Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars

ISSN: 0007-4810 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/rcra19

“A filmmaker and his film”

Craig Geoffrey Scharlin

To cite this article: Craig Geoffrey Scharlin (1980) “A filmmaker and his film”, Bulletin of
Concerned Asian Scholars, 12:3, 30-32, DOI: 10.1080/14672715.1980.10405585
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.1980.10405585

Published online: 05 Jul 2019.

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 Cinema Review

"A Filmmaker and His Film

MABABANGONG BANGUNGOT, a.k.a. The Per-

fumed Nightmare, Le Cauchemar Parfume, Der Par-
fumierte Alptraum, La Pesadilla Perfumada, a film by
Kidlat Tahimik, formerly Eric de Guia

by Craig Geoffrey Scharlin

I'm writing this review as a new-found devotee of film- Then to my surprise, about a year ago, I noticed quite by
maker Kidlat Tahimik and as an old friend of Eric de Guia. I say accident, an advertisement that the Pacific Film Archives here in
this to layout my prejudices and at the same time to try to Berkeley was showing a film titled The Perfumed Nightmare
explain my amazement at the transformation of Eric de Guia made by one Kidlat Tahimik. I received a phone call the next
into Kidlat Tahimik. day and on the other end was Kidlat/Eric, saying he was in
Throughout a beautiful spring and summer in 1970 Eric Berkeley showing his film and looking for a place to sleep with
and I spent many hours together in Paris, walking the boule- Fraulein Katrina and their son, the real Kidlat Tahimik. In Paris
vards, sitting in open cafes drinking our espressos-most of the when I needed a place to sleep it was Eric who opened his
usual things people do in Paris plus even romping together at a apartment to me, and now, eight years hence, I could return the
bizarre festival held on the outskirts of Paris. Our favorite favor.
meeting place, however, was Eric's apartment on the Ave. de la But the person who came to my house was no longer Eric
Motte Picquet, where Eric had created his own special world. de Guia, suit-and-tie economist and potential candidate for
In those days we talked about a lot of things, even the President of the Philippines, but Kidlat Tahimik, short-cropped,
possibilities of his someday becoming president of the Philip- bowl-shaped lfugao haircut, sandaled feet, old baggy sharkskin
pines. Why not? Eric seemed to possess the proper credentials pants, Ifugao fertility ring hanging round his neck, a shirt that
for such ambitious thoughts: University of the Philippines grad- was old and quite beyond description. The look in his eye and
uate and student body president, Wharton graduate and then a the smile on his face told me immediately that the fire deep
research analyst forthe "prestigious" O.E.C.D. (Organization inside had finally burst out.
of Economic Cooperation and Development). Eric was even a The transformation of Eric to Kidlat, however, did not
friend of former British Prime Minister Wilson's family with completely become clear to me until after I had viewed his film,
whom he stayed in London. Mababangong Bangungot-The Perfumed Nightmare. This is
However, we had other discussions, more often and of a the first film of Kidlat Tahimik who had no formal training in
much more serious nature. We talked about Eric's frustrations filmmaking. The filming took place in early 1975 in the Philip-
working at the O.E.C.D. preparing an extensive analysis of the pines and in Europe. Kidlat readily admits that upon finishing
fertilizer industry of the Philippines. We talked about a play he shooting in the Philippines and departing for Europe with a mass
wanted to write, about a woman he loved in Germany, about his of exposed and undeveloped footage, he really had no idea what
desire to bring a jeepney (Philippine mini-bus) to Paris! A he had captured on film. It was only in the next two years that the
jeepney to Paris? There was a fire burning inside of Eric and it story of Kidlat Tahimik and his perfumed nightmare evolved on
wanted to come out. Eric is short, very dark, with eyes and smile the editing table in Munich, Germany. All the while, Kidlat was
that literally light up a room. He wanted the people of Paris, simultaneously learning the metier of filmmaking.
whom he had grown so fond of, to understand the Filipino spirit Along the way Kidlat Tahimik has made a movie of major
pent up inside him, the one that was crying from deep inside to importance. And this is not said subjectively. The kudos have
come out. Would the jeepney do the trick? poured in from around the world, prizes from international film
Well, I left Paris and didn't see Eric again for eight years. I festivals have already been presented. The Perfumed Nightmare
visited his family in Baguio, Philippines, several times but our had its premier at the Berlin Film Festival on June 25, 1977,
paths seemed to have just missed. I learned from his mother that where it was awarded the "Prix de la Critique Internationale,"
he had quit O.E.C.D., was working on a play and, yes, had by the FIRPRESCI Jury (Federation internationale de la presse
actually taken a jeepney to Paris. cinematographique) composed of eleven film critics. This is the
30
award presented to the most outstanding film by a new film- When you make a feature-length color movie for under
maker. The film also received the Special Mention of the OCIC $10,000 you don't hire actors. The people in the movie are all
(Catholic Jury) at the same festival, as well as the recommenda- just playing themselves and seem to be having as much fun
tion of the Interfilm Jury (Ecumenical). letting Kidlat capture them in their daily routines as Kidlat
But the importance of Kidlat's efforts go far beyond these seems to have making the movie.
fine awards. First, the film was completed with a miniscule In the best sense of cinema verite Kidlat uses a flash-back
budget of about $ 10,000 and a gigantic budget of optimistic to show the day of his own circumcision at the age of 12. To film
energy. One story Kidlat loves to tell his audiences is about how this most remarkable scene Kidlat went back to his father's
his film was talked about at the L.A. Film Festival: "In the barrio in the province of Laguna to photograph the actual scene
Philippines people always say, 'Oh, you have to see this new as it still takes place today in a forest just outside the barrio. By
American flick; it cost $25 million, it's really great!' And then I juxtaposing such varying images as the "Voice of America"
found myself in the heart of American film industry, Holly- permeating the background noise of the barrio with the poignant
wood, where they actually make these $25 million dreams, and circumcision scene, Kidlat helps the viewer better understand
people were saying, 'You've got to see this new Filipino film. It the contradictions that play such an important role in forming
only cost $ 10,000; it's really great.' " the gestalt of today's Filipino.
Kidlat Tahimik has broken all the rules in regard to film- One day Kidlat's dream to visit the "promised land" is
making, and particularly filmmaking in the Philippines, predo- fulfilled. An American buys Kidlat's jeepney to take with him as
minantly Hollywood-oriented, where it is not uncommon today
to see a top-rated Filipino movie stamped "This film was made
in U.S.A." just to increase the box office revenues. By so
doing, he has presented the world with an amazingly original,
engrossing and beautiful work. It would not be too far-fetched to
suggest that The Perfumed Nightmare is the first truly indigen-
ous Filipino movie.
Secondly, by making this movie Kidlat has thrown off his
colonial bonds and given us such a clear and revealing picture of
a Filipino, told by a Filipino, from deep in his heart, that we
cannot help but marvel at his accomplishment. Rarely has an
artist created such an accurate self-portrait.

