Manilatown is in the Heart - Time Travel with Al Robles

Manilatown is in the Heart – Time Travel with Al Robles is a motion picture produced, directed and edited by Curtis Choy under Chonk Moonhunter Productions. The film follows the life of San Francisco poet and activist Al Robles (February 16, 1930 – May 2, 2009) and Robles's status as one of the last survivors of the Manong generation. The film depicts the culmination of over 30 years of work by Robles in and around the Chinatown/Manilatown areas of California. The film incorporates the poetry of Al Robles, Lou Syquia and Janice Mirikitani, is a forty-seven minutes long and was released in 2008.

The director of the film, Curtis Choy, is a widely recognized film maker known for his work in documenting the Asian American community. His other works include Women Warriors, What's Wrong with Frank Chin, and The Fall of the I-Hotel; the latter is narrated by Al Robles, the subject of Manilatown is in the Heart.

In the film, Choy chronicles the wanderings and lyrical musings of Robles reflecting the bachelor society made up largely of Filipino migrant workers in the 1920's and the 1930's. The film depicts Robles as a “one-man social service agency” and as “one of Asian America's hidden gems.” It follows Robles across some three decades from one single-room hotel to another. The documentary focuses on the many personalities and community roles Robles undertook throughout his life. Specifically, the film recounts Robles's encounters with elderly veterans and the efforts he mounted for their benefit. In the film Robles serves as the medium with which the audience may interpret the stories and experiences of the Manong generation.

Through Robles the film “tells the manong's tales of isolation, struggle and merriment.” The film follows Robles through San Francisco's Chinatown and Manilatown, to the farm county of Watsonville and Delano all the while chronicling Robles efforts to represent the dispossessed and their struggles. The film itself focuses heavily on Robles's literary and musical, relying on Robles's performance to induct the viewers into the films subject matter. The films synopsis credits Robles's “mesmerizing performance and poetry readings” indicating that it is this which “grace much of the action” of the film.

The film has been screened at several film festivals including the 2009 DisOrient Film Festival and the 2009 Los Angeles Pacific Film Festival where it was a finalist for the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary.

http://www.asianconnections.com/a/?article_id=1470

http://www.chonkmoonhunter.com/MITH.html

Mulan

In a 1998 classic make of the Chinese legend Hua Mulan, Disney produces one of the most memorable films about an Asian American girl who struggles to uphold her family honor and save her father’s life. Director Tony Bancroft attempts to translate the folklore legend of a young girl who disguises herself as a man in order to take her handicapped father’s place in the army into a film that young Americans could relate to. In an interesting casting choice, Filipina actress/singer Lea Salonga provides the voice of Chinese Fa Mulan.

Mulan chronicles the story of a young girl who decides to join the Chinese army disguised as a boy named Ping. Mushu, a small dragon, takes the burden of protecting Mulan and restoring honor to the family. During a disastrous training camp, Mulan, or now Ping, stirs trouble within the camp, finding it very difficult to keep her secret. Ambushed by an entire army of Hans, Ping tactfully aims the last rocket at a nearby mountain to create an avalanche that buries the entire army. Ping is injured during battle and is discovered to be a girl. The Chinese army abandons her on the mountainside where she sees the remaining Hans march towards the city with the intent of capturing the Emperor. Mulan desperately races back towards the city trying to warn anyone she can see about the Han army. With no one heeding her warnings, the Hans capture the Emperor which sets up a battle where the enemy is eventually defeated once again due to the innovation and bravery of Mulan. Mulan is bestowed one of the highest honors and returns home to her family with the respect of all of China.

Lea Salonga is a Filipina actress and singer who has starred in many roles some of which include Kim in Miss Saigon and Princess Jasmine in Aladdin. Her incredible voice has also led her to notable involvements which include parts in The King and I and Les Miserables. What’s interesting to note is her variety of roles which includes portrayals of different ethnic roles, neither of which or Filipino. Filipinos have always had difficulty finding a

true identity. They are often confused for ethnicities such as Cambodian, Latino, or any oriental race. While Lea is able to successfully use her voice as her claim to fame, there are few Filipino actors or actresses that make it big due to their racial ambiguity. The issue of hypervisibility/invisibility also comes into play as Lea Salonga is the singing voice behind the character Mulan. No one knows she is Filipina yet she, like the singers of Legaci, provide much of the driving force behind their counterparts success.

