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| Magnifico: A Film that Touches Lives |
I had this in my Stylistics class (intended for media discourse) with my dear BSE Seniors of MQAPC. I was so happy to see, feel and know that they have all appreciated my efforts of bringing them quality, inspiring, life-learning, and heart-breaking films.
I wasn't expecting that I could take them to where they were while seeing the movie, Magnifico. I was so surprised to see them coming up with such great realizations in life. I was so glad to see them inspired; they were so touched by the lines, scenes and all. It was a perfect moment for everyone.
I am so overwhelmed that I have been an inspiration and a blessing. Having all these makes me feel so blessed and fulfilled. Oh well, I firmly believe that I am serving my purpose as their mentor. I know I am loved. And that makes me so proud! I am a Teacher! Xoxo, Mommy Mai
Film Review: Magnifico
IMAGING GOD IN FILM
Magnifico as a
Christ-Figure in Philippine Cinema
SYNOPSIS
Magnifico is a
heartrending film about a Filipino boy whose love and sense of mission changed
the lives of those around him. Produced in 2003, the film directed by Maryo de
los Reyes won at least 25 awards not only in the Philippines but also in
international film festivals.
The film opens with
the birth of Magnifico (also called Ikoy in the film). It is clearly
discernible at the outset that the boy was born in to a rural poor family. His
father, Gerry, is a carpenter but does not have regular employment. It was
Gerry who christened him Magnifico because he enjoyed watching a magician by
that same name. Magnifico’s mother, Edna, augments the family income by
stitching embroideries.
Their house is a dilapidated hollow-blocks-and-wood
structure typical in rural Philippines. They were so impoverished that they
could only prepare soup and noodles for the town fiesta. At one point Edna had
to pawn her wedding ring so they could have food on their table.
The story actually
begins when Magnifico turned nine. His brother, Miong, has just lost his
much-needed scholarship from a university in the capital city Manila. This was
a heavy blow because Gerry pinned his hopes on Miong to save the family from
poverty. His grandmother, Magda, who lives with Magnifico’s family, figured in
a serious accident and had to be hospitalized. In the hospital it was
discovered that Magda had pancreatic cancer. This was another backbreaking blow
because part of Gerry’s meager income would now go to medical expenses. As if
these problems were not exasperating enough, Magnifico’ sister Helen had
cerebral palsy, which rendered her incapable of self-mobility and
comprehensible speech. Burdened by such seemingly insurmountable difficulties,
Edna lustily sighed, “life is a never-ending misery”.
But whole throughout
the film life proved to be a series of small marvels. When Magnifico heard
whispers that his grandmother Magda would soon die and that his family was
incapable of shouldering the sky-high burial expenses, he innocently devised a
secret plan. Employing the help of his school buddy Carlo, he covertly began
constructing a wooden coffin. For materials he asked scrap wood from a local woodcarving
shop and borrowed carpentry tools from his neighbors. And together with Carlo,
he sold iced water and juice at the town carnival, hoping to collect money
enough for his grandmother’s funeral dress, flowers, and tomb. When their two
plastic jars emptied, they ended up with 306 pesos (about 4 euros) in their
hands. However this was way too low, considering that he needed at least 30,000
pesos (roughly 400 euros).
Yet Magnifico never
lost hope. Nor felt bad. He was determined to fulfill his mission even if he
had to sell iced water and juice until kingdom come. For aside from toiling for
her grandma’s wake, he was also saving for her sister Helen. He promised to
bring her to the town carnival so she could have a colored balloon and enjoy
the merry-go-round and other fun rides. Since Helen could not walk, Magnifico
resolved to use his money to rent a wheelchair from Domeng. On the day
Magnifico and Helen would go to the carnival, Magda’s illness worsened. And
since his parents had virtually nothing, Magnifico had to part with his 300
pesos to buy the requisite medicines. Armed with very minimal amount of pesos
in his pockets but with a lot of determination, Magnifico brought Helen to the
carnival by carrying her on his back.
The neighbors who saw
Magnifico and Helen at the carnival showed them compassion. A guy who used to
bully Helen for laughs drove them there. Two feuding neighbors each gave them
100 pesos for tickets to the rides. One ticket controller admitted them without
charge, another gave them a huge discount and a vendor gave Helen a free
balloon. Magnifico brought Helen around. He showed her the cotton candies, the
ice cream, the works. Helen had the time of her life. When Domeng saw Magnifico
hauling Helen on his back, he understood why Magnifico wanted to rent his
wheelchair. Moved by what he witnessed, Domeng decided to give his wheelchair
to Magnifico for free. So he arranged for Magnifico to get the wheelchair from
his house.
