Metro Manila mayors help ailing movie industry - ROSES AND THORNS by Alejandro R. Roces

Last Tuesday, Metro Manila mayors announced that the 30 percent amusement tax imposed on the movies would be reduced by half. Immediately after, Interior Secretary Jose Lina said that he would lobby before local governments outside Metro Manila to follow Metro Manila’s example. This clearly shows that there is national concern for the ailing movie industry. Everyone wants not only to save but to see a local movie industry that would make us proud to be Filipinos. It is now up to the movie industry to do its part.

At the moment, there is a raging controversy about a movie that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has officially banned. Its producer and director claim that it is an artistic expression and that its censorship is an infringement of artistic expression. The irony is that good non-controversial movies are being produced. There is one now – Tanging Yaman – starring an old star, Gloria Romero. But it is the so-called sex-films that draw attention because of the controversy that they cause. We personally saw the latest controversial movie and found, not only the sex scenes obscene, but the dialogue itself was shocking and repulsive. We repeated some lines from the movie during a press interview and when the interview was shown on TV, they obliterated the objectionable words in the dialogue with whistles. That speaks for itself. We can assure that the words used will shock even adults.

The other day, there was a news item about an elderly person who raped a girl after seeing the movie now in question. There is a direct relation between the crime rate and obscenity. Obscenity is unfit for public circulation. It is dirt for dirt’s sake, a mental poison made public.

Those who produce local pornographic movies circulate misleading reports. They say, for instance, that the current controversial movie was shown during a prestigious European movie festival. It may be true that it was shown during the festival, but it was not one of the movies shown as part of the festival.

We have always been concerned with local movies. One of the earliest local movie awards was the Maria Clara Awards. I was one of the founders and chairman of those awards. I produced two films directed by Lamberto Avellana: The Bell of Baler and The Legacy. They both won the Conde de Foxa award in Spain. I was the chairman of the annual awards for the best film, director, actor and actress given by Metro Manila. There was a year when I refused to give any award because there was no outstanding movie on acting. All that was done for the greater glory of the local movie industry.

We have the talent to make great movies. What we need is the artistic vision and mission to make great movies, not the license to produce pornography under the guise of artistic expression.