"Ang Panahon ng Halimaw" Review, Analysis and Honest Thoughts
- Jonathan Taboada
- May 27, 2021
- 2 min read
At first glance, Lav Diaz's "Ang Panahon ng Halimaw" (Season of the Devil) looks and feels like a deep and important film. But as the movie progresses, you'll realize that you've wasted four hours of lazy lyrics, flat visuals and a "soldier bad, Martial Law bad" political message.
The Film
"Ang Panahon ng Halimaw" is set in the 70s during the Martial Law regime under Marcos administration, in a town named Ginto, ruled by a military group and a two-faced tyrant. Literally two-faced, the guy had two faces.
In the two episodes (first 80 minutes of the film) uploaded on Globe Studios YouTube channel, the film opens on a military and the tyrant singing about creating fear through imaginary monsters to preoccupy Ginto residents. They needed to distract them from the unjust killings they commited.
We then meet Hugo (Piolo Pascual), the protagonist poet who is looking for his doctor wife Lorena (Shaina Magdayao) who's been missing after opening a village clinic.
Then there were other characters introduced, then I fell asleep.
Analysis: A Two-faced Devil
The two episodes posted on the Globe Studios YouTube page are just the surface of the movie, but the political critique is still rich.
The most obvious obvious symbolism presented in the film was the town's tyrant, depicted as literally a two-faced man. This was Diaz's take on former president Marcos and current president Duterte. The second face even kind of resembled the latter president. The tyrant, just like how Diaz saw the two presidents, is a leader who delivers fake news of monsters and Aswangs like a cult leader and engages on extrajudicial killings.
Although it is set in the 70s, the message still was alluded to the current issue of EJK by the Duterte administration.
My Verdict
It mistakenly presents the lack of substance as art. Full of pointless scenes that adds nothing to the story and message it wants to deliver. No memorable lines. Flat visuals. A product of an auteur director, but not the good kind of product. The subject matter is very relevant and timely, but the film did nothing. It was not compelling.
A torture to watch, and not because of the Martial Law subtext.
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