“FINISH.” Shaleha simply utters the word as she looks at the newly done colored mat she’s been weaving for days.

It’s one brilliant scene in Brillante Mendoza’s recent masterpiece, ‘Thy Womb‘ (Sinapupunan), whose main character is Shaleha (Nora Aunor), a Badjao midwife from Tawi-Tawi in Mindanao.

The scene is just one of the many metaphors in the film, which this writer watched two weeks before its Philippine premiere, at a special screening for the press and film critics in Makati last night. That one line tells viewers thousands of ideas about her life.

Mendoza makes good use of metaphors and irony in this award-winning film, set to capture Filipinos’ hearts starting December 25. It’s one of the official entries in the upcoming Metro Manila Film Festival 2012, which runs from Christmas Day until the first week of January.

‘Thy Womb’ tells the story of Shaleha and her unconditional love for her husband, Bangas-An (Bembol Roco), whose wish for a baby she wants granted despite being unable to conceive. She thus sets out to find a woman whose womb is capable of bearing a child.

International Recognitions

Whoever says this isn’t among the best performances of Aunor is either a liar or doesn’t know real acting. Or maybe I’m wrong. Does she even have a mediocre performance in her lifetime in show business?

‘Thy Womb’ won Aunor the Bisato d’Oro Award (Best Actress) from the independent jury, Premio Della Critica Indipendiente, when the film competed at the 69th Venice International Festival in September 2012. The film also won two more awards: the La Navicella Venezia Cinema Award and the P. Nazareno Taddei Award (Special Mention). And just recently, it won Mendoza the Best Director award and Aunor the Best Actress award at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2012.

The film promises to give both its lead actress and its director more awards in the days to come, especially as, per Mendoza, he continues to receive invitations to other international film festivals.

The director has much praise for the Superstar, whom he calls a real artist and very professional. Asked who other Filipina actresses could play the role aside from Aunor, he simply replied that he can’t think of anyone. Only Nora Aunor. Glad that he let the actress do her own magic on the film, he said most of the scenes showcase the natural Nora and that she wasn’t really acting.

The other cast members, award-winning actresses Lovi Poe and Mercedes Cabral, also played their parts very well, Mendoza said. Casting them was a good move, especially as the two are awesome actresses with natural Filipina beauty.

Effective Film Making

With Mendoza’s Thy Womb, I all the more believe that effective filmmaking is not centered on awards, and that the recognition he receives is just a result of the quality of his work. Mendoza never follows the template of his previous award-winning films, as most directors might. With every film, he offers something new, something unique, something worth keeping for life.

The shaky shots he’s known for, though present in almost every one of his films, are almost unrecognizable here, replaced by more established, more prominent, steady shots that highlight the beauty of Tawi-Tawi and its rich natural resources. Colleagues who watched with me might not be aware of it, but they left their mouths wide open for a short while in awe of the first scenes. Some might have mistaken the film for a tourism campaign.

It is never without the morbid scenes Mendoza is known for, though in ‘Thy Womb’ it only involves a cow. It has sex scenes as well, but in a more reserved yet truthful manner. And though Mendoza again uses an actual scene of a mother giving birth, as he already did in ‘Captive,’ that’s forgivable, no, necessary. It is ‘Thy Womb,’ after all.

What’s lovable about Mendoza’s way of filmmaking is that he doesn’t load it with personal advocacies except the advocacy of truth-telling. He doesn’t preach either. He simply presents the facts gathered over months and months of research in a way that lets viewers think about what it says; sometimes, viewers are even treated to creating the ending they want for the story.

Winning Hearts

The film may have created noise internationally for the numerous awards it has won so far, but it was its in-depth presentation of a Philippine jewel of Mindanaoan culture that won my heart, silently.

We all know Aunor, with her superstar stature, is such a strong presence that she might drown viewers in her role. But in ‘Thy Womb,’ she remains just an important ingredient in a very poignant film, each frame of which holds an exciting surprise for the audience.

Though the film focuses on her character, it is nothing less than a wonderful work of art about a wife and her unconditional love, about a minority’s space in a beautiful town in conflict-associated Mindanao, about life’s ironic truths, and about everything beautiful regarding the seldom-tackled Badjao-Muslim culture despite difficult situations.

‘Thy Womb’ gave us a glimpse, if not a total journey, into the innermost being of a woman: how it is to be one and what she’s capable of in the name of love; a tour into the heart of a culture people in the outside world failed to see or some of us won’t bother to appreciate; a wondrous ride into feeling the core of a portion of the Filipino race.

Let us just hope (and maybe pray, and campaign) that this coming MMFF, Thy Womb wins over as many brave hearts as possible to look into Shaleha’s unique yet true-to-life story. It takes bravery to dare to be unconventional and to resist the blunt commercialism in films, which, much as I’d rather not say, is the force behind the annual film festival. I wish I’m wrong.

Rating: 9.5/10