Insights are petty, using the joint plights of its main characters to echo an antiquated sentiment on the

struggle in the island

Mindanao shows us a Mendoza who is castrated by a glaring lack of anything to fight for.

The film pleads for anger, passion, or at the very least a defiant opinion on the state of that part of the
nation it pilfers its title from, but what Mendoza delivers is a piece that in its aim to please all sides with
the safest of melodramas fails to amount to anything. Mindanao is dulled by its attempts at safe
neutrality

But then, is Mindanao really neutral?

The hard answer is no. The film blends its story of familial suffering with a fairy tale about brothers
fighting evil dragons narrated by the mother and shown via crudely animated sequences that also serve
as transitions between scenes. While it feels like the cartoonic element is attached to the fact that a
child is involved in the story, what is apparent is that the mother is not narrating to her daughter.

It is also suggestive that in the film’s merging storylines of a mother with an ailing daughter and a father
in the hinterlands fighting a war, Mendoza shows who the heroes are and what the evil dragons
represent in real life. Mindanao, in its mistaken belief that it takes no sides, shows only one side,
refusing to entertain the voices of the other side.

Mendoza tackles the complex issues of Mindanao as if he is a Mindanaon with Mindanao sensibilities.

She comforts her daughter by telling the mythical story of Rajah and Sulayman, presented in a naïve
child’s crayon scrawl, and how they fight the two ferocious dragons named Pula and Ginto.

This is also true to most Lumad communities in Mindanao. This perception is linked to historical
injustices and militarization that happened and still continue to exist in Mindanao

The film begins in wonderfully animated sequence of the legend of the brother’s Rajah and Sulayman
and how they saved the islands of Mindanao from the pair of dragons Ginto and Pula. Narrated by
Saima, the story continues in spurts within the story, creating multiple parallelisms within the story with
the two dragons symbolising various things depending on what’s happening in Saima’s narrative.

Written by Honee Alipio, ‘Mindanao’ makes clever use of the legend of Rajah and Sulayman and their
battle with the dragon Ginto and Pula as an allegory that builds a multi-faceted and complex image of
Mindanao. Without a doubt, the two dragons are easily recognizable as the two obstacles towards
Saima’s happiness: Aisa’s cancer and the armed conflict that plagues Mindanao, which keeps her
husband out in the danger zone.

Saima (Judy Ann Santos) cares for her cancer-striken daughter Aisa (Yuna Tangog) while she awaits her
husband Malang (Allen Dizon) to come home who serves as a combat medic deployed in the southern
Philippines.[8] Their struggle is juxtaposed with the folklore of Rajah Indara Patra and Rajah Sulayman,
the sons of Sultan Nabi, who fights to stop a dragon devastating Lanao.[4]
The tale is narrated by Saima and depicted in childish crayon drawings,

Because he tells the story of the region by way of a folktale detailing the exploits of the brothers Rajah
and Sulayman and how they coped with the dragons Ginto and Pula.

There is a beautiful evocation of the Muslim way of life and how strong Muslim women can be. In the
House of Hope, where she literally hopes against hope to save her daughter, Saima finds time to teach
women how to interpret a Muslim dance using the malong and its uses and intricacies.

The is-land of Min-danao south of the Philip-pines is both blessed and cursed. I say it is blessed be-cause
Mother Na-ture must have worked over-time to make it beau-ti-ful and rich in nat-ural re-sources.

At the same time, it seems cursed be-cause peace is so elu-sive in most of its parts – what with the
end­less bat­tles there. And, lately, it’s been hit by a se­ries of deadly earth­quakes.

The story of Rajah and Su-lay-man – done in crude an-i-ma-tion – is in-ter-twined into the movie as a
de-vice to make the nar-ra-tive of Min-danao dif-fer-ent from other films

Saima mirrors the harrowing life in Mindanao by retelling the epic tale of Rajah and Sulayman to Aisa -
story of two warrior brothers who fight against the dragons, Ginto and Pula. The crayon images of the
tale interweave the battle realms of Malang and of Aisa.
BAKIT ANG PELIKULA AY PINAMAGATANG MINDANAO?

THESIS STATEMENT:

ang pamagat ng pelikulang Mindanao ay pinapakita at binigyang saysay sa pamamagitan ng mga

nakikitang giyera at mga isyu sa rehiyon, lalo na ang mga salungatan-ugnayan, at ang tampok na
mayamang kultura ng Mindanao, mula sa makulay na mga costume at kaakit-akit na musika hanggang sa
mga halaga ng mga tao. Ang pelikula ay sumusunod din batay sa isang alamat ng bayan ng mga
magkakapatid na sina Rajah Indara Patra at Rajah Sulayman, ang mga anak ng makapangyarihang si
Sultan Nabi, na naglakbay upang matigil ang panghihimasok ng mga dragon na si Ginto at Pula sa mga
pulo ng Mindanao.

CHAPTER I

Ang award-winning na pelikulang Mindanao ni direktor Brillante Mendoza na inilunsad noong

taong 2019. Sinasabi ng pelikulang Mindanao ang kwento ng babaeng Muslim na si Saima Datupalo
(Judy Ann Santos). Habang inaalagaan ang kanyang anak na babae na may sakit na cancer sa utak na
nagngangalang Aisa Datupalo (Yuna Tangog) sa isang pansamantalang tahanan para sa mga batang may
cancer na tinawag na House of Hope sa Davao, ang kanyang asawa na si Malang Datupalo (Allen Dizon),
isang battle medic sa gitna ng labanan sa Maguindanao. Ang mismong pamagat ng pelikulang Mindanao
nagmula sa mga nakikitang giyera at mga isyu sa rehiyon, lalo na ang mga salungatan-ugnayan, at ang
tampok na mayamang kultura ng Mindanao, mula sa mga makukulay na mga costume at kaakit-akit na
musika hanggang sa mga halaga ng mga tao. Ngunit kung papansinin mas binibigyang saysay ang dahilan
kung ito pinamagatang Mindanao na sumusunod batay sa isang alamat ng bayan na kinukwento ni
Saima sa kanyang marahang namamatay na anak dahil sa kanser sa utok. Ang mga magkakapatid na sina
Rajah Indara Patra at Rajah Sulayman na nakikipaglaban sa mga dragon na sina Ginto at pula upang
mapanatili ang kapayapaan sa kapuloan ng Mindanao, kung saan ito ay kahanay ng sariling paglalakbay
ng pamilya na sumisimbolo ng iba't ibang mga bagay depende sa nangyayari sa salaysay ni Saima. Ayon
nga kay Mendoza, ang pelikula ay orihinal na pinamagatang "Maguindanao," gayunpaman sinabi niya na
ang aspeto ng animation ay tila "mas malaki kaysa sa Maguindanao."