Peak Oil is You

Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)

Page added on September 11, 2017

“Motherland” explores life and birth and an exploding population

There’s a general lack of respect for and understanding of the Philippines, that Asian archipelago nation of more than 7,000 islands with a dark Spanish-American colonial history. All the news we get these days is that the country is being ravaged by conflict with Muslim militants and a drug war run by recently elected president Rodrigo Duterte, a reckless cowboy who once called President Obama “a son of a whore.”

But there’s much more to the Philippines. Start with life. Lots of it. With a mostly Catholic population that just recently surpassed 100 million, the Philippines is facing momentous opportunities and obstacles. The country is growing, but it is marred by poverty and government misdirection.

A new documentary, “Motherland,” which opened Friday in New York City and will open on Sept. 22nd in Santa Monica, goes a long way toward remedying our lack of knowledge as it zeroes in on the people who populate what may be the busiest maternity ward in the world: the Fabella Hospital in Manila, which can sometimes witness 100 births in a 24-hour period.

Director Ramona Diaz takes a searing, honest, cinema vérité approach, immersing herself, and us, in the overcrowded, sometimes chaotic, always emotionally heightened, conditions of the ward.

We get to see life beget life on a most personal level, and suddenly the Philippines no longer seems so far away. Salon asked Diaz, a veteran filmmaker (“Imelda,” “Don’t Stop Believin’”) and Guggenheim fellow, about”Motherland.”

How did you come to make “Motherland”?

While I was in Manila researching a film about a controversial reproductive health bill and its attendant social and cultural drama, a friend advised me to visit Fabella Memorial Hospital, the busiest maternity hospital in the region — “the baby factory,” as it was referred to locally. When I visited that first time, I knew immediately that I had found the film that I was going to make — that I had to make. It was immediately evident that all the themes that I wanted to tackle — reproductive health, reproductive justice, maternal rights — were contained within the walls of the hospital. I pivoted and made “Motherland” instead.

What was the relationship like between you and the mothers and hospital staff?

The media has covered Fabella Hospital in the past — the BBC, CNN, etc. They’re used to having cameras around for a day, two at the most. What was unusual was the length of time I wanted access; six weeks, 24/7. Or, as much as we could shoot without driving ourselves to the ground (it ended up being 17-hour days). I think in the beginning the staff didn’t really understand why I wanted that much time, but slowly they came to realize that it was stories over time that I wanted to capture and not necessarily just the story of the institution. I also spent a month at the hospital before shooting began and got to really know the staff. I had gotten access to the entire hospital through the Department of Health but it was important that the nurses and doctors and caretakers understood my intentions. I believe they came to trust me because of the time I spent at the hospital before actually starting to film.

Gaining the mothers’ trust was more tricky. Because I wanted to focus on the mothers more than the staff, I had to quickly get them to trust me because by the time they walked through the hospital doors, we were rolling. I was (and always am) aware of the power dynamic between them and me. Of utmost importance to me was that the patients understood that their getting care at the hospital was not contingent upon their giving me access. That they could say no and they would still get the care they needed. Of the women I spoke to, around 80 percent agreed to participate, and only 20 percent refused. There were times that we would stop filming, sit with them and just talk.

It wasn’t always smooth, of course. After all my years filming real people, I knew that there would be days when they wouldn’t be in the mood and I made it very clear to them that they could tell me that and we would back off that day, or that morning, or that hour. I’ve found that once you give people that option, they usually don’t take it. The one thing they couldn’t do, or it was my most fervent wish that they didn’t do, was back out once they’d committed.

There is humor in your film about something many consider a depressing topic. Why?

There is humor in the film because the women in the film are funny. Humor saves them. I think without humor, all the difficulties and indignities that poverty brings would overwhelm them. Laughing is key. But, hopefully, the audience laughs with them, not at them.

How has making the film changed your view of the human population explosion?

I don’t think it changed. I think it was reinforced. For an emerging economy like the Philippines, a country which has a land mass the size of Arizona, it has approximately a third of the population of the U.S. How is that tenable? The Catholic Church holds a lot of power in the country and they’ve been against the use of contraception or any kind of family planning, except for the rhythm method, and against mandatory sex education. Fortunately, the country is slowly turning a corner and is untethering its ties to the Church ever so slowly. Education, too, is key, as evidenced by the women in the film who turned down birth control methods such as the IUD. It’s going to take another generation but I believe slowly, it will happen.

President Duterte has been in the news a lot. Did his war on drugs have any impact on your film?

No, not on “Motherland.”

SALON

15 Comments on "“Motherland” explores life and birth and an exploding population"

Davy on Mon, 11th Sep 2017 6:19 am

“I don’t think it changed. I think it was reinforced. For an emerging economy like the Philippines, a country which has a land mass the size of Arizona, it has approximately a third of the population of the U.S. How is that tenable?”