The film is about a young Filipino, Kidlat, who earns his

living driving a jeepney. The jeepney is the Filipino people's
taxi. Originally made from the thousands of U.S. army jeeps left
in the Philippines after World War 11 by the Americn forces, the
jeepney is one of the best examples of Filipino native genius
adapting to the 20th century. The Filipinos took these discarded
machines used for war and turned them into a most useful social
vehicle. They lengthened the back so many people can pile in
and they decorated the entire vehicle to give it a feeling of life.
F LM FESTIVAL
P S
One of the most memorable scenes in the movie was shot inside cXi-cll~1'=..
the Sarao Jeepney factory in Manila. Possibly the Rolls Royce
factory in England is the only other car company in the world
that still really produces hand crafted bodies. Kidlat's camera A Jeepney. Reproduced from a Tvshirt that was sold by Kidlat to help
takes us on a tour of this most remarkable factory, skillfully defray costs.
blending the melodic beat of Kalintang Ifugao music with the
pounding and shaping of the jeepney body by the Filipino a promotional gimmick and employs Kidlat to accompany him,
craftsmen. Kidlat's voice comments proudly in the background first to Paris and eventually to America. Kidlat is fascinated by
that at the height of the oil crisis, while the production of the modem technology of Paris, where his job is filling up the
international automakers was on the decline, the Sarao jeepney chewing gum machines owned by his American millionaire
factory was increasing its production to a record number of five boss. Kidlat befriends a Parisian street vendor of eggs whom he
vehicles a weekl , calls Lola (Grandmother). She tells him of her fears that she
As the young jeepney driver, Kidlat is obsessed by a dream cannot survive the market that is being flooded by cheap syn-
of visiting America, and especially Cape Canaveral. He always thetic eggs. One day he goes to visit Lola and she is no longer
listens to "Voice of America" on the radio in his barrio, where there. The space where she parked her cart is soon to be de-
he is also president of the Werner Von Braun Fan Club. He molished to make way for an expanding supermarche across the
writes letters to "Dear Mr. Voice of America" requesting "the street!
first words your great American astronaut said when he landed Kidlat also makes a pilgrimage to Germany, the "land of
on the moon." Werner Von Braun," where he helps a pregnant Bavarian wom-
Kidlat's camera follows his jeepney on its daily route an in distress. And finally Kidlat is offered the chance to be the
giving the viewer a most revealing and intimate impression of first Filipino to fly supersonic aboard the Concorde flight from
daily life in a Philippine barrio. Paris to New York.
31
 But little by little Kidlat's colonial-based dream of utopia has obviously been strongly influenced by Herzog; you see it in
becomes a perfumed nightmare . He eventually discovers that in the imagery used in telling his tale, the seriousness of his
the world outside his barrio there are plenty of supermarkets and political statements and his humor.
supertechnologies but no superparadise. Kidlat Tahimik has woven his amazing tale around two
sayings which are spoken and symbolically reenacted through-
Kidlat Tahimik has not made a film that deals with political out the film. "You are the master of your vehicle; only you can
issues per se. If you are looking for a film that talks directly tell it where to go" is played out by Kidlat, jeepney driver par
about martial law in the Philippines, the effects of Western excellence, and his Sarao jeepney: a Filipino Don Quixote with
imperialist exploitation on a third world country, malnutrition, the jeepney for his trusted steed. But in this tale, the windmills,
revolutionary political organizations or even nuclear power those illusory foes of fear and misunderstanding most of us
plants being built on the side of an active volcano, you are not spend our lives battling against, are the images of a Filipino's
going to find it in The Perfumed Nightmare. Kidlat's film is a colonial-life mentality. Kidlat takes us along on his quest to be
personal tale about the growth and change of one individual. the master of his own vehicle .
This is not to say however that The Perfumed Nightmare is The second saying, "When the typhoon blows off its
apolitical. Far from it. Kidlat seems to be acutely aware of the cocoon, the butterfly embraces the sun," comes from a Filipino
environment in the Philippines he is photographing. He never folk tale, and becomes a fulfilled prophecy for Kidlat. Born Eric
