Mamay Umeng (2012)

• 67%
• 2012
• Drama
• Dwein Ruedas Baltazar
• Ramona Revilla
• Sue Prado
• Gerry Adeva

Mamay Umeng begins with a birthday party of old Mamay. He celebrates his birthday with his family and villagers, and the very next day his dull life resumes. With no special event, Mamay talks to neighbors, takes meals and lies down. A long-take follows his life in a tenacious yet calm way, sometimes leaving the audience bored. The film shows that Mamay sticks to the way he has lived for the last decades without a slight difference. As part of a small rural village far from rapidly changing cities, Mamay "puts up with" living, waiting to die. Mamay Umeng sheds light to an old man who holds on his monotonous life, and pays attention to process of death, or his own journey to death. The camera never makes a hasty move as if it followed the flow of light. Numerous "expressionless" statues and sculptures in Mamay's house, including a statue of the Virgin Mary, stand still, keeping their places. Mamay also stands still and keeps his place as if he were a souvenir of an era or a decoration that will be forgotten. That is what creates a sorrowful ambiance when he lights number-shaped candles saying "84." Mamay Umeng presents a song in praise of every old man who has survived the life and wants to return to the nature in the end.