Fact-based films make their presence felt

HUPPERT. Portrayed one of the abductees in Brillante Mendoza’s “Captive.” photo by www.lemonade.fr

Most Filipino films are fictional dramas, but our writers and directors may be missing out on a popular new preference for fact-based movies that is slowly but surely making an impact on the global filmmaking scene.

So, it’s high time for them to see the upbeat signs of a possibly seminal change, and look into the incipient trend’s recent and forthcoming manifestations, like “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Fruitvale Station” and “Jobs.”

Those films variously deal with a pirate attack on the high seas, a young man being shot by a transit officer, and the prodigious success of the visionary yet controversial founder of Apple. They may come from different directions, but they share a dynamic preference for actuality over fictive invention.

Their time to shine has come, because viewers today, due to the greater reach and cachet of the news and social media, are “plugged” into reality as never before.

Fact-based scenarios are potent draws because viewers are already familiar with them, so they’re curious and eager to find out more about them—and to empathize with their key protagonists. So, half of the battle for the viewing public’s patronage has already been won!

Other examples

Other examples of fact-based narratives on the big screen include Nelson Mandela’s film bio; “The Green Zone” and the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; movies about sports heroes, and docu-dramas about political upheavals in the Middle East and Latin America.

In the past, some Filipino productions were similarly based on or inspired by actual events, like Lino Brocka’s “Kapit sa Patalim” and “Orapronobis,” Gerry de Leon’s “Daigdig Ng Mga Api,” “The Moises Padilla Story,” and a number of docu-dramas about major disasters that affected millions of victims.

In recent years, however, the fictive and even escapist mode has prevailed, so fact-based narratives have generally been eschewed by our filmmakers, with some noteworthy exceptions: Gil Portes’ “Liars,” recently on view at the Cinemalaya festival, reminds viewers of the time when overaged Filipino “children” undeservingly won an international sports title, and “Captive,” Brillante Mendoza’s dramatization of the kidnapping of tourists and locals at a posh beach resort. In particular, Mendoza’s film made some waves internationally because it starred French actress Isabelle Huppert as one of the abductees.

We have many more fact-based stories to tell, so we hope that our filmmakers get in early on the incipient docu-drama trend, which has already attracted such big guns as Tom Hanks, George Clooney and Ashton Kutcher (his spot-on portrayal of Steve Jobs was a big draw at the box office)!