filmanalysis2017

[filmanalysis2017]

Honor Thy Father: A Review

When it came out in 2015, there was a lot of hype surrounding Honor Thy Father and rightly so. The Erik Matti film starring John Lloyd Cruz delves into the sensitive and controversial topic of faith especially in a predominantly Catholic country. More than just being a thriller film, Honor Thy Father digs deep into the mind of Edgar and his perspective on what is going on around him and this is explored in various recurring themes and trends throughout the film.

The first and most obvious theme is Christianity moreover, faith. In several instances in the film, God is brought into the conversation or situation. One way or another, Edgar had a reaction to this. As the film unfolds, we see more and more Edgar’s true feelings on religion. When Edgar was in the principal’s office for a disciplinary case of his daughter, the scene opens with a close-up shot of Edgar as he listens to the off-screen voice of his daughter’s principal as she scolds her which acts as a sound thread for the whole scene. POV-cutting is employed when the camera cuts to a close-up of Edgar’s daughter who appears to be ashamed to admit her fault as seen in her constant looking down and inward body posture. As the principal continues to scold Edgar’s daughter, she uses the line “magagalit sa ‘yo si Papa God, ha.” Edgar looks up right away with a straight blank look on his face and soon after, the shot moves to a medium close-up of Edgar who seems to be affected still by that line, as the principal’s voice goes back to being an off-screen sound, because of his unchanged facial expression.

In a second instance, Edgar along with his wife Kaye and daughter Angel attend a church service. Beginning with a long shot scene in the parking lot of the church, Kaye greets fellow churchgoers and some investors and even compliments a lady on her new bag. It is implied in the line of the lady “thanks to you” that through the money scheme of Kaye, the lady was able to get that expensive bag. In the following scene, the opening shot is a low angle shot of their bishop delivering his speech, perhaps showing how the churchgoers look up to him constantly. The camera cuts to a crowded shot of the churchgoers however; at the center of the shot is Edgar who appears to be not as concentrated as his wife and the other people around him. Later on as the crowd reacts happily with claps and praises to the bishop’s words, Edgar looks to be impatient as seen in his slight sigh, forced applause, and lack of focus. When the scene moves on to the whole church singing, Edgar’s lack of movement and praise makes him stand out from the rest of the churchgoers. This is emphasized by the shot centering on him and keeping him in focus despite not being in the foreground. His apathetic attitude takes center stage in this scene.

However in a third instance, Edgar finally reacts to God being used as a solution to all their problems. The sequence begins with Edgar and Kaye going to the bishop’s house and asking for his help by giving the money they donated back to them. As Kaye and the bishop talk, they are out of focus in the shot despite being in the foreground. Instead, Edgar is centered in the shot and in focus. As the bishop doesn’t give them a straight answer and tells them the devil is at work, he moves to pray over the couple. Instead of being focused on the bishop, the camera cuts to an close-up of Edgar as he blankly stares at the bishop until he pushes the bishop’s arms away. Although he tells the bishop they’re not looking for his blessings, the bishop proceeds to give them a God-centered explanation for what is happening to them. As the bishop continues talking, the shot is angled towards Edgar’s face and focuses on how his blank stare transitions to an angered look before attacking the bishop and accusing him of being evil much like the devil the bishop tried to pray away. The following scene opens with Edgar and Kaye leaving the bishop’s house in anger. In a wide shot of the couple walking out of the gate, Edgar rushes to their car while Kaye trails behind asking him what’s wrong with him and “wala ka bang takot sa Diyos?” This triggers Edgar into attacking Kaye and finally showing his true feelings by saying “sawang-sawa na ako sa kaka-Diyos mo!” This scene brings to light Edgar’s true feelings regarding his wife’s religion and he even mocks her by saying that she should “ask Yeshua” to help their family. The short duration shots utilized in this sequence show the contrasts between Edgar and what he is reacting to.

The second recurring theme I observed in the film was the act of digging and not just the visual act of doing so but the sound of digging as well. The first obvious appearance of digging in the film is the very first shot of the film. In fact, we hear the hit of the shovel and scraping of the soil before we even see the close-up shot of Edgar digging into the ground as he gardens. This scene serves as a clue of what’s to come and what to expect again.

The second obvious appearance of digging is back in Edgar’s hometown where mining is the family business. As lighting shifts from daylight to selective lighting in the mine, Edgar moves into the mine and looks for his brothers, he is surrounded by men hard at work hacking and digging away the walls and ground. Later on, this scene would serve as a hint of what’s to come for Edgar and his brothers. This happens when it is revealed that Edgar and his brothers have hatched a plan to dig their way to the bishop’s house.

Although not explicitly stated, this is seen throughout various sequences showing alternating panning and tracking shots of Edgar making his way to the digging site and long distance shots of the bishop’s house.

This plan is also revealed through the sound of digging. Before attending church service, Edgar makes his way to talk to the bishop. The scene opens with an off-centered medium shot of the bishop and some visual clues showing the wealth of the bishop/church (i.e. elaborate food set-up, guards surrounding him, someone to dress him up). As Edgar faces the bishop, he is put as the focus of the shot by way of a slow zoom to his face. As the bishop tells Edgar when he is available to talk things over, the asynchronous sound of a pickaxe digging at the ground can be heard. This calls to mind the plan of Edgar and his brothers of making their way to the bishop’s house from below. The sound of the pickaxe could symbolize how all that Edgar could think about is his plan and the means he has been taking to make it a reality.

However, digging also appears in the form of the action of stabbing. Physically, the two actions follow the same pattern: raise arm-pull arm back-push arm forward-attack with tool/weapon. At the start of the film, the conversation between the principal and the daughter with Edgar present is all about how Edgar’s daughter stabbed a classmate in the eye. Although Edgar told his daughter what she did was wrong, he corrected himself later on. In the scene where Edgar shaves his head to set an example for his daughter, he said how it’s good she did that so that that classmate won’t go after her again. Edgar practices what he preaches in the second to the last scene in the film. In this scene, tracking shots are used to follow Edgar as he meets up with the couple that kidnapped his wife. POV cutting between shots of the couple and Edgar is used to show the tension between the two. Eventually, Edgar shoots the couple before attacking the husband with his pickaxe. The camera focuses on Edgar’s face as he stabs the husband but is juxtaposed with the sounds of blood splattering to indirectly show what’s happening. This scene symbolizes Edgar showing these people that they can no long mess with him and his family. Like what he said to his daughter, this shows them that they can no longer go after Edgar.

Overall, noticing the recurring themes and trends in Honor Thy Father turned out to be useful in understanding the deeper underlying messages of the film. Dissecting each theme and its corresponding scenes helped me understand in a way the thought process undertaken by Edgar. From responding to his surroundings to taking matters into his own hands, understanding the whys of these actions was done easier once linked to scenes with the same recurring theme.