5 Documentaries Today

Sometimes the problem with med school is that you get so busy with duties and with studying, that it becomes difficult to find time to attend to other interests, especially those that are not relatable to work inside the four walls of the hospital. So many episodes, movies, games, plays, books, events, news, issues etc etc were lost this way during my 5-year stay at the PGH. Survival sometimes meant having to block out all other competing interests in an effort to understand and commit to heart (yes, not just to memory) the fronto-ponto-cerebello-dentato-rubro-thalamo-cortico-spinal pathway; and for this, the feeling that one is detached from the real world is an all too common experience for the average med student.

Good thing there are reruns.

Today I watched five documentaries in a docufest sponsored by my sister’s org in UP Diliman. All were from the award-winning GMA show I-Witness, and all I missed when they were originally shown on TV. The first, Howie Severino’s Brod Is Thicker Than Water, discussed the death of UP stude and Sigma Rho neophyte Cris Mendez from hazing. When news broke out of Cris’s death, I was on duty at PGH for pre-residency qualification; I found out about it from my sister, Cris’s classmate at the NCPAG. We usually talk about updates on this issue (or the lack thereof) during dinner.

In the documentary, Howie explored the possibility of achieving justice in fraternity-related deaths. The spin in the story showed how in the case of another student who died by the hands of his brods, UP student Alex Icasiano, closure was attained because the fraternity chose to cooperate with the criminal justice system by admitting their error and surrendering the involved brods (something that Sigma Rho has yet to even start doing). Howie was present in person during the screening this afternoon; he described how he had to ambush Sigma Rho law students just to be able to move around the fraternity’s gag order on the issue.

The second documentary was Howie’s Lucayo: Hindi Ito Bastos. The documentary tackled the erotophobia (thanks to Nicolo for the term) involving a custom in Kalayaan, Laguna, where, when a couple would wed, old women in the barangay would welcome them into the married world with dances involving phallic symbols as props (wooden penises and sometimes, eggplants). The docu apparently was found offensive by the MTRCB (validating the erotophobia aspect), and I-Witness was slapped a 2-week suspension. I guess they took literally what anthropologist Ramon Obusan said: “baliktarin mo ang titi, titi pa rin… kiki is kiki pa rin.“

Sandra Aguinaldo’s Doctor Nurse (no videos available, sorry) is about Filipino doctors who take nursing courses just to be able to work in the US. Her docu tells the story of the 2004 Med Boards topnotcher working in the States as a nurse for a hospital; and of other doctors who left their profession to migrate and work in US nursing homes. Sandra exposed how while these MD-RNs miss their parents or children at home, they feel content and satisfied with the economic benefits of their career choice. Unfortunately, the sob story was not balanced with a discussion on the impact of their migration to the local health scenario. For this, I am consulting a study done by Dr Galvez-Tan; I’ll write about it soon.

The 36-Peso Challenge (I couldn’t find videos) is Jay Taruc’s response to the national statistic that says that one needs only 36 pesos to survive a day in the Philippines. He challenges a housewife, a jeepney driver, and a businessman working in Makati to spend only 36 pesos the entire day for both food and non-food expenses (he tried but was unable to challenge President GMA also). After the screenings, I tried The 36-Peso Challenge myself; with the alloted budget, I was able to buy 20 pcs of fishballs (P10), 3 pcs of chicken balls (P10), a cup of buko juice (P7), and a ride home (Ikot jeep for P6.50; for a total of P33.50). I still have P2.50 in savings — assuming that what’s listed would be all that I’ll eat today.

The most provocative of the five documentaries in my opinion was Kara David’s Sa Mata Ni Ekang. The docu tells the story of a family with a drug dealer for a mother, a criminal (holdaper) for a father, and a pimp for a grandmother. The 3-year old kid Ekang is forced to witness shabu sessions at home, and is taught to buy cigarettes from the nearby store for her parents. The documentary ends with a family reunion of sorts as Ekang’s 3-month old sister is baptized in a church. Hopeless and hopeful clash each other all throughout.

DVDs of these and other docus would be highly appreciated gifts this Christmas.