The
poverty of the rural population of the Philippines provides
the background for Small Voices (Mga Munting Tinig), which
was voted best picture in the Philippines for 2003. Directed
by Gil M. Portes, the story centers on Melinda Santiago
(played by Alessandra de Rossi), a recent teacher's college
graduate who decides not to join her mother in the United
States but instead to begin her teaching career in Malawig,
a small rural village (the filming is in Rizal Province)
where the main source of income is derived from harvesting
coconuts. She replaces Pilar (played by Lailani Navarro),
who is leaving for Singapore to make a lot of money as
a domestic in order to support her single mother Chayong
(played by Gina Alajar). Melinda is accommodated in Pilar's
room of Chayong's house. The school is run strictly by
a principal, Mrs. Patalan (played by Dexter Doria), who
sells "ice candies" (frozen water mixed with
sugar) to the students to make extra money in order to
help her daughter graduate from college in Manila. Because
there is no rural bank, a Sikh moneychanger provides cash
for their paychecks, charging them ten percent of their
earnings. The students are depicted as eager to learn,
though many parents prefer them to help at harvest time
in the fields, believing that education will not bring
them out of poverty and that girls should instead focus
on getting married. To one mother, "Only the rich
can afford to dream," to which Melinda responds "Every
child has the right to dream." Because rich people
chased a family off their inherited plot of land, the father
in the poverty-stricken village has joined the New People's
Army. As the story develops, NPA combatants are from time
to time killed and dumped into the nearby stream. The school
has insufficient supplies, including textbooks, and one
classroom has burned down but has not been rebuilt for
lack of funds. One day a letter arrives, announcing the
annual singing competition among elementary schools in
the school district. Realizing that there is a cash prize
that would help the school to obtain badly needed supplies,
Melinda decides to coach students to enter the competition,
though she does not tell them about the prize. Instead,
she views preparation for the competition as a way to develop
the habit of dreaming for something better; as the tagline
indicates, "She gave them a reason to sing." Her
principal believes that the effort is futile, and many
parents oppose having their children held an hour after
school a few times weekly for rehearsals, as they are needed
in the fields. Another obstacle is that there is no money
for costumes. Melinda and the students, nevertheless, persist.
Selling ice candies to various people in the village raises
extra money, and the costumes are made by purchasing hats
and textiles in the nearest town and then decorating the
hats with pieces of felt and fashioning the textiles into
costumes. The sweet sounds of the children's voices eventually
soften the hardhearted principal into supporting the venture.
One evening, Popoy (played by Bryan Homecillo), one of
the youngest singers, accompanies his father in the mountains
with the NPA, but he and his father are both found dead
in the stream the next morning. His older brother Obet
(played by Pierro Rodriguez) is now needed at home more
than ever. Without two of the key singers, Melinda is so
discouraged that she wants to withdraw the school from
the competition, but Chayong persuades her to proceed anyway.
Chayong has a reason to be sad as well, as Pilar writes
that she was sexually abused in Singapore and is saving
money to return home. Clearly, the plot leaves no alternative
but for Malawig Elementary to win the competition, singing
a song entitled "Small Voices." With Pilar returning
home soon, Melinda decides to go to the United States,
but titles at the end indicate that she stayed for only
a year and then returned to teach in the Philippines.
MH
I
want to comment on this film
