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[thisisforfilmclass]

Honor Thy Father

Balita, Lyca 

TF 1:30-3:00

With a title that appears to be an irony to the protagonist’s irreligiosity and a mockery to the root of conflict of the film, Honor Thy Father, directed by multi-awarded filmmaker Erik Matti, provides a realistic narration of Edgar’s story as he desperately tries to recover huge financial losses to save his family from the deadly threats of investors to whom they owe money. To effectively narrate the film and portray core themes of greed and love of family, the film makes appropriate use of techniques in misc-en-scene, cinematography, and sound.

Misc-en-scene elements were mainly used with subtlety to describe characters and establish settings. In the beginning of the film, Edgar was shown working manual labor, specifically landscaping. In contrast, his wife Kaye was introduced walking out a building and donning a blazer and a luxury bag, a metonymic prop for wealth and the only item the couple fought for to keep their wealth when they were being robbed. The couple's differences lays the foundation for the contrasts in the couple’s religiosity and background further shown in the rest of the film. Subtle props also give information about other characters. Example, the presence of fishing nets in Mang Deng’s setting suggests that he is a fisherman, and the use of the license plate with a number 8 in Cedrick’s Hummer shows he is a wealthy congressman.

For décor, to show the couple’s being initially well-off, elegant furniture and paintings were displayed in their organized home, the first major setting in the film. This organized and well-designed setting is in contrast with their home after the angry investors’ attack. Their home afterwards was a mess: their items missing, the paintings on the walls unaligned, and the floor filled with scattered clothes and papers. This setting draws similarity with the messy house Edgar visited whose owner was presumably the man discovered dead in the consequent scene. The next major setting in the film is the church with extravagance shown in its exterior of a tall mansion-like building with a fancy staircase and pillars, and its spacious interior with tables of desserts or stacks of money. The purpose of showing these décors was to further the image of greed and corruption within the religion. The last major setting is Edgar’s hometown, a rural mining area with the presence of stacked sacks, tunnels, and men bearing pickaxes and wearing helmets with headlights. The poor setting prompts the question on how Edgar’s family will help him financially, hinting at the possibility of illegal activity. The tunnel in their hometown is differentiated with the church tunnel because the latter shows a small entrance accessible by a makeshift raft, leading to a tighter bug-infested space, a sign that it isn’t frequented by workers and they probably aren’t allowed there in the first place.

Generally, the light source was natural. Artificial lighting was used mostly in the lowkey lit tunnels where only lamps and headlights were used for illumination. The overall lighting configuration of the film shifted from highkey to lowkey when Edgar awakened after being beaten and robbed. The shift in lighting signaled conflict and a darkened mood.

Cinematography was used to smoothen the narrative flow. The film’s overall tonality is yellowish expressing warmth, and the shift from low contrast to high contrast and slightly desaturated tonalities occurred at the entrance of conflict, as aforementioned, to darken the mood. For framing, variety in framing height and angle were used most noticeably to show superiority/inferiority. Low height - low angle shots were used to show the angry crowd’s superiority over the couple before the crowd attacked and took their belongings; to show Cedrick’s dominance as he demanded payment within 2 weeks; and at the end of the film to show Edgar’s victory over the lifeless Cedrick. Conversely, birds eye shots showed inferiority or defeat, most evident when Kaye, isolated, was shown in despair as she sat on the toilet and held a knife she was to use for suicide; and when the pastor was shown tied and helpless on the floor as Edgar and his brothers stole from the church’s safe. The use of medium height - straight on framing was best used during the brothers’ escape after the robbery. The framing showed water taking up 1/3 of the shot, giving the feeling of being in the flooded tunnel and adding tightness to the space.

Perspective was mainly used to emphasize facial expressions, such as the racking focus from Kaye speaking about her miscarriage to Edgar’s sad expression. The shallow shot focused on Edgar’s indifferent expression and lazy posture as he stands in a crowd of blurred followers-slash-fanatics makes Edgar stand out in the enthusiastic crowd. Racking focus was also used in the scene where the focus shifted from Edgar, looking out the window, to the church in the background, revealing that the church is what they have been digging underground for.

As for mobility, the shots were generally static with occasional uses of mobile framing: panning shots to create establishing shots of the forest or to follow Edgar’s movements or vehicles, or handheld shots during the brothers’ escape after the robbery, creating a faster rhythm for the scene.

Sound was used intelligently throughout the film, especially with the play on musical motifs, overlapping sounds, and ironic juxtapositions of sound with shots. First, a noticeable musical motif throughout the film is the piano score, which is heard to signal upcoming danger and used to thread scenes. This sound motif was heard throughout the film, such as throughout the montage that compressed the cemetery, church, and courtroom events; when Angel was missing; when Edgar entered the church tunnel; as a sound thread to connect scenes such as the couple’s argument outside the church and the following scene when Edgar and Angel pack up. Because of the motif’s low pitch, minor key, and frequent previous use in moments of peril, it immediately evokes uneasiness and is associated with danger.

Second, overlap of sounds was used, and it was most prominent during Edgar’s bank robbery where the sounds of screaming children, telephone beeps, passing cars, and Edgar’s inner voice all overlap in loud volume. The dense mix juxtaposed with closeups of Edgar showing his wide eyes evokes the idea that his mind is in chaos and he is second guessing what he is doing, proven by the next scene where there is a sudden muting of sound as he leaves the bank.

Third, the ironic juxtaposition of musical scores with shots is best seen in the shot of Edgar and Angel’s bus ride to his hometown juxtaposed with the score ‘Ama Namin’, an irony because of Edgar’s irreligiosity and recent attack of a bishop. The score conveniently ends with “[deliver us from evil],” as Edgar and Angel arrive at Edgar’s home.

Speech was also used not only to show conversations to further the plot, but also to show settings. Specifically, the different dialect used by Edgar’s family shows that they’re in a distant non-Tagalog province.

The film also shows that it heavily relies on foreshadowing and symbolisms, as it begins with Edgar digging the ground, a subtle foreshadowing of important elements in the film – mining and death. Similarly, the most significant visual motif/prop is the pickaxe, as it was used in mining and killing Cedrick, the antagonist. The teacher scene gives an interesting juxtaposition of sound of a teacher scolding against violence and a closeup shot of Edgar reacting as if he were the one scolded, a foreshadowing of Edgar’s violent actions later in the film. The symbolism of Angel’s inability to get chicken earlier in the film and finally getting the last pieces of chicken later in Edgar’s hometown shows she’s treated better in Edgar’s hometown.

The theme of greed was evident throughout the film especially in the hypocritical churchgoers. The fact that they were more concerned with their money than the dead man, and they could beat, rob, and kill a man for money shows their hypocrisy as faithful people. This is not a surprise as the church itself was greedy and always out to collect money. On the other hand, the theme of love of family remains most dominant because Edgar's family’s safety was his primary motivation to go to such great lengths to collect the money Cedrick demanded. Edgar’s love for Angel was most explicitly shown when he shaved his hair so Angel would not be alone in being bald, and his love for his wife was best shown in the last scene when Kaye died and he burst into tears, a change from the violent, emotionless, and cold Edgar from previous scenes.

Overall, the film excellently delivered its message, with the appropriate use of film techniques to smoothen the narrative flow and deepen the story. The title Honor Thy Father as a religious reference is ironic to Edgar’s atheistic beliefs, and if taken literally mocks Kaye as it was her father who was the primary cause of conflict, making it ironically appropriate for the film.