The Rapture of Fe

Three reasons why Vim wrote The Rapture of Fe:

1.  ”The fantasy element is the most overused and abused genre in television and film now.  The use of the local mythical creatures are not justified.  They lack research.  They are not rooted in local lore.”  Tired of Philippine cinema and television bastardize local folklore, Vim went to the origins of these creatures.  With this movie, he tries to undo the demonizing of early pagan beliefs and incorporate them in the story not as scary and horrific monsters but as possible saviors or knowing deities.  

2.  He is tired of realistic films.  ”Tama na ang ‘Lino Brocka’ films.  There are alternative ways of looking, of seeing things in cinema.”  Vim wants to veer away from the fantastic but delve into allegorical and poetic narration.  That’s the strength of his award-winning short film Rolyo, the use of poetic narrative.  ”Let’s leave realism for now, not because it’s no longer important but because it has already reached its maximum potential.  People are now looking for new things.”

3.  Last year, Vim wrote a paper on the effects of globalization on the condition of women in the Philippines, which will be published internationally this year in the journal Positions.  According to his research, majority of the families in the Philippines are broken families because of the experience of migration.  The mothers leave the country leaving the fathers to take the roles of the mothers and take care of the family.  Duties are reversed and in a patriarchal society, men feels emasculated.  This becomes the cause of violence in the household as the man tries to assert their power over the woman.

This movie tries to give a voice to abused women who has long been silenced.  To be a testament to their stories of abuse and eventually, of survival.  The film now attempts to redefine the concept of freedom for the Filipina who has to rely on her imagination to survive.  At the same time, it is also sympathetic to the man as he deals with the gender role reversals ridiculed and repudiated in a patriarchal society.