Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.
Tockinit not horrible nor great
Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
tavm As an American of Philippine descent, I was very interested in watching this documentary of the former first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos. I watched in bemusement as she kept claiming how her people loved her while there were many of the country's citizens holding signs protesting her and her husband, then-president Ferdinand Marcos, for abuses they committed like declaring Martial Law so the Marcos could stay in power indefinitely. It took the assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino and the eventual election of his widow, Corazon, as president to force the Marcos into exile to Hawaii where Ferdinand died in 1989. Besides vintage footage of them and of many other protests, you see Mrs. Marcos swaying her charm with Muammar Gadaffi, Henry Kissinger, and, no, I couldn't believe it either, George Hamilton who sings "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" substituting "Imelda" in place of "Baby"! She also recounted her encounter with songwriter Irving Berlin who, after hearing her sing "God Bless the Philippines" (to the tune of "God Bless America"), gave her her own song called "Heaven Help the Philippines". The fact that many Filipino residents still revere Imelda is the result of her charm and always dres for the occasion. And her legacy, besides many of her criminal charges, is two of her children, Ferdinand, Jr. and Imee, getting elected in their chosen office. All in all, Imelda was quite a fascinating documentary directed by Ramona S. Diaz.
rotildao Saw back in 2003 at the Landmark Theater in Chicago. I thought this documentary was banned from USA. Well, I know they took out of theaters after a couple of weeks by an intervention from Imelda's lawyers, that's all I can about that episode.A very focused documentary where fantasy, mysticism and folklore become the foundation for mockery of a whole nation when the reality of an iconic figure is revealed. The worst thing is to that me and a girl I was with at the time look at each other thinking: Michael Jackson! Sad but true! I laughed with a heavy conscience afterward. Even though it seems you wish to respect their suffering or their autistic (kinda of) delusions, and I mean Imelda and Michael Jackson's, you simply can't go against the facts presented by her lunacy, and the similarities with Jackson's.Unpleasant for some, I know because I saw Filipinos leaving the theater back then. Despite all the "cruelty" against Imelda's image, a masterpiece of documentary!
ilpintl Superb documentary on the hugely entertaining (her loopy theory of the cosmos and galactic order alone is worth the price of ission), absolutely appalling, diamond and shoe collecting former First Lady of the desperately poor Philippines. Apparently, Marcos attempted to block the doc's release in her home country, and one can see why. However, as she gets to speak throughout, she wasn't able to claim her words were taken out of context or that she was slandered. Happily for film-goers, her efforts to suppress the film failed. Documentarian Ramona Diaz combines archival news footage and interviews with Marcos sycophants, relatives, former employees, ers and political opponents to present a very balanced and revelatory portrait of this truly ghastly woman, the epitome of small-town ambition run amok. Indeeed, this could be a biography of dictators anywhere. Having lived several years in the former Zaire during the era of the megalomaniac bandit Mobuto Sese Seko, I felt a thrill of recognition while watching the antics of the Marcoses. A needlepoint cushion on a sofa in Marcos' Park Avenue penthouse, one of her several international real-estate holdings, sums her up: "Better Nouveau than not Riche at all". In a chilling coda that proves people get the government they deserve and do not seem to learn from the past, Marcos' son and daughter win municipal elections and appear to be launching little political careers of their own.
lornadoom78 First, this was an excellent documentary. I knew absolutely nothing about Pilipino history ( yes, ignorant American that I am) and walked away interested in learning more. You are presented with a brief history though, with unanswered questions, which helps you focus more on the subject, Imelda. Second, Imelda Marcos is absolutely nuts. Call it schizophrenia, delusional disorder or narcissistic personality. She embodies all three. Not only did she not apologize for being guilty of excessive greed and sloth, she had no clue why she was being accused of these. The writer did a good job of highlighting the crimes the Marcos family has committed over several decades and showed the current influence Imelda holds over contemporary Philipino culture. For a brief past/present glimpse of the Marcos family and their crimes against humanity and extortion, this documentary shows concrete examples. And you get a glimpse firsthand of just how delusional and completely clueless Imelda Marcos is. While her country starves, she accumulates jewelry. Though she is not different than other leaders of 3rd world countries, it shows the American hand in creating the monster that is her ultimate excessive greed, which she refers to as surrounding herself with "beauty". I laughed throughout the entire film at the endless contradictions. Overall, well done and unbiased.
