Brillante Mendoza’s win at Cannes (Best Director for Kinatay) should be treated with nothing but pride and warmth by any decent Filipino filmmaker. Or any Filipino, for that matter. It is a monumental achievement by a hardworking director and he deserves nothing less than our respect.
So quit clawing at his knees, stop pulling him down to your level. Pick on someone as small as you.
Meanwhile Roger Ebert’s scathing review of Kinatay drew the ire of many Pinoys, as expected. One moron in particular threatened that Ebert should never visit the country because he won’t be welcome; to which Ebert says, I reviewed a movie not your country. It’s not so much how sensitive we are (what can we do, that’s who we are), it’s how we overreact. Like Ramon Revilla. Or the two year-old flamewar that happened when an American woman posted about her Jollibee experience (obviously meant for fun). Poor lady had to shut her forum down, because she kept getting messages like these.
You’d think we’d be tougher than that. Or in the case of Brillante’s local detractors, better people.
Tags: Brillante Mendoza, Cannes, Jollibee, Kinatay, Roger Ebert
