'BONA' GIVES A GLIMPSE OF LIFE IN THE PHILIPPINES
By LAWRENCE VAN GELDER
Published: September 19, 1984
(http://www.nytimes.com)
BONA loves Gardo. Gardo loves Gardo. Gardo loves
going to bed with almost any woman he can attract. Once - apparently in
the absence of anyone better - he even takes Bona to bed, but by the
next morning, the matter seems to have slipped his mind.
Bona is a grave-looking woman who drops out of
school to pursue her crush on the narcissistic Gardo by moving in with
him, more as a servant than anything else. Gardo, in the estimation of
Bona's enraged father, is either a second- or third-rate actor in
Philippine action movies.
Bona (Nora Aunor) and Gardo (Philip Salvador) are
the central figures in ''Bona,'' a film from the Philippines directed by
Lino Brocka, whose publicity describes him as a prolific film maker and
likens him to Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Prolific he may be, but, while technically
unobjectionable, ''Bona,'' which opens today at the Film Forum, fails to
shed much light on the wellsprings of Bona's obsessive love for Gardo. A
young woman's attraction and devotion to a sleazily handsome actor are
understandable, and so at first it not surprising that Bona is willing
to fetch water so that Gardo can have warm baths; that she scrubs his
floors and mends his clothes and cooks for him in the house they share
in a poor neighborhood.
But right from the start, it is also clear that
Gardo is not exactly a flawless jewel of humanity: he is beaten up by
the relatives of one of his women; he is a drunk; he brings home an
assortment of other women; he disappears for extended periods; he leaves
it to Bona to arrange an abortion for one of his lovers, and finally -
after Bona has been essentially disowned by her family - Gardo informs
her that he is selling the house they share and going off with another
woman.
About five minutes of Gardo would be enough to make
most people explode. But it takes Bona about 90 minutes. And since she
seems reasonably intelligent and sensitive and is alert from the outset
to Gardo's slights, the writing and direction of ''Bona'' must be
faulted for failing to supply dramatically valid explanations for her
patience.
''Bona'' is chiefly interesting as an example of
Philippine film making and for its glimpses of life in the neighborhood
where Bona and Gardo live.
Philippine Glimpses
BONA, directed by Lino Brocka; screenplay (Tagalog
with English subtitles) by Cenen Ramones; photographed by Conrado
Balthazar; produced by Nora Villamayor. At the Film Forum, 57 Watts
Street. Running time: 90 minutes. This film has no rating.
Bona . . . . . Nora Aunor
Gardo . . . . . Philip Salvador
Bona's Father . . . . . Rustica Carpio
Bona's Mother . . . . . Venchito Galvez
Katrina . . . . . Marissa Delgado
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