The Great Raid

The Great Raid is a 2005 motion picture based on a William Breuer novel of the same name which recounts the Raid of Cabanatuan during the Second World War. The film narrates the liberation of the Cabanatuan Prison Camp on the Philippine island of Luzon. It is directed by Jon Dahl and stars Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennees, James Franco, Connie Nielsen, Motoki Kobayashi and Cesar Montano. Filming took place from July 4^th to November 6^th of 2002. The film was released across the United States on August 12^th 2005 three days prior to the 60^th anniversary of V-J Day which officially ended the war in the Pacific. The film is distributed under Miramax Films had a budget of $80 million and a gross revenue of over $10 million U.S. dollars.

The film is set in the winter of 1944 near the end of the Second World War. It depicts the Japanese ran POW camp of Cabanatuan and the rescue efforts mounted by the Allied forces. The camp which housed some 500 prisoners of war – down from 8000 at the peak of its operations – was situated in Nueva Ecija, Luzon. Of the several hundred prisoners, many were survivors of the notorious Bataan Death March which took place after the fall of Corregidor. The film opens with the massacre of prisoners of war on the island of Palawan at the hands of the Kempeitai – the imperial Japanese military secret police. The film highlights the movements of the American Army's 6^th Battalion and the Alamo Scouts from their post at Lingayen gulf to the camp's eventual liberation.

Throughout the film the point of view switches between the prisoners of war, the U.S. army Rangers, the Japanese and the Filipino Resistance. The film is notable in its depiction of the real life efforts of the Filipino Guerrillas and their contributions to the raid. Specifically, the film highlights Filipino efforts to stall Japanese reinforcements as well as their efforts to fight along side the American against the Japanese occupation forces. Furthermore, the film also details guerrilla efforts to supply camp prisoners with food, medicine and other goods in cooperation with U.S. army nurses.

The film is likewise notable as Filipino Actor Cesar Montano's first Hollywood based film. Montano plays the role of Captain Juan Pajota, a local of Nueva Ecija and a member of the USAFFE Guerrilla forces following the retreat from Bataan. Montano was approached by director John Dahl after Montano's performance in Filipino film Muro Ami.

Lou Diamond Phillips

The actor popularly known as Lou Diamond Philips was born as Lou Diamond Upchurch at Subic Bay US Naval Station to Lucita Aranas and Gerald Upchurch. His mother was a native of Candelaria, Zambales while his farther was an officer with the US navy and is of Scots-Irish and Cherokee descent. Phillips was named after Master Gunnery Sergeant Leland “Lou” Diamond of the United States Marine Corps. He was raised in Texas where he attended high school in Corpus Christi. Phillips then proceeded to graduate from the University of Texas Arlington with a BFA in Drama.

Phillips's first major staring role was in the 1987 film La Bamba where he portrayed the Mexican-American Rock and Roll Pioneer Ritchie Valens. In 1988, Phillips co-starred in the film Stand and Deliver: an American drama film based on the work of Jaime Escalante in predominantly Chicano Garfield High school in East Los Angeles. Phillips was nominated for a Golden Globe for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role" for his depiction of Angel Guzman, an aspiring gangster in an AP Calculus class. In 1996 Phillips starred in Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I, his first work in Broadway, and won a Theater World Award. Phillips was also nominated for a Tony and a Drama Desk award for his performance. In 1998 Phillips took on the role of Cisco in the comedy action flick The Big Hit directed by Kirk Wong and co-produced by John Woo. In 2007 Phillips joined a touring performance of Lerner and Loewe's Camelot as King Arthur. In 2001 Phillips was awarded the “Achievement Award for Entertainment” by Filipinas Magazine and in 2003 was awarded the Cinemanila Film Festival Achievement Award in the Philippines.

Phillips has long advocated the passage of HR 4574. The legislation, also known as the Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 2006, would have provided the same benefits to Filipino World War II veterans who served with the United States as had been available to veterans of American citizenship. In a letter to the Veterans Affairs Committee, Phillips introduces himself as “an American citizen of Filipino descent,” recounts his mother's citizenship oath and recalls U.S. code sec. 101, title 38 – the so called Rescission Act – to outline his support for Filipino veterans of the Second World War.

