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A FILM BY L AV DIAZ
A LULL ABY TO THE SORROWFUL MYSTERY
A LULL ABY TO THE SORROWFUL MYS TERY
A FILM BY L AV DIAZ
with John Lloyd Cruz, Piolo Pascual, Hazel Orencio, Alessandra De Rossi
PRODUCED BY TEN17P, EPICMEDIA, SINE OLIVIA PILIPINAS
STAR CINEMA, ABS-CBN FILM PRODUCTIONS INC, AKANGA FILM ASIA, POTOCOL
DISSIDENZ FILMS, HUBERT BALS FUND, CENTRE NATIONAL DES ARTS PLASTIQUES, ASIAN PROJECT MARKET
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2016 - Drama - Philippines - DCP - 1.33 - 480 min
SYNOPSIS
Interconnected narrative threads on the Philippine Revolution of 1896-1897 against Spain characterize Hele sa Hiwagang
Hapis--the story of the ballad Jocelynang Baliwag, which became the hymn of the revolution; Gregoria de Jesus’ forlorn
search for the body of the Father of Philippine Revolution Andres Bonifacio; the journey of our national heroes’ fictional
book characters Simon and Isagani; the role of the Philippine mythical hero of strength Bernardo Carpio and the half-man,
half-horse Tikbalang/Engkanto, on the Filipino psyche. It is a marriage of history, literature and mythology.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
It is said that it is perilous to argue about historical details. It is also said that it is more perilous to correct any distortions
made on historical events. But that it is most perilous of all to turn one’s back to the truth behind these events.
There is an endless discourse about the truth of Andres Bonifacio’s death, oftentimes bitter, vicious, ambiguous, tiring and
resigned. Discussions often lead to bloody results. Fear reigns nowadays, an enduring cowardice.
But to yearn for freedom is not an illusion. There are only conquerors and the conquered, abusers and the abused. It is our
obligation to free our motherland from those who do not own it because history remembers.
I only hope that this rebellion could mean something for the country. Lavrente Indico Diaz.
A LULLABY TO THE SORROWFUL MYSTERY - 05
J O C E LY N A N G B A L I WAG
Officially known as Musica del Legitimo Kundiman Procedente del Campo Insurecto (Music of the Legitimate Kundiman
that Proceeds from the Insurgents), Jocelynang Baliwag was the favorite ballad among the revolutionaries during the
Philippine Revolution of 1896 - earning it the title “Kundiman of the Revolution.”
In the guise of a love and courtship song, it features lyrics dedicated to a young and beautiful Filipina idolized in the
Bulacan town of Baliuag named Josefa ‘Pepita’ Tiongson y Lara who symbolizes the image of the beloved Motherland,
the Inang Bayang Katagalugan or Filipinas.
Only you my soul worships, my beloved
O purity incarnate, great beauty unmatched
Exquisite perfume of an unblemished flower
Gentle spring of joy and inspiration’s power
Eden found, fount of happiness sublime
The joy you bring can last me for a lifetime
For your teasing glance and the sweetest of sweet smiles
Buds of flowers gladly bloom for miles and miles and miles
Blind trust in your mercy, somehow my heart abides
A rope of hope that I cling to until this fear subsides
You’re my life, my salvation, you will not let me down
In this sea of uncertainty, you will not let me drown
Most humble, most earnest, in the end I still beg you
Grant a measure of your love to this supplicant so true
Beggars are strangely grateful for pity-- in a fashion
Better than a toxic life, without soul and without passion
A LULLABY TO THE SORROWFUL MYSTERY - 07
COMMENTS FROM WRITER-DIRECTOR L AV DIAZ
AN ACT OF ENGAGEMENT
The Katipunan Revolution or the Philippine Revolution ended the more than three hundred years of oppressive Spanish
colonization of our shores. Besides my passion for it, understanding the struggle of my people and other cultures, I
find the great narratives fascinating. The use of history in my cinema is an act of engagement, putting more gravitas
on the discourse on the Filipino struggle. Cinema has the power to immortalize epochs, e. g., reenactments of events
and incidents of the past, it could be documentary or fictional treatments, and this makes the medium a most profound
chronicler of humanity’s struggle.
A MIRROR OF OUR BEING
Cinema’s earnest immersive attribute is akin to psychiatry, where people are reminded, “Hey, this is what happened.” Now,
they’re being confronted and they’ll examine the past; and the past becomes the present, and experiencing it creates an
immediacy, or even an urgency, or even transcendence. History is a mirror of our being. And cinema appropriates that.
But of course there’s always the danger of revisionism and excessive didacticism. What’s imperative is to try to be very
objective by creating fulfilled characters and to conduct a lot of research to be nearer the issue of truth.
STAR POWER
Piolo Pascual and John Lloyd Cruz are humongous marquee names in the Philippines. They understood the value of this
film’s reaching the Filipino masses and so they came on board. It would look like an awkward joining of forces as I am
on the other side of the fence, to say the least, but more than the romantic idea of working with a ‘different’ filmmaker,
they knew that it is a responsibility. We cast aside all caste issues. And I thank them for that.
EMANCIPATION
My first so-called ‘long film’, the five-hour Batang West Side, was a shock to the system, then. This was 2001. It was
followed by the eleven-hour Evolution of a Filipino Family, the nine-hour Heremias, Book One, the nine-hour Death in the
Land of Encantos, the eight-hour Melancholia, the six-hour Century of Birthing, the six-hour Florentina Hubaldo, CTE,
the four-hour Norte, End of History, the six-hour From What is Before and now, this eight-hour A Lullaby to the Sorrowful
Mystery. The conventional Filipino cinema is attached to the market-imposed duration—You cannot go beyond two
hours; the profit will fly out of the window. I‘m not part of that market. I’ve emancipated my cinema. My struggle is to put
my cinema alongside humanity’s struggle. And man’s greatest struggle is time. I want to fathom time. My struggle to
understand the nature of cinema is akin to my struggle to understand the nature of man.
