Maid In Malacanang" Review

I was able to see Maid in Malacañang (MiM) last Saturday with some friends. Biases aside, the film felt like it was made by an amateur second-year college student — and this is coming from someone who didn’t like and even lambasted the “award-winning” Katips.

It is rather disappointing that Imee Marcos who was the head of ECP (Experimental Cinema of the Philippines) — responsible for making iconic films such as Himala and Oro Plata Mata — allowed this hodgepodge of cinematic clichés and hammy acting. The most tragic (and unintentionally funny) was Ruffa Gutierrez who seemed like she lost her keys whenever she tries to convey an emotion. She should have taken notes from Tessie Tomas’ portrayal of Imelda Marcos in A Dangerous Life for Tomas was exemplary in that film. The performance of the rest of the cast who played the other Marcoses was underwhelming despite some of them being award-winning actors. It didn’t feel like they studied their characters — from the mannerisms to the tone of their voice, which could only be blamed to one thing: the director of the film is an amateur. The only saving graces were the three maids who had some hilarious scenes and showed good chemistry. But they still couldn’t save this camp of monstrosity

Storytelling-wise, MiM was too disorganized. For example, Imee Marcos returned from Singapore to the Philippines to heed her father’s request and upon arriving in the Palace, she discovered that they were already running out of basic necessities because they couldn’t go outside for days already due to the strident rallyists. Then how in the world did Imee enter the Palace? The film heavily used real-life footage to probably mask the inability of the director to execute them. The movie could have been given more grit if they acted out the iconic inauguration of Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. with his wife singing in the balcony or even the discovery of the assassination plot against the first family by Ricardo Morales instead of relying on historical footage and hollow scriptwriting.

Yap tried to impress by doing a one-take continuous shot with Dutch tilt in the confrontation scene between Bongbong and FEM, but the script was just too weak and a clear attempt to answer the issues thrown against Bongbong (FEM describing him as problematic in his diary, his lack of achievements, and him being a party animal) — it felt like it was written by a loyalist obsessed in winning an argument against the anti-Marcos forces on social media.

The film tried to “have a heart” by making it seem like the story was really about the struggles of the maids and other workers in Malacañang, but they were just used as tools to deodorize the image of the Marcoses (“Uy! Mabait silang amo!”) who shoved it into our face how they feel so entitled to remain in the PEOPLE’s Palace via this film (that cringe scene where Imelda repeatedly utters the line, “Hindi na tayo makakabalik!” still haunts my ears).

A world where an abhorrent film like Maid in Malacañang exists only reminds me of the other contemptible acts performed by politicians to the minds of our poor voters. Be careful of this deceptive pariah of cinema. It deserves to be awarded 0.5/5. It earned it.

- Paolo Miguel Quimbo