DaangDokyu 2020: A Rustling of Leaves: Inside the Philippine Revolution (1988)

Martial Law, Never Again
September 19-21, 2020

At first glance, this lineup of films is about Martial Law, its continuing legacy of violence, plunder, and divisiveness. Looking further, it is also about the schemes of those in power whose victim, ultimately, is the ordinary Filipino. A much closer inspection reveals that this program is about the Filipino’s elusive freedom — our unfinished struggles to break free from our oppressors and be treated with dignity — rooted in our colonial past and continuing through our attempts at nationhood.

There is no moving on because we are still in the thick of it. We are not simply dealing with memory but with a rolling and raging history. That is why through decades of restlessness, we are constantly being asked to rise and take a side.

A Rustling of Leaves: Inside the Philippine Revolution (1988)
Nettie Wild

A chronicle of the three points of a political triangle — the legal left, the illegal (armed) revolution, and the enemy which threatens them both: the armed reactionary right. It is 1987. The dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos has just been overthrown. Newly elected President Corazon Aquino struggles to wrench control of the country from her own military. A Rustling of Leaves poses the key question facing the revolutionaries and the Filipino Left: Should the People’s Movement continue the guerilla war, or do they dare enter legal politics and reveal the hidden face of the revolution?

Awards: “People’s Choice Award, Berlin Film Festival (Forum of New Cinema)
Prix du Public, National Film Board’s (50th anniversary) Salute to the Documentary
Grand Prize, Houston Film Festival
Best Cinematographer, Society of Canadian Cinematographers

Thanks to user “tecchanhouse” for sharing this dokyu.
Thanks to user “tecchanhouse” for sharing this dokyu.
Thanks to user “tecchanhouse” for sharing this dokyu.