Review:
Sisa, the movie
By
YANNI ROXAS
BULATLAT
“Our
grief is endless.”
Spoken
by a woman survivor in the film “Sisa” during the American colonization of the
Philippines recalls the horrors of wars and abuse endured by countless peoples,
past and present, in conquered territories or targeted invasions.
In the
film, the drawing power was initially the much awaited comeback of the highly
respected Hilda Koronel. Will she do
another master class in playing the lead role of Sisa, a tragic victim of
Spanish oppression in Rizal’s novel who fell into madness? Yes there was madness, but award-winning
director Jun Robles Lana, chose to portray Sisa not as vulnerable or mentally
broken but as a spy in the Philippine-American war. The only kinship to Rizal’s Sisa was to use
madness as a disguise for espionage.
Koronel’s raw and exceptional talent brought
into the screen the subtleties and complexities of a spy intruding and finally
living in a concentration camp. She
herself identifies with the women in the camp as her own family was burned to
death during the occupation. Lana used the film as an eye opener to audiences.
Not only was it shown in time for the Women’s Month but the raging US-Israel
war against Iran, though fought with missiles and bombs, brought untold sufferings and brutality even in
previous times when the US started holding military dominance in the world and
occupying territories. Unfortunately to this day many Filipinos remain
blindsided by the atrocities of American forces even in their own land, and
continue to treat the US as savior or liberator.
This
is such an unequivocal truth. The
dominance of foreign oppressors over the oppressed is altering the lives of
people upside down, radically, until they lose control of their future. In
“Sisa”, a once- peaceful village becomes a concentration camp where only women,
children and old folks remain, while male kins are suspected of being
insurgents. Whatever is left of families is turned into communal lives amid
poverty and repression. Each day the colonizers exercise abuse of power,
racism, arrogance, lies and domestic slavery, cavorting with local women as
well, but with sexual assault not far behind. Even then some women could fall
for the Americans who easily duped them by promises of love.
But
there are other unsettling truths in this movie, especially when revolutionary
heroes turn traitors. The shock was palpable as Sisa and the camp women who
ultimately would have followed her into secretly aiding the insurgents (“hukbo
ng bayan”) raged silently when the people’s army marched into the concentration
camp to surrender — not to raid, kill or capture the top US visiting forces
(“members of the Taft Commission”) as
had been planned earlier. General
Artemio, the Filipino commander played by Romnick Sarmienta, sadly and quietly
admitted to Sisa that they are laying down their arms, helpless before the
almighty Americans.
Did
the women accept their fate? No. Eugene Domingo, playing the second lead Delia
as a suffering mother, spoke the voice of injustice and refused to surrender to
the US forces. And the reason? They had
all witness the brutality of colonization as their husbands and children were
killed by the colonizers before their very eyes. It was unforgivable to accept
defeat, nor would they ever forget.
As the
women debated among themselves, Sisa conveyed inner turmoil. Without saying a word, but with hands
trembling and with intense pained expression, she silently led the women to
serve food mixed with what apparently looks like rat poison. While the US forces and the “insurgents”
partied to celebrate the surrender, the women found solace in pouring gasoline
around the corners of the dining room.
They deliberately locked the room, including themselves, so no one can
escape. As each diner was falling down,
Sisa held a lamp around which the women gathered, and a quiet smile rested on
her lips.
Nothing
much needed to be said. People, women
and more, will find ways to serve justice in any which way they can and,
whether by desperation or by intention, would rather offer one’s life to the
end than suffer oppression on repeat. This female narrative is exceptional as
it inspires and pays tribute to the courage and solidarity of Filipino women
driven by injustice. It also felt like a
sense of catharsis filled the audience as they clapped their hands when the
movie ended. (RVO)
Link: https://www.bulatlat.com/2026/03/31/review-sisa-the-movie/
