Plot: (from Sundance Film Festival coverage)
The most beautiful film I saw in “Spectrum”, though, was Tuli, the second feature by Filipino director Auraeus Solito. A self-proclaimed Indigenous Peoples' Rights advocate, Solito leaves the Manila slums to film the survival of indigenous rites in the splendid, lush countryside of The Philippines' South Palawan. As in most of The Philippines, the villagers partake in an intriguing mixture of early religion and Christianity (during the Holy weeks, rituals of self-flagellation take place, as well as pageants staging the Passion of Christ, with a local boy attached to the cross for hours). Circumcision (tuli) plays a central role – but the village's circumciser is a violent man, who drinks too much and is abusive to his wife and daughter Daisy (Desiree del Valle), whom he wants to marry off to a local rich boy. Daisy spends a lot of time with her girlfriend Botchok (Vanna Garcia), and, during an outing by the river, in the middle of the forest, in a sensual scene that reminded me of a similar moment in Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Blissfully Yours, she watches Botchok being seduced by a young neighbour. When the man dumps her, cast out by her angry family, Botchok seeks shelter in Daisy's house.
So far, we are still within the tropes of the Filipino's “suffering woman” melodrama. What follows is less predictable, as Daisy reveals her love for Botchok, the latter gently accepting it, and the pair living happily together under the approving gaze of Daisy's Mom. The villagers are less happy, and start attributing any illness that may befall their children to the evil spell of the “perverts”. Meanwhile, to strengthen their bond, Daisy decides she and Botchok should have a child, and she endeavours to get pregnant with Nanding, the only boy who has not gone through circumcision rites .
In spite of the violent posse organised by the villagers against the love nest – repelled with courage by Daisy's Mom – there is a true utopian quality in the second half of Tuli – structured around lesbian desire, the tender bond between mother and daughter and then mother-biological father-and-baby, the alternative family thus created under the nose of the village elders. Already in Maximo Oliveiros, Solito pursued this utopia, albeit combined with harsher overtones of urban violence: a queer little boy could survive and “blossom” as what he truly was. Here Solito injects queer content within his loving depiction of indigenous culture, spirituality and sensuality. This alone should turn Tuli into a landmark – but it is only one of the remarkable traits of this exquisitely shot, composed and directed film.
Lesbian content:
One of the actresses, Desiree Del Valle, is an out biseuxal. A few years ago, it was reported that she and her girlfriend Elaine Crisostomo, who was living in the USA at the moment, had travelled to Las Vegas in 2002 and got married. Desiree has later confirmed that the story is true. Her only comment to it was that she was "young and madly in love". Desiree and Elaine are no longer together..
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