Directed by Alvin Yapan, “Culion” is a moving new addition to the Philippines’ growing list of masterful historical narratives told through film. Starring Iza Calzado, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, and Meryll Soriano, this two-hour-and-25-minute film takes audiences back in time to the brink of World War II to the leprosarium of Culion Island.
Set in the 1940s, the film revolves around the community of Culion. It brings forth a myriad of questions about the difference between living and existing; love and despair.
Off the coast of Palawan resides a colony of lepers where three women’s stories begin to unravel. The character of Ana (Iza Calzado) has faced an unwanted pregnancy. Calzado’s performance is nothing short of shattering. Her portrayal gives the audience a repertoire of woman’s transformation with raw emotions; emphasizing how despair and new motherhood, when placed together, causes even the strongest of women to crumble.
Meanwhile, Doris (Jasmine Curtis-Smith) finds her American dream rekindled at the arrival of an infected soldier (Nico Locco) on the island. Curtis-Smith has a shine in her eyes throughout the film as she effectively tells a story of a lady with hope; only to have her dreams shattered way too soon. As for Locco part, he perfectly portrayed the dashing soldier on-screen, only to transform into a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Ditas (Meryll Soriano) is the cynic among the three women. Lost in a battle within herself, Soriano masterfully displays the despair and utter hopelessness as an individual trying to live in the present, while being bound by the chains of memory.
Their stories are brought together by their leprosy. Throughout the film, characters strive to live while conquering the disease and their inner demons. From a historical standpoint, the film is given more authenticity through the active usage of Spanish, French, and English languages during the transitions between the Spanish and American colonial periods in the Philippines.
A story frozen in time
With harrowing performances from three powerful actresses, Culion as a whole is a masterpiece—from acknowledging the disease of leprosy with a cure nowhere to be found, to redefining the stigma both society and history have turned away.
With a production design that brings the pre-war leprosarium to life before our eyes to costume designs to makeup looks of leprosy, the film takes its audiences into an uncomfortable yet surreal, authentic presentation of the Culion island.
Its cinematography, however, strikes a balance between the display of large-scale natural beauty of Culion’s island and capturing the slightest shift in emotion performed by every actor.
Since its first screening on Culion island on December 14, 2019, Culion has received much acclaim from audiences and critics alike, bagging the award for Special Jury Prize Ensemble at the 2019 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF). Scriptwriter Ricky Lee also garnered the Best Screenplay award under the Hall of Fame.
With historical Filipino films such as Heneral Luna and Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral, Culion serves as a reminder of our nation’s history outside Manila which seemed lost in time.
Ultimately, this is a heart-wrenching historical film that weaves stories about survival and hope despite cynicism between life and death and how they are forced to live by circumstance.
