This is a story revolving around a rotation of drama between a married couple (Amanda and Julian) and their five growing boys who have witnessed the shaping of the decade, and their growing involvement in the country’s politics. It details the struggles and the changes that the people have to face under Marcos’regime in his proclamation of Martial Law. Events went along smoothly from 1970’ til 1975’ but as the familial drama heats up, Amanda’s eldest son joins a militant group, her other son Emmanuel writes in a communist propaganda and another son gets a girl pregnant. During the period of ’76-’79 things are slowed down a great deal of changes when her children find to be the voice of reason and understanding. They were strengthen by their beliefs and their different outlooks in life leading them the way to the road of impending struggles. The parable Cerilo Bautista’s What Does a Woman Own, it gave me a concrete reflection of the movie. “The old widow who was robbed by the drunken military policemen but who begged not to take what she did not own” may have signified Amanda as the persona. Amanda acts as a supposed symbolism of detachment. First of all, she was a mother, a housewife; such were not considered integral parts of society during those times. She was not the breadwinner; she did not experience the foremost effects of the decline of the Philippines economy back then. She was a member of the middle class; her family did not take money, like the rich, nor did her family suffer the worst of the
“You could stop being proud of me! Nagsawa na ko sa ganun, gusto ko naman ngayon for a change, maging proud ako sa sarili ko!” – Amanda Bartolome