title of Miss Friendship. The Miss PhilippinesAustralia pageant has become the traditional highlight of the annual Fiesta Kultura, “I’M SO OVERWHELMED,” RICA SAID AFTER THE CORONATION. “THIS CROWN ALSO BELONGS TO ALL WHO SUPPORTED ME.” It is the second year in a row that a VAA beauty won the pageant. Last year’s Miss Phils-Australia, Glyssa Perez, also represented the Visayans. The support of Gabe Amor to groom Miss Rica and considered the biggest fiesta gathering for the Pinoy community in NSW. The Fiesta Kultura is organised by the Philippine Australian Sports and Culture Inc. [with Richard Ford] THANKS to charity group (Unity4Purpose) and community volunteers, we finally got to see the much talked about ‘Heneral Luna’ at the Hoyts last month. By TITUS FILIO THE film, directed by Jerrold Tarog, is a biopic on General Antonio Luna of the Fil-Am war era and we can only hope that this gets into the shortlist of the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. Yet like all great films there are the highs and lows that go with Heneral Luna. I was happy with the entirety of the movie but I think there were some missed opportunities in what could have been a real epic. Two great things about this film: firstly, we get an understanding of Heneral Luna (as portrayed so well by actor John Arcilla) – his humanity, his romantic side and even his good son nature despite his brash approach to leadership, and his zeal to unify a splintered Filipino armed forces. Secondly, it provides a front seat view to the encounters of the great and not-so-great personalities caught in the political marketplace during an important chapter in the country’s history. The narrative (such as Heneral Luna’s clash with the political heavyweights of his time) is engaging complete with rather comic twists and surprises. The lows? Well, it is always difficult to produce films that mix a genre of historical fiction and action, of tragedy and even comedy (yes, the dialogues were flavoured with Pinoy humour – that’s us, really!) but the film has been laced, rather too much, with rhetoric that made it appear more like a propaganda reel than a simply great movie to enjoy. Too straightforward. The film rightly served the fare (fried patriotism in anger-powdered sauce) but the bombastic clichés could spoil one’s appetite. Now was there a disjoint somewhere in the plot? I had that feeling that the emotion brewed in the movie’s entirety was a bit one-sided. One ends up hating the Filipinos more and the Americans less despite the fact that it was the new colonisers who were doing the really badass job of subjugating the archipelago. At the start, the storyline showed the two sides of Heneral Luna as a man fighting a foreign oppressor and a man fighting his own people. The movie succeeded in showing the latter but the general’s crusade against the new invaders somehow got lost. Hardly did the movie make viewers understand the dark side of American imperialism. After all, General Luna’s relevance in our history was within that backdrop. He resisted American occupation. Heneral Luna A Review My comments: On the characters: John Arcilla was really great in this one. He deserves a best actor award. The Americans: where did they get those talents? Not too convincing, they appeared like showmen from a Barnum Circus; the portrayal of General Aguinaldo (Mon Confiado) in this film was just too subdued. On the battle scenes: War movies often show ‘borrowed’ battle scenes but this film shows just too many familiar scenes. I swear some of the scenes were ‘Savin r&