My World in Words: W A R

"The law of war is to kill the enemy"
- Ruben, HUKBALAHAP member
Sundalong Kanin
Cinemalaya 2014

Nobody wins in a war. As history has taught us, particularly in the 2nd world war,

"The Philippines had suffered great loss of life and tremendous physical destruction by the time the war was over. An estimated one million Filipinos had been killed from all causes; of these 131,028 were listed as killed in seventy-two war crime events. U.S. casualties were 10,380 dead and 36,550 wounded; Japanese dead were 255,795.
- Wikipedia

America did claim victory for the Philippines by the return of General Douglas McArthur, but beyond the casualties and the destruction is the painful memory for each and every Filipino, not only of those who lived during those days, but up to this very day, when the story is told, the hurt is still lived and somehow lingers. The only consolation is that it is the PAST and we can only be thankful that we did not have to endure what our parents and grandparents went through.

That's what Sundalong Kanin did. It vividly depicted what went on in our country during the 2nd world war in a smaller scale - in the lives of four (4) Filipino young boys just entering their adolescence. Nitoy, Benny, Carding and Badong witnessed and went through the brutality of not only the Japanese forces but also from the Filipino guerrillas, the HUKBALAHAP. A bulk of the story showed the travails of the comfort women in which these 4 boys suffered as well as they beheld how the women in their lives were perverted. They also went through the humiliation their fathers went through, bullied by the Japanese. Their families were torn and the worst part of it all was how their friendship crumbled.

The depiction of the 2nd world war in the story was brilliant and that's the reason I brought my 12 year old son with me, to educate him with history. He was, of course, able to relate with the characters being his age. I suddenly missed my Dad, with his animated ways in telling us the story of his experience of this war. The film brought that to life.

There is even a smaller scale than the portrayal of the 4 boys. As my son was educated with history, I learned a bit about the war of unforgivingness. Tonyo's anger towards Tomas, Carding's father was magnified by the war and has turned him merciless and brutal as the Japanese. It made matters worst for all the characters in the story. In Tonyo's heart, there was war and the law was to kill Tomas. It took over him and devoured his heart. He became a victim of his own war.

In its entirety, the film was absolutely engaging from start to finish. If you are fond of history, this will be a treat as all the elements, like the acting, the screenplay, the cinematography, etc will make you feel like you are in a time machine brought back to 1941. You will feel like you were actually there.

Elijah Canlas as Badong and
Rania Delamar as Alice

I would also like to commend Elijah Canlas, "Jelo", as he is fondly called, for his stunning performance in the role of Badong. This is his first exposure in show business and he acted like a pro. He is a classmate of my daughter, Biel, in the Philippine High School for the Arts. He is a Theater Arts major. Kudos to the school for the training as well.