Elegy to the Visitor from the Revolution

Elegy to the Visitor from the Revolution Film Difficulty Ranking: 5

This film is 6 hours shorter than Melancholia but still just as hard to watch. You may not be accustomed to long takes and films which lack dialogue, so beware. That being said, those who take the time to watch Lav Diaz will be rewarded. He brings you as close to the Filipino psyche as you can get, allowing you to feel as if you are on the streets with the characters. Think of Lav Diaz’ films like a poem, the more you try to see and interpret, the more secrets you will find.

Why Watch Elegy to the Visitor from the Revolution?

• To watch something that defies conventional film rules
• Explore the effect of colonialism and dictatorship on the psyche of the Filipino people
• For a quicker introduction to Lav Diaz than the 7.5 hour Melancholia
• See the director playing electric guitar!

The Breakdown

All we see in the first shot is a road at night. Lav Diaz focuses on a zebra crossing with a restless woman pacing up and down at the other side of the crossing out-of-focus. No cars are passing down this street, it is empty. The woman lights a cigarette in frustration. As she walks a bit closer to us, we can see that she is a prostitute trying to signal a customer. Each minute, a single car approaches and she flicks back her hair and thrusts out her breasts, but she has no luck.

Just like in Melancholia each shot lingers for longer than we are used to, forcing us to observe each and every detail. As put by Lav Diaz:

I am capturing real time. I am trying to experience what these people are experiencing. They walk. I must experience their walk and I must experience their boredom and sorrows. I want people to experience the afflictions of my people who have been agonising for so long – under the Spaniards for more than 300 years, under the Americans for almost 100 years till now, under the Japanese [during WW2] and then under Marcos [and his 14 year fascist dictatorship].

Lav Diax splits Elegy to a visitor from the Revolution into three parts. An elegy to the first visit, an elegy to the last visit, and an elegy to the 2nd visit, in that order. Each part pieces together three scenes; of a prostitute, some gangsters, and a guitarist. Also, each part is visited by a ghostly figure of a woman who is the visitor from the Philippine Revolution of the late 1800s. She is a juxtaposition of the old and the modern. Her presence (and the three parts out of order) implies that Filipino history is cyclical. A cycle of colonisation/dictatorship and independence that has shaped the Filipino psyche. (Something that the recent election of brutal leader Duterte may replicate).

Conclusion

Elegy to a Visitor from the Revolution is another exploration by Lav Diaz of the Filipino psyche. Just as in Melancholia the Filipino people have not managed to escape the brutal history of colonisation and dictatorship. His long takes allow us to get as close to experiencing the silent suffering of the Filipinos.

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