THE STORY – 1617. The Spanish friar, Padre Enciso, the encomendero of one of the islands in Las Islas Filipinas, rules with unrelenting toughness and insatiable libido, “To tame these savages,” he proclaims. He salves his cruelty effectively by invoking the soul’s emancipation through Jesus’ suffering; and the hospitable and embracing indigenous Malay is doomed.
THE CAST – Bart Guingona, Ronnie Lazaro, Isabel Sandoval, Yul Servo, Christian Bables, Bong Cabrera, Rafa Siguion-Reyna & Amado Arjay Babon
THE TEAM – Lav Diaz (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 151 Minutes
The 16th and 17th centuries were a particularly dark period of human history, especially for those lands that had only recently been discovered by Western travelers. Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived at the islands known today as the Philippines in 1521, claiming them as Spanish sovereign territory. Throughout the centuries that followed, Spanish colonials began to exert their influence over the territory in increasingly brutal and unjustifiable ways, molding the land in their image and paying little mind to those who suffered in the process. Lav Diaz’s visceral, harrowing drama “Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors” serves as an enduring testament to this imperial brutality, offering a very organic and objective insight into this gruesome period of the country’s history. The film isn’t particularly interested in telling a specific story, but rather serving as a window through time that brings modern audiences face-to-face with the bloodiest foundations upon which this deeply spiritual culture was founded. The film centers around the enigmatic figure of Padre Enciso, a Spanish friar who leads a team of Spanish emissaries on their mission to subdue the indigenous population and build a series of churches on the islands.
“Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors” is an extremely challenging watch at times, making no attempt to distill its violent story at the expense of the audience’s comfort. Where most films would simply allude to the violent behavior that runs throughout this tale, Lav Diaz is happy to present it in its most sickening, authentic form in order to truly get under the viewer’s skin and make them reckon with the horrors inflicted upon these people. Whether it’s Enciso’s constant sexual aggression against the native people of Las Islas Filipinas, the strenuous physical labor they’re forced to endure, or simply the haunting acquiescence with which they accept their inevitable fate at the hands of this imperialist regime, “Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors” doesn’t pull its punches in any regard.
This makes for an incredibly potent story that certainly gives viewers plenty to think about, but Diaz’s film equally doesn’t do itself any favors with its cold, impenetrable style of filmmaking. In its attempt to present the horrors of colonialism in the most impersonal and objective way possible, “Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors” inadvertently loses that personal, intimate dimension of storytelling that’s necessary for audiences to truly relate to anything they’re watching. Diaz’s directorial style is (intentionally) very bare and naturalistic, which can have the unfortunate side effect of pushing the viewer away and creating slightly too much distance between them and the characters.
It’s clear what Diaz is going for with this distant approach: the less obvious his creative fingerprints are on this film, the more authentic and genuine its events will seem, and subsequently, the more sympathy viewers will feel about the abuse and exploitation on display. Unfortunately, this lack of true narrative progression stalls the film’s momentum hugely. There’s no obvious story to “Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors”, but rather just a series of events that forge a strong atmosphere instead of incoherent plot. This is a massive hurdle that viewers will need to overcome to immerse themselves in the film, and it certainly won’t work for everybody. It also hinders Diaz’s film that none of the characters, before the villainous Padre Enciso, have any sense of identity beyond the crimes that are inflicted upon them. None of these individuals truly feel developed or three-dimensional in the way that would be necessary to make this film as compelling as it could be. Only Enciso – whom viewers are taught to rightfully despise from the beginning – has any sense of agency throughout the story, which makes for a pretty miserable and exhausting viewing experience. Much of this is undoubtedly the film’s intention, but that doesn’t make it any easier to stomach. Diaz’s approach to filmmaking clearly values integrity and objectivity over any sense of narrative solidity; this may work for some, but there are countless hurdles that audiences will need to overcome before they can even engage with the film’s material.
Ultimately, “Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors” is a film that begs to be appreciated rather than enjoyed in any traditional sense, and it mostly succeeds at that task. The visuals are impressive, the performances are mostly engaging, and the film’s deeper themes certainly deserve to be explored in this objective, interrogative way. Unfortunately, this simply leaves the film as an impressive playground of ideas rather than a story that viewers can feel compelled by, and that’s ultimately a must-have for any great film.