misses the most subtle nuances which his shots of the Philip- de Guia in 1942, he continued to sleep in his cocoon of Ameri-
pines contrast markedly with his shots in Europe, which seem a canized dreams for "33 typhoon seasons." By making this film,
bit staged and stylized. Kidlat can comment most perspicuously the sleeping typhoon learned to blow again . Kidlat says , "See-
on martial law by photographing a marching contingent of ing myself on the editing table screen , forwards, backwards, a
uniformed public nurses and commenting that everyone is rep- thousand times, a hundred thousand times, I began to under-
resented in this parade-even "those who promote uniform- stand the nature of my perfumed nightmare." Thus, Eric de
ity." Another example of Kidlat's skillful eye and use of the Guia found himself reborn as Kidlat Tahimik. He has seen the
understatement to highlight a political and economic reality reality of his dreams , his colonial-formed mind's-eye image of
happens while Kidlat is relieving himself next to his jeepney just the world . But Kidlat was not destroyed by what he saw. By the
off the highway. The camera zooms back to reveal a large typhoon forces of the tale he has told he has been liberated and
billboard just across the road with the familiar American cow- now can embrace the sun, his Filipino spirit.
boy and the slogan "Marlboro Country" printed in enormous To put it quite simply , Kidlat Tahimik has made one hell of
letters . a film. Unfortunately, because of the uniqueness of the product,
The Perfumed Nightmare , as a highly symbolic moral play, most distributors are unwilling to "take a chance" with it and it
has the audacity to have a good time with some very serious is unlikely to be viewed in most U.S. cities. Since it was the
political issues. The American businessman, played by Kidlat's surprise hit at the Berlin and L.A. film festivals and has been
lanky German cameraman, is attired in the scenes in the Philip- favorably screened several times at the Pacific Film Archives in
pines in long black knee socks, khaki shorts, a smallish ranger Berkeley*, as well as highly praised by director Francis Ford
hat and "shades." Over 6' 3" tall, the American entrepreneur- Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now), the film will be
his legs literally pushing his bony white knees right out of distributed by Coppola's production/distribution company
Kidlat's jeepney as he rides to Manila with Kidlat and a jeepney Zoetrope. It is possible to obtain a copy of The Perfumed
filled with an assortment of people and animals- is poignantly Nightmare by contacting Tom Luddy at Zoetrope Studios, 916
comical. The entire scene becomes hilarious when the Ameri- Kearny St., San Francisco, 94133 .
can, for comfort, chooses to ride on an old rickety bamboo cart Kidlat has mentioned that The Perfumed Nightmare might
being pulled by the jeepney. The Australian film critic Mari be his first and last film. He is still in the process of deciding
Kuttna has compared Kidlat's style to that of the young Buster whether or not filmmaking in itself is a perfumed nightmare . But
Keaton and in scenes such as this Kidlat's satirical genius is if he decides to make another film, ideas will not be lacking, for
most evident. Kidlat is fascinated by the Filipino native genius . He loves to
Before making The Perfumed Nightmare Kidlat had as- mention during a conversation and often as a parting salutation,
sociated with the German filmmaker Werner Herzog and has "Who invented the yo-yo? Who invented the moon buggy?"
even appeared in Herzog's Kaspar Hauser in a cameo role as a For those readers not up on such matters, both were invented by
roving minstrel. His performance was unique because in it Filipinos. Currently, Kidlat is following up the true story of a
Kidlat plays the Ifugao nose flute, one of the most hauntingly Filipino expatriate living in Poland, a genius at designing and
beautiful of instruments, in what must be the only exposure of building airplanes and other wonderful things out of bamboo .
this indigenous Filipino instrument to the Western world. Kidlat Sound improbable? No more so than a film about a jeepney
driver who dreams that someday he will truly be the master of
his own vehicle . Kidlat Tahimik's dreams, the dreams of dis-
covering a true Filipino spirit, are worth thinking about. "*
* Since Berlin the film has been shown at the following festivals: La Rochelle,
Locarno, Edinburgh, San Sebastian, Toronto, Rotterdam, Johannesburg . Prix
de l'Age d'Or of Brussels, Thames (London), Belgrade, San Remo Festival de
Film d'Autour, Carthage, L.A . International, Havana International Festival for
Young People's Cinema and Hong Kong International.
32