Though this post is a reaction to the political documentary Imelda (dir. by Ramona Diaz), there
will be no political opinions involved. I’m hardly even going to talk about
Imelda.
Instead,
I am going to dedicate an entire post to how amazingly AWESOME
Ramona Diaz is.
To defend that, let me start with something everyone can
appreciate. It wasn’t boring.
I’m still not sure how she pulled it off. But everything was
so well put together – the pacing was great, the soundtrack was perfectly
accurate and unique (use of some
bamboo sounds to give this Filipino feel, instead of standard soundtrack instruments
like the unfailing piano-violin combo), and old footage and audio tracks from
news reports made everything so real and convincing.
And theinfamously boring documentary interviews? Diaz made
them the best part of the film. They came out at times when you actually wanted
to know what the people would say (for example, when an interesting but
confusing piece of news is dangled in front of you and of course you just have
to find out about it). But of course the real gold mine was the countless
interviews from Imelda herself. And that’s where it gets interesting.
First off, Imelda is undeniably good with interviews. She
knows how to tell anecdotes, how to make herself sound sweet, and how to put tone in her voice. But on top of all
that, you have this stereotype of her as being evil and vain, so when you
realize that she’s going to be telling things from her side, you’re interested
in seeing if she can actually defend herself. And amazingly, she can.
But that’s where Ramona Diaz’s true directorial genius comes
in. She manages to criticize Imelda, without saying so directly.
The simplest example is when Imelda justifies all her
clothes. And she does an interesting job of that by talking about her love of
beauty. Now for that I have to give kudos to Imelda, she can pull off saying
stupid things with unbelievable confidence. And she makes them sound good.
But then Diaz bursts the Imelda bubble and shows scenes of
poor people, intertwined with the scenes showing Imelda’s dresses. And that’s
when you start seeing things from two points of view. It’s still two points,
mind, because you still have Imelda babbling like an innocent girl in the
background. But after watching several scenes where evidence is shown that is
in direct opposition to what the person defending Imelda is saying, you start
feeling that Imelda is the greatest liar ever or just plain stupid.
The longer it goes on, the more you start believing the
stupidity defence. Because how can anyone who isn’t stupid have the guts to
write a book about herself and her beauty,
when she was kicked out of the country for corruption?
However, near the end of the film, they show her kids on TV being
interviewed as they run for government positions. And that’s where it all falls
down. In a beautiful moment of irony, Imelda actually asks someone to turn the
volume up as they talk about her.
[paraphrased]
Our mother is the smartest person I know.
She’s one of the best politicians ever.
Boom – Imelda’s entire defence destroyed. No all-knowing,
criticizing, third person voice-over needed.
In conclusion, if you want to totally annihilate a person’s
justifications, don’t do it with words. Don’t do it with evidence. Do it with a
Ramona Diaz film.
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