10/10
An Excellent Film of realistic proportions
14 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
"Munting Tinig" or Small Voices which stars Alessandra de Rossi was a film that depicts typical situation in barrios in the provinces. These places are engulfed with poverty and at times hopelessness on their live with the single mission which is to survive each day and eventually get out of their situation in life. A typical place where there is insurgency and the youth is face with a hard reality of either studying or helping their parents earn for a living. These scenario takes away the future literally of the youth. Their future which should be the primary concerns of their parents. Most of the parents think that going to school was just a burden and spending time and effort on school activities was a hindrance towards their survival.

This was the general situation faced by Melinda, an elementary teacher who was assigned to Malawig Elementary School. These challenges appear in many forms — an unscrupulous principal (Mrs. Pantalan) who sells ice candy to the students simply to stuff her own pockets, a motorcycle-riding "Bombay" (Indian merchant) who charges 10 percent for cash advances on delayed teacher's paychecks, and aggressively passive parents who believe that only the rich can afford to dream, insisting that their sons and daughters would do better to work the fields or provide domestic help rather than to secure an education. And then, of course, there is the monsoon season, bringing torrential rains that threaten to destroy the school's meager supply of schoolbooks, lesson plans, and other dwindling resources.

The political situation was also very volatile because there were constant fighting and the area and sons of people living there are recruited to join the New People's Army. Most of the time the children have no choice but to go with their parents living in the hinterlands and lose their life in the process like what happened to Popoy. The government sees the rebels as an enemy of the state alone and does not see the reason why these people go to the mountains and fight. Solving the situation easily and hastily is the common mistake that the government does but in the end this does not solve the root cause of the problem.

When Melinda sees an opportunity for her students to join a competition and eventually support them and the school in the process this was seen as a threat and added burden by the families of these children. The Filipino culture of obeying parents and making primal consideration to the family is seen in this situation where the parents insist that they know what is best for their children without even listening to what the teacher has to say.

The film has no religious linkages although we could say that religious values if properly practiced could have given positive development in the situation presented in the film. A religious value common in almost all religions is the value of helping those in need and we can see that these community is in dire need of support and help to improve their lives and situation.

Another culture relatively that of a Filipino which can be seen is exhibited by Melinda. Her strong determination, faith and the never say never attitude of a Filipino is well seen on how she despite all odds tries to convince the parents of her students to support their children in the upcoming competition. She despite Popoy's tragic and heartbreaking death had move on and continued with achieving the dream of the kids and dedicating their eventual triumph to Popoy and to the community.

If we are being asked how can things be different? It can be different. How? This can only be through a cultural revolution and reassessment on how we view ourselves, our children and our country. I remember that there was an essay which says that if there is something lacking in us Filipinos is the fact that only very few of us exhibit genuine love for our country and our people. We should exhibit characteristics like that of Melinda, a character of genuine and unsurpassed service to others, our country and our people. We should always consider others in each of the things that we do everyday and ask ourselves will this action do good to others as well? We may say that money is what is important nowadays, job security and work is of primal consideration. Yes these things are really very important and should be considered but let us face and accept that we are on this world to make a difference and no matter how famous, how rich and how secured ourselves and our family are we can never say that we truly live unless we make a difference… even a simple and small difference.
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