A mother forever

Film review: Ang Tanging Ina Mo... Last Na To!

Ang Tanging Ina Mo Rin: Last Na To! was recognized as the Best Picture of the 2010 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF). It garnered eight other awards, all major, including Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Child Performer. I reveled in laughter and wallowed in tears, admired the way Filipino values were promoted and thought it was worth every centavo I paid.

The movie is very Filipino in that it focuses on the central and special role of a mother, played by Ai-Ai de las Alas, in a family. For an undetermined illness, she is diagnosed to have only a few remaining months to live. She feels she is not yet ready to go but to prepare for the inevitable, becomes dead set, (no pun intended), on putting her children’s lives in order first.

The eldest son (played by Marvin Agustin) leaves for an overseas job to support his own growing family only to immediately return as a result of the worldwide financial crisis. Because of amor propio, that is, to save face, he secretly settles for menial jobs instead of going back to his mother for help. Marvin has very few lines, but the pain of a hard-up existence, is clearly articulated in his face, his unspoken emotions making us all relate to what so many other Filipino overseas workers, in the same situation, suffer.

A daughter (Shaina Magdayao) decides to settle down with her facially-challenged boyfriend (Empoy) to the chagrin of Ai-Ai (and everyone else in the movie... and the audience... eeeewwww!) who finds it hard to believe that her daughter who is a stunner will settle for someone not as gorgeous as Ai-Ai’s dead husbands. Three of them are resurrected as her suitors, but the director (Wenn Deramas) saw fit not to extend their roles so as not to distract the viewers from the main theme of the story (i.e., love for the family above all else).

The domestic worker, to use the politically correct term, is hilarious and a scene-stealer. Ever the dedicated household help, she brings to the role vigor and gusto, and is typical of Filipino household help: Patient, humorous, and caring. What is refreshing about her is she does not play to the gallery as some of her co-actors occasionally do, just to force a laugh from the audience.

Eugene Domingo as Ai-Ai’s bosom friend performs the ever-faithful sidekick role to the hilt, with her own concerns to deal with, including the problems that arise from being married to a much younger and much better-looking husband. Fortunately, the director did not exploit this relationship and concentrated more on Eugene’s I-will-stand-by-my-friend-till-the-end loyalty for best friend Ai-Ai. Eugene gave excellent support, always allowing Ai-Ai’s star to shine brighter. Knowing fully well her acting abilities, I credit Eugene with an outstanding grade for her restraint.

Tanging Ina Mo... Last Na ‘To! is definitely Ai-Ai’s movie from start to finish. She mirrors what every mother is, amidst the stress and hardships. She is sincere in her love for her family one would think her movie kids are her children in real life. She is a single parent’s and a mother’s patron saint. You cry with her and feel her pain when she sees her eldest suffering. Her portrayal makes us realize what a mother’s mission in life is: To see to it that her brood is well-taken care of and that before she leaves this mortal life, every single member of the family is living a thriving existence. Sadly though, in real life, most of us realize the value of this maternal love only when we have lost our own mothers.