Mindanao, Philippines. When a strong typhoon hits an armed-conflict mountain, the face of war suddenly changes. Ross, 28, belongs to a group of rebels tasked to rebuild the destroyed homes of people. Their community is far from the reach of any government’s basic service but has long been penetrated by corporate mining projects, which caused destruction to their environment. Ross and her group must get supplies to rebuild their broken lives. She encourages her people to go back to farming. When the aid from the Philippine government failed to arrive in their town, Ross sought relief donations from international groups. This is the beginning of her life’s complications. She finds out that the town governor is hoarding the relief goods from the United Nations. As she goes down from the hidden mountain, she is exposed to the eyes of her enemy, the Philippine military. (Source: TheFilmCatalogue) Edit Translation
- English
- magyar / magyar nyelv
- dansk
- Norsk
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Reviews
The key character Ross, subtly played by Angeli Bayani, has been accused of embezzling school funds and if found guilty faces the death penalty. Her relationship with her husband has deteriorated and she is desperately seeking a new life for her and her son. The local communist rebels of which she is one is always at odds with the government's military. Despite being rebuffed by many of the villagers, she never gives up in her desire to help them. As alliances and adversaries are made, we learn more about Ross and the circumstances she has created for herself and the dangerous exit strategy she has devised.
The film follows Ross and Sister Jo as they try to bolster their people and come up with solutions to their dire situation. They are without food, shelter and medicine with no easy answers to be found. The dead need identifying and burying. Accustomed to hardships both man and nature made, the people of the village unite despite their differences to seek food and to rebuild their community. As the survivors attempts to receive aid are rebuffed by the local government because their political views are different, the residents take matters into their own hands with tragic consequences.
Filmed with mostly natural light and on a low budget, the scenes came across muted and realistic. The mountainous jungle scenery had a rough beauty of its own even with the village shattered and buried. The emotional score enhanced the scenes especially in the beginning when scarcely a word was said for the first 15 minutes.
Before watching this film, I read it is a film that has to be felt to appreciate it and I would agree with that sentiment. Lisa shows the aftermath of a natural disaster and the inadequate responses by the political and global structures in helping the people on the fringe of society. Political and military skirmishes left many trapped in the middle with few resources to find their way out. Lisa's message could be subtle and at other time's heavy handed, the pacing and narrative uneven in places but it never strayed from showing the hearts of the imperfect villagers and how they struggled together to survive and their dogged determination to rebuild.
8/6/22
