Ambeth Ocampo Reviewed Maid In Malacanang

Much of what is said online against "Maid In Malacanang are from people who haven't watched the film. Full disclosure I endured the film in Ayala Cebu the other day, so this frank review is not tsismis. Butthe film largely based on one unidentified person's jaundiced narrative, is tsismis.

Despite the distribution of thousands of complimentary movie passes and a captive 30 million fanbase, the theater was not as jampacked as I expected it to be. To be fair, viewers were attentive, laughed in the right places, and applauded at the end. I joined in the clapping too, but more from relief than appreciation.

Almost two hours of Cristine Reyes as Imee Marcos bought me perpetual plenary indulgences. Imee was depicted as a pouting, petulant, entitled b*tch in the opening scene who degenerated into a shrill, hysterical banshee for most of the film. As creative consultant and producer of the film, one wonders if Imee approved of the director’s treatment that failed to encourage pity, or at least empathy, for the Marcoses in their last 72 hours in Malacañang before they were driven into exile by the 1986 people power."