On his way to Domeng’s
house, Magnifico was hit by a car and died instantly. The colorful coffin he
built for his grandmother became the chest in which he was buried.
MAGNIFICO AS A
CHRIST-FIGURE
Peter Malone defines
the Christ-figure in films as “any purely fictional character who resembles
Jesus, significantly and substantially”. This does mean that the character has
to look like the conventional Jesus in church paintings or be named Jesus. The
character does not even have to be Christian nor male nor sinless in order to
be a Christ-figure. The Christ-figure is “neither Jesus nor the Christ, but
rather a shadow, a faint glimmer or reflection of him”. Thus, for the
Christ-figure to be authentic, the film character must mirror Jesus’ life in
some way. When the film character’s life or at least some aspects of it make
implicit, metaphorical representations of Jesus’ own life and values then he or
she may be considered a Christ-figure. Hence, “the Christ-figure is a way of
being led back to the Jesus of the Gospels”.
Aside from being the
son of a carpenter, the central dynamic of Magnifico’s story runs parallel to a
variety of Christ-story elements and situations in the Gospels. The film
presents these elements and situations in both symbolic forms and in the day to
day life and behavior of Magnifico. The following are some of the scenes
wherein we can see Jesus peek through in Magnifico.
a.) Magnifico serves
others with love
Magnifico is a film
brimming with Christian themes, the most obvious of which is that of selfless
love. Magnifico’s love for his grandma Magda, for his parents, for his brother
Miong, for his buddy Carlo, and especially for his sister Helen is radically
Christian and thus radically different from any experience of love these people
have ever experienced from other members of their family and from their
neighbors.
Magnifico’s
attentiveness to the feelings and needs of his ailing grandmother contrasts
against Edna’s bitterness towards Magda. Edna regarded Magda’s illness and
impending death as an unnecessary encumbrance to the family. Magnifico, on the
other had, wanted to make her grandma’s apparent passing away as dignified and
unburdensome as possible. He spent much of his free time making this mission
into reality.
Magnifico’s compassion
towards Helen contrasts against Makoy’s bullying of the crippled girl. He never
felt burdened by Helen even if he had to carry, entertain, protect and feed her
often. He labored hard to secure a wheelchair for her and to give her the
chance to have a “normal” life and enjoy the carnival.
While doing all these,
Magnifico never complained nor had any selfish reasons. All he cared about was
the joy he could give to those he loved and to those who needed him the most.
Such compassion and selfless desire to be of service to others positively
manifests Magnifico’s role as a Christ-figure who came to serve not to be
served and to give his life as a ransom for many.
b.) Magnifico makes
“miracles” happen
There is a minor
character in the film named Ka Doring. She isolated herself from people and
lived in the cemetery because she felt more at peace being away from the crowd.
She was always begrudging and her face perpetually frowned. Children made fun
of her hoarse voice. In turn she would scare them off with threats and curses.
Magnifico brought her a bottle of herbal medicine for her soar throat. At first
Ka Doring suspected that Magnifico was just one of the kids who wanted to make
fun of her so she threw the bottle away. Upon learning this, Magnifico brought
her another bottle and this time Ka Doring drank a few gulps. Later on Ka
Doring’s sore throat would go away. During the town fiesta, Magnifico also
brought Ka Doring noodles cooked by her mother. Magnifico brought about healing
in Ka Doring, both in the physical and in the emotional sense. For when her
soar throat healed she was not anymore antagonistic towards the children who
made fun of her.
Another small miracle
made possible by Magnifico concerned Helen’s speech impediment. Edna tried all
she could to teach her daughter Helen to say even such simple words as Nanay
(mother) but to no avail. There came a point when Edna’s patience was stretched
too thin that she ended up hurting Helen physically. On the night when Helen
would be brought by Magnifico to the carnival she miraculously began to talk.
It was out of sheer joy that Helen began to utter words like “mother” and
“carnival”.
The total healing
experienced by Ka Doring and the unsurpassable joy experienced by Helen which
gave her the impetus to speak implicitly establishes that dimension of Jesus as
healer and miracle worker. These two narrative frames dramatically highlights
Magnifico as a Christ-figure.
c.) Magnifico inspires
forgiveness and reconciliation
Magnifico’s
christological identity is exteriorized not only in the small miracles he
effected in Ka Doring and Helen but also in bringing about reconciliation
between Miong and his girlfriend, between Edna and Magda, and between Tessie
and Cristy.
