Dimples Romana (left) and Angel Locsin
A different kind of viewing experience was in store for “Maalaala Mo Kaya” regulars last month, when the weekly dramatic anthology offered a “twin” thespic showcase that featured Dimples Romana one week, and Angel Locsin the next, linked by the same story, told twice for double the dramatic insights.
It was kind of a “Rashomon” experience, as both “versions” told of a boy who got lost in Divisoria, driving his mother crazy as she looked for him in vain.
It turned out that the boy was rescued by a Muslim vendor (Angel) who eventually took him home to Mindanao, where she cared for and loved him like her own child.
When she belatedly learned that her foundling’s mother was looking for him, she contacted her—this proved to be her undoing, because she was captured and accused of kidnapping the boy for ransom.
The “two-fer” dramatic treat was singularly insightful, because it showed how a good deed could be misinterpreted as a crime that severely affected two families’ lives for the long term.
The fact that two mothers were involved made the “MMK” episodes belatedly relevant Mother’s Day viewing experiences, although of the decidedly cautionary sort.
The first installment focusing on Dimples’ character was compelling but overly loud and melodramatic, with the lead actress succumbing too often to the script’s many “invitations” to act her heart out.
Yes, a searching mother’s pain is extreme, but overiteration at full emotional throttle eventually makes for increasingly diminishing returns.
The Angel episode the following Saturday fared better because Locsin was more judicious in her “parsing out” of dramatic and emotional scenes, pacing them for better build and climax, and avoiding viewers’ nagging feeling that they’d heard it all before.
It was also in the follow-up episode that the drama’s ironies came to the fore, especially that key point of good ending up really bad, due to shifting and conflicting human perspectives.
It was doubly daunting when the continually unfolding drama detailed the long incarceration of the “kidnapper” and her sister, with new horrors and crises making their lives even more miserable at every turn!
At the episode’s end, viewers were relieved to learn that the falsely accused women could be freed on parole in the near future.
Nothing can mitigate the injustice that stripped them of their freedom, but they can at least have a fresh start at life, peace and happiness.
The dramatic showcase’s “two cultures” factor made the “MMK” treat even more instructive. And the fact that it was being telecast at a time of renewed conflict in Muslim Mindanao gave it an unplanned but uncanny topicality that was worth its weight in further pertinence and impact!