Serenity and Sin: Vincent Sandoval’s Aparisyon

My friends and I were about to back out from watching the film mainly because it will consume a great portion of our time and considering that its Finals-Hell week. But our indignation to our past plans reaffirmed our willingness. I am not accustomed to telling the whole movie with its whole crap and goodies so please bear with my seemingly crazy thoughts.

                A nunnery would be a concrete image of prim and proper, serene faith, stable conscience. The initial story gave us a peek on a secretive monastic life confined in the silent walls of the convent. It house women who devote themselves to complete and ultimate seclusion from the outside world which embodies all the chaos that the world possesses. Sandoval’s Aparisyon broke the both the stereotype and the archetype. The nunnery then becomes unstable, chaotic and somehow unfaithful. The story would bring an audience to a new paradigm of a cloistered life. Would the story deify nuns? It’s up to you, so watch the film (if you never had the chance).

                In a mythology class, especially to those who are taking Literature, the concept of a mythological center is thoroughly discussed to have a better lens on reading a text. This center is always applicable to every story from Greek dramas to Chick flick films. The center is a place of serene and psychical balance, perfection and Gods reveal themselves in this place. A better image would be the Garden of Eden for the Book of Genesis or Olympus for Greek Mythology. Having this in mind, we also have a concept of the center’s reversibility. The balance and perfection is altered in a more unwanted appearance. For the Garden of Eden, this would be Adam and Eve’s betrayal of God’s trust. While for Greek mythology, this could be the Gods’ invasion of the human realm to solicit aesthetic satisfaction. Aparisyon takes the convent as a center and therefore presenting its reversibility to a more enhanced plot. The convent like the Garden of Eden and Olympus is twisted to an unexpected angle.

                Nuns despite their unshackled faith became uncertainty as to which they should act according to a sound and heavenly judgment. Their serenity was dismantled from their psyche causing them to be like any other person, circumscribe in a society. They were life any other desaparacidos, by their loss is aligned to a loss of faith, reason and wisdom.

                Aparisyon takes very whetting style of foreshadowing. Mylene Dizon’s opened radio speak about a clearer context from the story will revolve. Jodi Sta. Maria’s detection of animals who were actually rapists behaving as nonetheless an animal. The old nun’s changing distinction of the Mother superior paints the difference of our schema towards the mentioned character.

                The film was set in the pre Martial law period where a chaotic Philippines was presented in forms of Radio and newspaper therefore solidifying the fact that nuns indeed cloistered from the outer world sounding like hermitically sealed for purity in God’s name. This period serves as stimuli for reversibility of the notions of the convent. Man’s politics’ therefore has direct effects to a person as whole. It disestablishes even spiritual balance that completes a nun’s vocation. They deviate from the standards that ecclesiastical thumbs ratify. If nuns are susceptible to a diminished faith, how much more are we?

            There are two fundamental types of sin – omission and commission. Sin of omission is incurred when one doesn’t do what he must do. While sin of commission happens when one does what he must not do. The prevalent infraction in the film was omission. The Mother superior Ruth with her companion failed to protect the raped novitiate. While Sister Remy (Mylene Dizon), left Sister Lourdes (Jodi Sta. Maria) to escape from the troubles of being a second rape victim. Ironically, it was Sister Remy who caused Sister Lourdes to return late night and suffer such consequence.

               Mother Ruth’s washing of her blood stained hands signifies her open repentance over her sin of omission. But a bride of Christ she takes it to a different way, unlike Pontius Pilates’ cleansing. She left her hands on the running water as if no manual effort was taken. Her blood stained hands still remains until she retreats to the Adoration chapel. This pictures her unforgiven soul burdened by an unrest conscience.

             

   The story employs an arrival-departure technique. The story starts as Sister Lourdes travels by foot to the monastery. I see her like Jesus walking his way to Mt. Calvary where she dies. She rests like Jesus who paused due to exhaustion. Initially, I thought of Sister Remy’s decision to go to Manila, amid the turmoil, as the departure that completes the literary motif. But it was actually Sister Lourdes’ death upon giving birth. She departs from the world to meet the Divine Master face to face.

                For me, Aparisyon gives a misleading catharsis. Sister Remy who defies the amorphati psyche of the whole monastery, is tangled in a web of consequences. It appears to me that it was more of a signaling to go away from unconventionalism and to disengage from political activism. Why? Because one may have to suffer from these wraths. The story then demystifies political engagement and free reason as a risky act.

                As the film rolled it credits, I immediately asked myself what or where the apparition is. For me the apparition was narrated allegorically by nuns’ vulnerability to instability and therefore reversibility. The convent was not isolated but is treated as a part of the Philippine landscape. As a corollary, if something bad happens in the nation, the same goes to the convent or any other institution circumscribed in the nation.

                The film, cinematography wise, is commendable since it rivals the mainstream film. It was a detailed definition of sight while giving ample justice for the story per se. A classmate of mine noted that it deviated from the simple perspectives of the indie film convention. But for me it conveyed a very brilliant story, regardless of cinematic technicalities. The plot of Aparisyon seems to be audience selective, it chooses thinking and patient audiences who are ready to seat and be discombobulated.

                I commend everyone’s artistry from Direk V. Sandoval down the line. Two thumbs up! I wish for more Filipino films that embodies instruction and delight. 

Rate 8/10