Phillips began dating his current wife, Yvonne Boismier, in 2004. They married in August of 2007 and their daughter, Indigo Sanara, was born two months later in October of 2007. In 2009 Phillips finished 186^th of over 6000 players in the World Series of Poker main event.

http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/schedule107/jun02/6-13-02/lphillips.pdf

The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior

This 2008 movie focuses around a young man by the name of Mathayus (played by Michael Copon) and how he is seeking revenge for his father after witnessing his death, which he knew was set up by Sargon, the king, even though it was never proven.  After the incident, Mathayus made a vow with himself that he will go into training and become the best Scorpion Warrior soldier to get revenge for his father.  The story was fast forwarded and brought up to the time when he successfully became a warrior.  From there, he was acknowledged by Sargon with his talented skills and was asked to meet him in his palace for a promotional discussion.  In the palace, Mathayus decided to take this chance to assassinate Sargon but failed to with the surprise of Sargon's hidden dark magic power given to him by Astarte, goddess of fertility, beauty, war, and love.  It was then obvious that Mathayus was a wanted runaway and his mission was now to steal Astarte's legendary sword that is the only weapon that can destroy Sargon.  Mathayus ended up going on the journey along with his childhood friend Layla and later on picked up on a Greek named Ari as well as other accomplices Mathayus' father knew before his death.  They underwent many obstacles which required courage as well as wisdom in the underworld.  They eventually arrived to Astarte's lair and ended up trying to buy time by mocking and discriminating her.  That resulted with Layla battling her a non magic fight but after Astarte decided to cheat, Mathayus came into the picture and used his flirtatious tone to try to extend the time of finding the sword as well as saving Layla.  They finally found the sword and decided to run back to the human world.  Once they returned, they discovered that Sargon's greed for power risked the lives of all the townspeople.  

Layla and one of the Chinese accomplices named Fong went to the location which the sacrifice was about to occur while Mathayus decided to invade the palace to fight Sargon.  As a result, Sargon ended up dying and the townspeople were saved by Layla and Fong.   In the end, a new king was appointed and Mathayus finally kissed Layla as a sybolical meaning of his love and care for her.

In this b-genre movie, it depicts leading character Michael Copon with a hyper-masculinity trait as an Filipino American.  Not only was he playing a leading role but he was able to save the a huge society (the townspeople), but he was also able to obtain the "kissing role" that is not very much seen within the mainstream movies/films.  This basically demonstrates the racial barrier being broken out of this paradigm that is not very much seen in American films.  However, it does not erase the fact that the movie was still categorized as a low budget film.  From my perspective, it indirectly degraded the Filipino American within the entertainment industry because of the concept of this "glass ceiling".  Michael Copon has been very well known within the Filipino and Filipino American society but has not been very much exposed to the general American society.  This movie has been shown here in America as well as in the Philippines.  It is a fairly well known movie that creates this fantasy world for the Filipinos in the Philippines.

Johnny Tsunami

Johnny Tsunami is a 1999 movie directed by Steve Boyum which depicted a story of a teenage boy named Johnny Kapahaala and his move from Hawaii to Vermont in a struggle for assimilation into the East Coast community. Brandon Baker, the actor who played Johnny Kapahaala, ss of Filipino descent and his role/character in the movie draws many parallels to the Filipino/American relationship.

Johnny Kapahaala’s grandfather is the legendary Johnny Tsunami who has conquered some of the most ferocious waves in all of Hawaii. Johnny’s father Pete is a computer science engineer who works on networking computers. Pete’s structured and uptight life vastly contrasts the life both his son and father chose to live. Johnny took after his grandfather’s love for the water and soon became a great surfer himself, winning multiple titles as a young child. When Johnny’s father gets a job transfer to Vermont, their entire family is forced to move to the cold and always snowing state of Vermont.

In this town, there are two schools: one private and one public. Johnny’s father has decided Johnny would attend the much more prestigious private school for the betterment of himself. Yet as first day comes to an end, Johnny realizes that he has little in common

with these uptight students. In an attempt to learn how to ski, Johnny finds his true passion lies in snowboarding, whose characteristics much more resemble that of a surfboard. Taught by a newly made friend Sam who attends the public school, Johnny quickly becomes apt at snowboarding and even attempts to teach the daughter of the principal of the private school.

One day, Sam tells Johnny that he is moving to Iceland, where his father has been relocated. Trying to prevent the move, Johnny takes both himself and Sam back to Hawaii where they stay with the grandfather, learning how to surf and enjoying the sun. Johnny’s grandfather decides to come back with the both of them and surprises everyone with his ability to surf. In a battle to determine who would own which side of the slope, Johnny defeats his “rival” Brett.

