It
is hard to believe we are talking about ancient practices like polygamy and
dowries with respect to a nation as worldly and Roman Catholic as the
Philippines, but this is Tawi-Tawi under discussion, the southern-most
archipelago province of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Don’t
worry, polygamy is only legal for Muslims and polyandry is safely verboten for
everyone. An aging barren first-wife will try to make the best of circumstances
by taking an active role in the selection of her husband’s second wife, but it
is a bitter pill for her to swallow in Brillante Mendoza’s Thy Womb (trailer
here)
which screens during MoMA’s film series, A New Golden Age: Contemporary Philippine Cinema.
To
add irony to injury, the infertile Shaleha often serves as a midwife to the
pregnant island women. After years of trying to conceive, Bengas-An is
determined to try with a younger, healthier second wife. Sadly, his prejudices
against adoption preclude that option. Given the importance of children as a
source of support to the aged, Shaleha relents, but she assumes the primary
responsibility for screening potential brides. She will also find herself scrimping
and borrowing alongside Bangas-An to raise the necessary dowry.
During
the course of Thy Womb (talk about a
heavy-handed title), we see Shaleha care for Bangas-An when he is sick, toil
like a yoked mule on his behalf, and even face a pirate attack while they are fishing
in the open ocean. And how do you think Islam rewards such faithfulness?
Dear,
of dear, this is a difficult film to watch, because it is so inevitably tragic.
(Tellingly, Mendoza apparently couldn’t bring himself to administer the final
indignity, but it is unambiguously implied.) Of course, Mendoza is culturally
sensitive to a fault. He takes great pains to show how the islanders live in
concert with nature and the seas. He also captures the color of their
ceremonies with an ethnographer’s eye. That still doesn’t change the fact you
clearly do not want to be an old disposable wife in the ARMM.
Nora
Aunor is considered a Philippine national treasure—and it is easy to see why in
Thy Womb, even though she completely
disappears into the role of Shaleha. It is a courageous, openly vulnerable
performance, with nothing that would appeal to a thesp’s vanity. Viewers will
want to slap Bembol Roco’s Bangas-An, precisely because he is so believable.
They really feel like a couple with decades of hardscrabble history together. It
should also be noted Lovi Poe makes quite an entrance as Mersila, the
prospective #2, who threatens to de-stabilize the equilibrium.