How many times have I asked makat this? LOL. The same friggen thing with Arizona and 100MIL. Yea, he will say this is more MSM propaganda but numbers don’t lie. He will say only he knows what is up in the P’s. Luzon is in the top 4 of the most densely populated Islands in the world. Goggle Luzon and see or check this map out:
http://tinyurl.com/yc8ehp9q

Luzon is facing the worst of what nature has to offer.
http://tinyurl.com/ya22wtqa

All this and makat comes on this board to tell me how bad my home is and how I am doomed. I agree my country and my local face daunting changes of planetary decline and civilizational decline but so does he. The fact he can come on here with a bold face and talk everyone else down points to personality issues. What is hilarious is so many of you buy into his BS. That points to many more people with personality issues because many of you are about blame, complain, and finger pointing but without a morning mirror exercise.

fmr-paultard on Mon, 11th Sep 2017 7:34 am

the phils is in overshoot and that’s driving people mad as in crazy. this is why duterte started teh killing. after duterte there’ll be bigger killings and abu sayaf putting a prize on expat’s heads

Cloggie on Mon, 11th Sep 2017 7:44 am

It is obvious that the admin reads the comments too.

makati1 on Mon, 11th Sep 2017 7:49 am

fmr, you really need to seek help for your delusions. Maybe Davy can recommend his shrink? Oh, that’s right. He is sane and the rest of the world is crazy. LMAO

fmr-paultard on Mon, 11th Sep 2017 8:34 am

mak dear, i don’t know what to say to you. it’s like der and cattle mutilation all over again. if i say you’re delusional because you abandoned a boundless country with two ginormous atom bombs nicknamed atlantic and pacific and the method of punishment is the wallet.

and you seem to enjoy armed men at checkpoints and shoot to kill as punishment for breaking the law.

why would you prefer that? that is not creative problem solving and the entire country is obsessed with this man. he’s only famous because people enjoy the suspense of killing. drama shows are only supposed to be on TV, k?

oh, the phils has this ghost called aswang” maybe you and der should hang together there.

yep i’m delusion for investigating flat earth, aswang, cattle mutilation.

taking reality tv show to IRL is delusional. but i’m repeating myself.

Istead of all this try to invent a better shower than a suicide shower. anyways, i’m a tard and i barely graduated college. but electricity is walk in the park on a sunday afternoon.

basic stuff like this is not understood in the phils. in this case i don’t want to be there.

Davy on Mon, 11th Sep 2017 8:50 am

makat, can’t you comment on the article or does it hurt your agenda too much. LMFAO. Life doesn’t always work per one’s fantasy world does it makat? Double lol.

Sissyfuss on Mon, 11th Sep 2017 9:23 am

I rank the Catholic Church one of the top terrorist organizations, right up there with ISIS. They’re always peromottngg fresh meat for the pedo priests. And as far as Duturdhes
policies go, overshoot is a convenient excuse for devaluing human life.

Davy on Mon, 11th Sep 2017 10:36 am

Siss, a little extreme don’t you think. I don’t think you are going to say that about my kid’s Catholic school. They make every uptight asshole old white man on this board look like a terrorist. Why not clarify that with the Catholic Church upper management.

onlooker on Mon, 11th Sep 2017 10:41 am

Yep, the upper management of the Catholic Church is rotten to the core just like the upper management of pretty much every major entity on this planet. So amen to that Sissy

Sissyfuss on Mon, 11th Sep 2017 3:39 pm

I was speaking of the power structure of the church, Davy. Some of the finest people I’ve known were Catholic but to a person they didn’t agree with much of what the church leaders were espousing. I guess we need another Inquisition to get the members back in line.

Davy on Mon, 11th Sep 2017 3:45 pm

Or a mutiny

DerHundistlos on Mon, 11th Sep 2017 5:40 pm

Yes, indeed many of the Catholic church’s archaic policies are destructive. Thankfully, Pope Francis represents a huge course correction, although change occurs slowly to an organization steeped in tradition.

In Colombia, the church has lost much of its influence over the people and change occurred within a generation. Among the youth, I do not know a single person who attends church. The pews on Sunday are 75% vacant

Kenz300 on Mon, 11th Sep 2017 7:40 pm

Poverty breads poverty.

Having a child that you can not provide for is cruel.

Sissyfuss on Mon, 11th Sep 2017 8:27 pm

Yes Derhund, the present Pope has a science background but I get the impression that he can’t speak his mind about overpopulation for fear of being impaled.

DerHundistlos on Mon, 11th Sep 2017 10:40 pm

Yes, Sissy, although the pope has shown remarkable courage. Unfortunately, many so called “good Catholics”, for a variety of reasons, flinch or otherwise recoil in horror at the mention of “ecology” or “the environment.”

Francis remarked, “mankind’s selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity is responsible for the present ecological crisis. The large-scale destruction of biodiversity threatens the very existence of the human species.”

He gets it, but I’m afraid it’s too late at this point.

“Motherland” explores life and birth and an exploding population

Leave a Reply Cancel reply