“Dekada 70” is situated in Marcos era Philippines and centers around a family of seven. There are several important points in this movie including the mother being both central to the family and at the same time a peripheral figure, the mother’s role being similar to that of the revolutionary son, and ordinary people focusing on comparatively minor social problems. The first point is interesting because it highlights the hypocrisy in Filipino culture as portrayed in “Dekada 70”. The mother is the caregiver and link in her family between the father and sons. At the same time, she is dependent on her husband for her livelihood and her family for confidence and self-worth. She is chastised for asking about finding a job even though it would be self-satisfying for her because it implies that the husband, who is obviously successful, failed to provide for the family.
The movie suggests a comparison of the mother, both literally and as an archetypal character, with the revolutionary son. The mother laments that the role of a woman is to suffer for her family, but her daughter-in-law counters her by saying that a woman chooses that hard path. Similarly if we think of the Philippines as a family, the revolutionary son chooses the difficult path of resistance to free the country and prevent the disease of corruption, oppression, neocolonialism, etc. from spreading and overwhelming it. Moving back to the mother, she is similar to the revolutionary son in that she is essentially a one-person insurgency against the patriarchal Filipino family setup. Both choose the difficult path of self-sacrifice for the betterment of a larger group.
In a broader sense, “Dekada 70” addresses an amusing issue which is ordinary people’s focus on minute, localized issues when widespread suffering is omnipresent. In some respects, it shows that people can live in prolonged suffering because it can become too commonplace so that when a much less important, but more uncommon problem arises, such as that of Gani and his girlfriend sleeping together once, people turn their attention to the uncommon problem. On the other hand, when an entire people’s control over their lives is wrested from them, focusing on a small issue can be gratifying because it affirms their hopes that they control their lives. The girlfriend’s parents force Gani to marry her which could reaffirm their belief that even if the whole country is in decline, at least in inter- and intra-familial relations, the parents are still respected and have the authority to carry out judgment.
“Dekada 70” is full of situations where the characters’ ethical views are challenged. The father especially is forced to come to terms with how his life and actions are interconnected with his family’s welfare. Two main examples for this are his relationship with his wife and with his son, Jason, who is murdered by the Marcos security apparatus. Late in the film, the father is presented with what must be a strange dilemma for him. He has to decide whether keeping his status as the head of the household and the authority that goes with it is important enough to deny his wife the opportunity to participate in something that will only add hardship to her life (i.e. a career/job). At the very end, he relinquishes his position so that he can save their marriage which results in her participating in what could be a physically dangerous protest. His relationship with his son is complicated as well because of the son’s opposition to the father’s view of society. After Jason is murdered, the father must decide if his priorities lie with his country (or the government he at one point supported), avenging his son which would be justified but could also lead to more death in his family, or in providing safety to the remaining family. This puts him in a difficult position in relation to the viewer. It is extremely easy to dismiss him as being too weak to stand up to the corrupt regime when in actuality he may be trying to use his high social standing and silence as a form of forsaking the country in order to protect his immediate family. Doing that in the face of a relative’s murder requires a substantial amount of discipline and is also commendable, even if only at the personal level rather than as a national hero.
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