
A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery
Synopsis
Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro is considered to be one of the most influential proponents in the struggle against Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines during the late nineteenth century. Today, he is still celebrated as the father of the Philippine Revolution. Director Lav Diaz examines this myth and undertakes another expedition into the eventful history of his native land. The film’s various loosely interwoven narrative threads are held together by an exploration of the role of the individual in history and their involvement in political and social developments. Bonifacio’s widow is searching for her husband’s missing dead body; as she and her followers stumble deeper into the jungle, they become entangled in the dense thicket of their own guilt and responsibility. The Spanish governor tries to play off the various rebel factions and their utopian visions against each other. At the same time, a badly wounded companion of Bonifacio reflects upon the victims a revolution inevitably creates.
Screenplay
Lav Diaz
Director of Photography
Larry Manda
Film Editing
Lav Diaz
Producer
Bianca Balbuena, Erwin Blanco, Fran Borgia, Jeremy Chua, Maria Shalijah Humangit, Paul Soriano
Production Company
TEN17P,
Epicmedia,
Sine Olivia Pilipinas,
Potocol,
Akanga Film Productions
Cast
John Lloyd Cruz, Piolo Pascual, Hazel Orencio, Alessandra de Rossi , Susan Africa, Joel Saracho, Bernardo Bernardo, Cherie Gil, Angel Aquino, Sid Lucero, Ely Buendia, Bart Guingona, Menggie Cobarrubias, Ronnie Lazaro, Karenina Haniel, Paul Jake Paule
Duration
485’

Lav Diaz was born in 1958 in Cotabato, Philippines. He first studied business administration, but then transferred to the Mowelfund Film Institute in Manila. Starting out as a novelist and screenwriter, he directed several shorts and documentaries before making his first feature film. His third feature Naked Under the Moon (2000) screened in the Berlinale Forum. In 2002, his West Side Avenue won Best Picture at the Singapore International Film Festival, among other international awards. His five and a half hour opus From What Is Before (2014) won the Golden Leopard at Locarno in 2014. Melancholia (2008), his eight-hour film, a story about victims of summary executions, won the Orizzonti Grand Prize at the Venice International Film Festival. In 2013, Norte, The End of History was part of A Certain Regard program at Cannes. Last year, he presented A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery in Berlinale, and won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival with The Woman Who Left.