SIMPLIFIC ATON
It’s an application of Zen. I simplified my cinema. It has to be direct, sans adornments, appropriating the benevolence
of nature, or space as the medium of the moving image instead of subordinating the canvas just to the movement of
some characters.
BL ACK AND WHITE
Cinema for me is black and white. I did use color in some of my works but I always see cinema as black and white. I grew
up watching a lot of the early cinema. It was an alternative world in my youth. I still see it as my alternative habitat. I find
greater discourse there, in the grays and the whites and the blacks. It’s a fixation. In the case of A Lullaby to the Sorrowful
Mystery, beyond the discourse on history, it’s an homage again to the old cinema that I knew, and an amalgam of Filipino
comic-book chiaroscuro, contrasty film noir lighting and some shades of German Expressionism.
A LULLABY TO THE SORROWFUL MYSTERY - 09
L AV DIAZ (WRITER, DIRECTOR)
Lavrente Indico Diaz aka Lav Diaz is a filmmaker from the Philippines who was born on December 30, 1958 and raised in
Cotabato, Mindanao. He works as director, writer, producer, editor, cinematographer, poet, composer, production designer
and actor all at once. He is especially notable for the length of his films, some of which run for up to eleven hours. That is
because his films are not governed by time but by space and nature. His films are about the social and political struggles
of his motherland and through these, he has garnered the admiration of the international festival circuit.
Since 1998 he has directed twelve films, and won several international awards. His 2002 film Batang West Side won
Best Picture at the Singapore International Film Festival, plus awards at the Independent Film Festival of Brussels,
Gawad Urian, and Cinemanila International Film Festival. He also received a Gawad Urian for his 2005 film Evolution of
a Filipino Family and Special Jury Prize at the Fribourg International Film Festival in 2006 for Heremias, Book One. His
film Death in the Land of Encantos, was the closing film of the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival 2007, and
was awarded a Golden Lion Special Mention. His 2008 eight-hour film Melancholia, a story about victims of summary
executions, won the Orizzonti Grand Prize at the 65th Venice International Film Festival in 2008, and Florentina Hubaldo,
CTE has received Best Film at Images Festival, Toronto and Jeonju International Film Festival in 2012. In 2010 he
received a Guggenheim Fellowship and in 2011 joined the Board of Directors for Cine Foundation International. The
Venice Film Festival calls him “the ideological father of the New Philippine Cinema”.
In 2013, his latest film Norte, The End of History is presented at Un Certain regard Cannes Film Festival and considered
as “one of the most beautiful film seen in Cannes” (Jacques Mandelbaum, Le Monde) or even “quite possibly the best
film there” (Daniel Kasman, Mubi), a “superb piece of focused narrative” (Jonathan Romney, Screen) –a broadened
international recognition that earns him to be invited at FID Marseille to be part of the Official Competition Jury and
eventually at the 2013 Locarno Film Festival as the President of the Jury.
A LULLABY TO THE SORROWFUL MYSTERY - 11
CHARACTERS
ISAGANI
The most intelligent student during the Philippine Revolution
SIMOUN
A man looking for redemption, a man who confessed to his country, not to a
god, and who died believing there’s no god
ORYANG
The wife of Andres Bonifacio, father of Philippine Revolution
CAESARIA
The most celebrated beauty during the revolution and the cause of the mass
murder in Silang
ANDROGYNOUS TIKBALANG
Half woman half horse, mythological creature
FEMALE TIKBALANG
Half woman half horse, mythological creature
MALE TIKBALANG
Half woman half horse, mythological creature
ALING HULE
The mother who lost her sons to the revolution and joined Oryang to search for
the lost body of the Father of Philippine Revolution
KARYO
The sick man who joined Oryang to search for the lost body of the Father of
Philippine Revolution
BASILIO
The most persevering, studious and nationalistic student during the revolution
who was obsessed with digging for gold
SEBASIAN CANEO
The leader of the religious cult looking for the mythological hero, Bernardo
Carpio.
A LULLABY TO THE SORROWFUL MYSTERY - 13
CREW
Written/Directed by
Cinematography
Sound Design
Production Design
Production Manager
Costume Design
Masks Design
Assistant Directors
Casting
Producers
Executive Producer
Co-Producers
Co-Production
Lav DIAZ
Larry MANDA
Erwin ROMULO
Popo DIAZ
Kristine KINTANA
Jona BALLARAN
Barbie CAPACIO
Karenina HANIEL, Hazel ORENCIO
Bianca BALBUENA, Hazel ORENCIO
Bianca BALBUENA, Paul SORIANO
Paul SORIANO
Jeremy CHUA, Fran BORGIA
POTOKOL (Singapore), AKANGA FILM ASIA (Singapore)
CAST
ISAGANI
SIMOUN
ORYANG
CESARIA
KARYO
ALING HULE
TIKBALANG MALE
TIKBALANG FEMALE
TIKBALANG ANDREOGYNOUS
BASILIO
MUSIKERO
SEBASTIAN CANEO
John LLOYD CRUZ
Piolo PASCUAL
Hazel ORENCIO
Alessandra DE ROSSI
Joel SARACHO
Susan AFRICA
Bernardo BERNARDO
Cherie GIL
Angel AQUINO
Sid LUCERO
Ely BUENDIA
Ronnie LAZARO
A LULLABY TO THE SORROWFUL MYSTERY - 15
A LULL ABY TO THE SORROWFUL MYSTERY
A FILM BY L AV DIAZ