The Rapture of Fe (Ang Panggagahasa kay Fe): A Cinemalaya Entry Sneak Peek

Cinemalaya is a film festival held yearly to celebrate, promote and help grow the independent film industry in the Philippines. It has been successfully growing in popularity since its inception five years ago and is now considered to be one of the biggest film festivals in the country. The setup: grant $10,000 to ten independent film makers. Directors, writers and what-not submit their scripts and only ten scripts will be chosen. So you can say, that the films selected are the best of the bunch for a given year and the quality and caliber of scripts and plots are top notch. It has always been a dream for us to attend Cinemalaya - unlucky for us, we never had the time nor opportunity to do so. As fate may have it, we got invited to a screening of one of the entries - "The Rapture of Fe"("Ang Panggagahasa kay Fe"). Click read more to find out more about our experience with "The Rapture of Fe".

"The Rapture of Fe" centers around Fe (Irma Adlawan). Every morning, Fe mysteriously receives a basket of black fruits. Thinking these are from her abusive husband Dante (Nonie Buencamino), she tells this to him. Unfortunately, this was not from Dante and this only quells his suspicions of Fe having a secret lover. Day by day, the basket comes closer to their doorstep and Fe decides to keep this to herself to avoid Dante getting mad. One day, Fe turns to her former suitor Arturo (TJ Trinidad). When Fe tries to persuade Arturo to elope with her, she discovers that Arturo has other plans for their family business and denies her request. Caught between an abusive husband and a suitor who has different plans, Fe has to decide - will she turn to the mysterious suitor who might just be a figment of her imagination or will she stay with the real men in her life who cannot give her the love or happiness she craves?

"The Rapture of Fe" is a relief for us. Knowing how constricted Philippine cinema can be, it is a refreshing feeling to see how independent films can go beyond the usual homosexual theme. The film was good despite knowing that they had a very tight budget in doing it. Although some scenes made us feel out of place, most of it was gripping. The acting was superb especially with the character of Fe so props to Irma Adlawan. For us, a first showing is not enough to grasp the significance of major scenes and that is one quality that great films have - knowing that it could stand a second, a third and any subsequent showings while people can still learn something new. It is a film that gives something back - a movie that actually tries to make you think and ponder about women, about society, about our intrepid country and maybe just about how you perceive life and happiness. "The Rapture of Fe" might not be for everyone especially those who are mainly interested in mainstream films. We could clearly see why this is one of the scripts that were picked up – the movie allows you to give it your own interpretation and explore possible meanings of the scenes presented. So why not jump in and escape to the world of Fe?



We highly encourage everyone to attend the Cinemalaya film festival coming this July at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. "The Rapture of Fe" is only one of ten entries selected for the full-length category.

For tickets/reservations for "The Rapture of Fe", please contact Alemberg Ang at 09178110217 or 09228992536. Tickets will cost a hundred a pop and proceeds will be donated to the Women's Crisis Center. Visit their official site here.

Do not forget that you can subscribe for FREE to our RSS Feed via Email

You can also follow us at our Twitter Account by clicking here

You can also add our site toolbar for FREE by clicking here