Miong broke his rich
girlfriend’s heart when she learned that Miong only wanted to marry her in
order to bail out his family from poverty. Magnifico encouraged his elder
brother Miong to ask forgiveness from his girlfriend. Miong humbled himself and
went to his girlfriend to reconcile with her.
As has been noted
above, Edna was always bitter towards Magda. But in the end Edna’s attitude
towards her mother-in-law changed radically. It seemed that Edna’s heart
suddenly melted when she saw her son carrying Helen on his back without a hint
of displeasure or exasperation. The camera focused on Edna’s face and we see tears
streaming down her cheek. Then she looked at Magda, and in their eye-to-eye
contact it is communicated that now Edna understood the meaning of
unconditional love. If her son Magnifico could carry the crippled Helen with
love, so must she bear Magda with patience and compassion. That night was the
beginning for a new and better relationship between Edna and Magda.
Tessie and Cristy were
both jealous of each other. While Tessie was a perennial gambler, Cristy was a
helpless rumormonger. They were neighbors but they didn’t talk to each other.
In the carnival they each gave Magnifico one hundred pesos. Not conscious of
the presence of the other, each waved and smiled at Magnifico and Helen. After
which they discovered that the other was just nearby and they soon had
eye-to-eye contact. For a brief moment it seemed that their mutual hatred for
each other had gone away for the better. It seemed that at last they were
initiating a new way of being neighbors.
Except for his brother
Miong, it was not a conscious effort on the part of Magnifico to bring warring
people to reconcile. Yet it seemed that every contact with Magnifico was
life-changing and inspiring. These people were moved to ask pardon, to forgive
and reconcile not so much by what Magnifico did as by his manner, his way of
being and loving, which formed a luminous evidence to his being a
Christ-figure.
d.) Magnifico carries
his own cross, dies and brings about redemption
To start building his
grandma’s coffin Magnifico and his devoted friend Carlo went to a woodcarving
shop and asked its owner for scrap wood. On their way home they carried a long
wooden plank on their shoulders which paralleled to that part in the passion
story when Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry his cross. Whole throughout the movie
Magnifico would be seen carrying something – a bottle of herbal medicine and
some noodles for Ka Doring, a basin of vegetable for his family’s lunch,
plastic jars for iced juice and water, a pouch of money to buy medicines for
his grandma Magda, a brush to paint her coffin, and Helen on her back. These
were his little crosses. These bespoke of his immense determination to be a
person for others. And such involving scenes were essentially Christlike in
their execution, content and effect.
The life of Magnifico
was cut short. He was on his way to meet Domeng to get the wheelchair for his
paralyzed sister when a vehicle hit him. He died just like that. He must have
been too excited to see Domeng on the other side of the road that he failed to
notice the speedy cars. Up to his last breath Magnifico was always on the move
to be of service to others. Symbolically his death poignantly conveys that,
like Christ, he was willing to lay down his life for others. It was a kind of
poetic justice – his death empowered others to new life.
This new life began
for the family he left behind. Everyone who knew him attended his funeral. It
was such a sad moment. The burial donations the family received totaled 31,105
pesos. When he was still alive Magnifico hoped to raise as much as 30,000
pesos. Ironically, this was to be accomplished in his death. Because of it Edna
was able to redeem the wedding ring she pawned. And because of it they had
something to restart on financially. Hence, the money became a metaphor of
redemption for his family.
One recurring symbol
used throughout the film was the Rubik’s cube which Gerry tried to solve for at
least a year. His failure to solve it symbolized his family’s lack of
accomplishment in delivering themselves out of poverty, despair and misery.
After one problem piled after another Gerry could not bear it any longer and
threw the Rubik’s cube out of his sight. After Magnifico’s death, Gerry
discovered that Magnifico had solved the Rubik’s cube, putting everything in
its proper place. This was so symbolic of what Magnifico did for the people
around him – he united his family, reconciled feuding neighbors, brought about
healing to the sick, gave joy to the handicapped - in short putting their lives and their
relationships in their proper place. Thus, in effect Magnifico became the Good
Shepherd who died so that others may have the fullness of life.
Please see this LINK. Thanks, Rev. Fr. Stephen. You rock!
To: Mr. Michiko S. Yamamoto and to Mr. Maryo J. de los Reyes - You are a gift to everyone. Thanks to your skills and talents. You've touched so many lives. Kudos!
Hope you like this! Be inspired and be a blessing to others. God bless us all.
Thanks!
