Tondo, Beloved
Jewel Maranan
Documentary /76 mins/ 2012/Philippines/Filipino with English Subtitles
Tondo, Beloved: To What Are the Poor Born? is a geopolitical exploration of life before birth in the smallest home in the seams of Manila’s premier international port.
Virgie’s family feeds on the fishes that lurk under the industrial ships of North Harbor. Their alternatives are packs of tasteless gelatin found in the same waters. Their entertainment comes from imagining stories behind DVD inlays of Hollywood films and a tabloid article on Hillary Clinton and a rat’s ass.
One morning when the fishes are dead, the sea’s color is that of milk and the ships’ clanging are unusually bold; uncertainty is born on the same floor where they eat, blood is spilt in the same bowl where they clean fish and an old weary nation is revealed.
Sheharnama 