Johnny Kapahaala is a modest young child who shows a great deal of respect to both his family and elders. Always mannerful, he resembles a typical Filipino with a strong family core. Johnny takes the high road and the road less traveled by in an attempt to not only assimilate but bring new culture and a way of thinking into the uptight private school. Brandon Baker proves to be a decent actor for his age. He is able to capture the frustration of assimilating into a new culture paralleling the difficulty the Filipinos had merging with American culture. Their strong traditions and values prevent them from completely letting go of their past and their true identities.

Thrilla In Manila

Thrilla in Manilla is a documentary between one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. Featuring Muhammad Ali and Joe Fraizer, this documentary depicts the most storied rivalry which took place in Manila of the Philippines. Director John Dower is able to uncover truths and unseen footages from all three of their encounters and beautifully assembles them together in a piece which is widely considered one of the best sports documentaries.

The actual term “Thrilla in Manila” is actually a reference to the third boxing match in 1975 between Muhammad Ali, or Cassius Clay, and Joe Frazier. The documentary begins with a shot of Joe Frazier who still to this day, lives and trains in the same gym where he was training to fight Muhammad Ali decades ago. At 63 years of age, you can still find him and his son living a humble and quaint life away from publicity in the poor and deprived Badlands. Unable to let go of the rivalry, Joe walks around with an eternal burden, reliving the match that both defined and ended his boxing career.

At an early age in his career, Cassius Clay who also known as Muhammad Ali, was stripped of his at the time title and boxing license because of his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War. Being friends at the time, Joe Frazier loaned Muhammad Ali money and told him he would do anything he could to get his boxing license back. During Ali’s 3 year absence from the boxing realm, Joe went on to win the boxing title, dominating every opponent and claiming the title as the best boxer. Yet as Joe would win more titles and destroy more and more opponents, the buzz from the argument of who was better, Frazier or Ali, would get louder and louder. People still believed Ali was still the greatest, angering Frazier to the point where he wanted Ali back so he could beat him and prove he was the best. They needed each other. Ali needed Frazier to revitalize his dying reputation and Frazier needed Ali to show the world he was a better boxer. As tension grew between the two, their friendship turned into one of the most bitter rivalries in all of sports.

By 1970, the American public had turned against the Vietnam War and Ali was given back his boxing license. The public immediately wanted, and were granted, a Frazier vs. Ali fight, both whom were undisputed champions. As training began, the ever so cocky and confident Ali turned on Frazier, calling him stupid and ugly. In an interview he proclaimed “He (Joe Frazier) can’t talk, he can’t dance, he can’t write no poems.” The man who had once helped Ali was now at the forefront of his verbal abuse.

In March 1971, their first fight was viewed as the fight of the century. It was generally seen that if you rooted for Ali, you were black, young, liberal, against the Vietnam War. Whereas if you rooted for Frazier, you were generally a representative of a white conservative America. Frazier, to everyone’s surprise, won by decision. Muhammad claimed that the ruling was unfair and continued to taunt Frazier, calling him a gorilla and Uncle Tom. In their second rematch, Ali won in a decision. Their third and final battle was held in Manila. Ali and Frazier went toe to toe for 14 rounds, neither of whom would give up. They were fighting for something bigger than boxing and each were willing to give up their lives for the fight. Ali was overheard telling his trainer during the fight that this is what it felt like to be dying. Frazier, blind in both eyes from the fighting, continued on and would not give up unless he died in the ring. Ended by the ref

in the 14^th round, Muhammad claimed the victory by the narrowest of margins. His pride kept him from giving his respect to Frazier and to this day their rivalry continues. Yet many years later, Ali said if God had called a Holy War, he would want Joe by his side

Thrilla in Manilla was held in the Philippines during the corrupt dictatorship of the Marcos regime. Fights occur where they’re needed and President Marcos was key on demonstrating that Martial rule was not as bad as it seems. It was held in the Philippines to get people’s minds off of how bad the economy was, offering a much needed distraction. Imelda Marcos viewed it as an opportunity to show the world that this was not a third world country. It was rumored that they paid $10 million for the fight but both Marcos’ denied it. The corruption and the spending of public money on a publicity stunt is seen as further proof of the corruption of the Marcos regime.