I am a sucker for sad, tragic stories.
Last night (January 10), I was fixated at the Maalala Mo Kaya episode. I’ve wanted to watch it since I saw the trailer. It was a story of an impoverished family in a sugar hacienda whose suffering was multiplied hundredfold by reasons of their own doing. The father (Jay Manalo) is vicious and brutal, asking his children to work in the sugarcane field and taking their earnings to play sabong. When drunk, he punishes his children violently for no reason at all. There are six kids and often they have to scavenge the mountains for something to eat. One sibling and the baby died from starvation. The eldest boy decided to take things in his own hand and defied his father; for the very basic purpose of putting more food at their table. He was later disowned despite his selfless and benevolent intensions.
I have to give a round of applause to the actors, especially the lead child actor (Joshua Dionisio). He was so good and his portrayal of his character was so painstakingly earnest; as if he has mastered the art of juvenile anguish. The trailer stated his recent Best Actor win and I foresee another one coming with this episode (or was this a replay and this was his winning performance...I really don’t know). For me, the most disheartening part was when he lashed back against his father and ended up being evicted from their house. The next sequence showed him crying in childish whimpers; and you realize that he is just a KID amidst a very adult struggle. Hats off also to Chito Rono for the remarkable storytelling and direction.
The MMK episodes are getting better and better; they are almost like mini-indie movies. They have also been increasingly memorable in a heart-breaking way. This comes as no surprise because they often depict the darker facets of life, which is more realistic anyway. I have always believed that life is a chaos and it is up to us to make sense out of it.
There is another recent episode of MMK that I can’t take off my mind… one of the most shocking episodes I watched to date. It featured the plight of children on the streets. Abandoned by their parents, these children took LIFE in their own small hands; the lead child actor even resorting to being a pimp at a tender age. It was appalling to hear the boy say “Sir, you want good time?…Satisfaction guaranteed.” But the worst part came when the little boy realized that the girl he likes has succumbed to prostitution (a predicament he wanted her to evade) in order to save her ailing mother. Suddenly, his last semblance of normalcy shattered and his already-fragile world came crashing down.
At the core of each MMK episode are the lessons and of course… redemption; a hope against hope that everything will work out well in the end. But I don’t think life is ever that way. Sometimes you have to just get used to the bleakness of it.
I have a theory why I like tragic masterpieces: watching these horror stories puts my own life in perspective. My own misery pales in comparison to theirs. And I realize how blessed I am.
Just like what they say...Don’t compare yourself to others because you have no idea what their journey is all about.
Rain does not fall on one roof, after all.
***
I was a wayward child
With the weight of the world that I held deep inside
Life was a winding road
And I learned many things that one shouldn’t know
But I close my eyes
Steadied my feet on the ground, raised my hand to the sky
And the times rolled by
Still I feel like a child as I look at the moon
Maybe I grew up a little too soon
From “Close My Eyes”