The Philippine Online Chronicles

There is a very thin line between loving and losing.  If you don’t love enough then you will lose the one you are pining for. The same goes if you love too much.  Such is the story of Unitel’s latest offering, The Red Shoes.

Contrary to what the title may suggest, The Red Shoes is hardly about footwear.  Neither does it revolve around our country’s most famous woman with a fetish for shoes, the imeldific Imelda Marcos.  However, our former first lady and self-appointed purveyor of "the true, the good, and the beautiful" managed to find her way into the storyline in a small yet inspiring way.

The story opens during one of our country’s most trying times, the first People Power Revolution.  The movie’s lead character, Lucas (later played by Marvin Agustin), was a precocious 10-year-old who finds himself in Malacanang Palace.  The young boy makes his way through the palace, into the fabled "shoe room" of Imelda.  After seeing a pair of red shoes, he decides to steal them for the two women he loves dearly, his mother Chats (played by Liza Lorena) and his childhood sweetheart Bettina (played by Nikki Gil).

From here the film goes through a series of twists and turns, spanning several stories.

The first thread focuses on Lucas himself and his quest to find himself and his place in the world.  Here we see an age-old tale of another poor boy falling in love with a rich girl and the rich girl eventually realizing that they aren’t made for each other.  The story, however, is told in a unique manner, not in the cutesy way most Philippine commercial movies use. Early moviegoers have found this aspect of the movie quite refreshing. Comments include the audience intrigued by the film and wanting to see more of it.

Then there is the story of Lucas’s mother Chats, a grieving widow. Tying the story on a popular urban legend, the movie implies that her husband was a laborer in the Manila Film Center construction site which allegedly collapsed. Aling Chats's quest to speak with her deceased husband’s ghost mingles with the already complicated tale of Lucas’ lovelife.  She does not tire of trying to find psychics and mediums who would give her that much-needed link to her dead husband.  All this while she does back-breaking work of having to pedicure the feet of her clients.

During one of these quests, she meets Ms. Vange, an Imelda impersonator and psychic on the side.  Ms. Vange (Tessie Tomas) is offered the infamous red shoes in exchange for that little snippet of conversation with Aling Chats’ husband.

All throughout the movie there are references to the state of affairs during Martial Law.

Movie critics have dubbed the movie the first great Filipino movie of 2010 because it tackles several relevant issues. Despite the sometimes "cheesy" acting of the movie’s major players and the confusing narrative style, it still manages to get its message across.  Politics, poverty, love, and hope - issues that are so close to every Filipino's heart.

Then there is Imelda, who despite her unceremonious fall from grace, still finds a place in every Filipino's imagination - and nightmares. Having to deal with this part of our history one more time illustrates that Filipinos are suckers for romanticizing tragedy even if it means resurrecting a figure who was, once upon a time, notorious.

The film was directed by Raul Jorolan and written by James Ladioray.  The Red Shoes is still showing at major cinemas nationwide.

Photo from The Red Shoes press kit.