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.