I am not particularly fond of watching movies, whether Filipino or foreign-made films, and generally prefer viewing human interest news accounts or documentaries in channels like National Geographic or History Channel. While some films can be entertaining, many are formulaic in storyline and presentation, illogical, but humorous in the process, and tedious to watch. I seldom watch a movie that sustains my interest to make me view it to its ending. My favorite genre in cinema is the mystery-suspense-thriller and the based-on-a-true-story type of film. I am also attracted to films about unusual occurrences, events and adventures, fraudulent undertakings and depictions of escapes. I am contented to watch movies on cable TV and DVDs in my computer, and have not watched a movie inside a theater for 15 years now. I stopped watching Filipino movies in theaters when I entered high school and just watched various foreign films.
My lost of interest in going to theaters coincided with my increased interests in reading and in listening to and collecting classical music CDs. It was very unusual for me then to go to a theater and watch a movie back in 1995, and more so because the movie I watched was a Filipino film. The drama-thriller-action film was “Eskapo”, directed by Chito Rono. It depicted the daring true story of escape in 1977 by Sergio “Serge” Osmena III and Eugenio “Geny” Lopez, Jr. from their imprisonment during the Martial Law years of the Marcos regime.[1] I remember the news flash of the incident on TV during one evening in the later part of that year. There have been brief news accounts of what had happened, but the full real story was not clear to me until I saw the film much later. I had always been interested in this story and this prompted me to the rare act of going to a theater to watch the movie in 1995. Eskapo serves as a document of how life turned out for those who opposed Marcos then. Geny Lopez and Serge Osmena, played by Christopher de Leon and Richard Gomez respectively, were members of two prominent and wealthy families who hold strong economic and political influence in the country. Geny is the son of ABS-CBN media empire founder Eugenio Lopez, Sr., while Serge is the grandson of former President Sergio Osmena Sr.[2]
Chita Lopez, the wife of Geny, was played by Dina Bonnevie, while the two young members of the Lopez clan, who slipped the imported wire cutting tool that was instrumental in the escape proper inside the prison, were played by Mark Anthony Fernandez and Eric Fructuoso.[3]
In the movie, then President Marcos ordered the arrest of all his political opponents and critics, which included elected government officials, student leaders and activists, suspected members of the CCP-NPA, members of the intelligentsia and of the media, and members of the Osmena and Lopez clans because they hindered the full implementation of martial law. Serge and Geny were accused of plotting to assassinate Marcos and were arrested and placed in a maximum-security prison in Fort Bonifacio. In the course of the next five years, members of their respective families attempted to have them released through diplomacy and negotiation, with the Lopez family almost agreeing to turn over their vast empire to Marcos. The pair of prisoners decided to launch a hunger strike to emphasize their plight to the media and protest the government’s action, but it failed to change their situation. Geny and Serge then focused on the option of escape, as it was the only way to gain freedom.[4]
In the film, Geny is shown as a passive and cautious personality, whereas Serge is more of the aggressive and risk-taking type. The escape plan at the back of their detention house involved wearing camouflaged clothing, getting past an ever present jail guard at night, cutting their way out of a mesh wire fence, having a ready vehicle outside to drive them away and executing a quick flight out of the country. These were all depicted successfully in the movie with thrill and suspense.
Eskapo won for Best Sound in the 1995 Urian Awards and was invited to the film festivals in Toronto, Palm Spring and Los Angeles.[5]
[1] “Eskapo: The Serge Osmena-Geny Lopez Story”, WikiPilipinas, 28 October 2007, <http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Eskapo> [accessed 1 June 2011]
[2] ibid
[3] ibid
[4] ibid
[5] ibid
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