SANTIAGO, FRANCENE CHIARA C.

HUMAART C39
11344458
MARCH 17,
2015
IRONY OF ART AND WASTE IN ANG BABAE SA SEPTIK TANK
Art can be interpreted differently, furthermore, one may see merely
nothing in an abstract painting but some can a see an image or even a
different picture. Thinking about it, art has been represented in the different
means; through film, photography, paintings, music and such. Moreover, art
has been used to express what one may feel and I think this is the reason
why they incorporated waste in the film Ang babae sa septik tank. Indie
films are one of the means of producers and filmmakers in voicing a strong
message on a certain issue of the society. In this particular movie, they have
used garbage wastes and a septic tank as a symbol for one thing, Poverty.
The film Walang wala or Nothing has three main filmmakers. The
director, Ranier, and the Producer, Bing Bong, has agreed to make the film
they are making as real as possible and believable. With this in mind in
connection to poverty, they included scenes in the film where the mother,
Mila, is going to sell his own son because of the insufficiency their family is
experiencing. Mila sees this as a means of resolution but then, she cries and
regrets her decision. It is very witty for the director to use waste and septic
tank as a symbol of the Third World. There was also a scene in the film where
both the director and producer agreed that the role of Eugene Domingo, Mila,
is considered to be dirt-poor and as literal as it may seem, they really meant
dirt poor. Mila lived in the shanties surrounded by mountainous garbage
waste, commonly known as Mt. Payatas or Smoky Mountain. But where did
the third filmmaker participate? Jocelyn, the assistant of the producer, was
basically out of the picture. She was physically there but she was never
heard, she never spoke and the time she reacted, nobody listened. Its as if
she was treated as garbage.
Focusing on another point, there was a scene in the film where the
filmmakers where on-site to see whether it was the perfect location fitting for
their film. When they went back, Bing Bongs car was dismantled. Then
something came into my mind. Just because they were in the shanties,
people there are going to rob them? And I understood that they interpret
people from the shanties as garbage as well.
Moving on, in the latter part of the film where Eugene Domingo was
trying her best to avoid the scene where she had to swim in a septic tank,
she accidentally falls and in the end, she swims at the septic tank. Indie film,
as I stated earlier, tends to be more realistic. By incorporating this scene in

the movie where she actually swims in the septic tank, the viewers are able
to feel this grossness of the dirt filled tank and smell the stomach-twisting
stench of the tank. With this, the art interpreting poverty is very well
represented. It maybe gross but through this, the aspiring director and film
producer were able to relay the authenticity of the life of these people living
in the shanties. They experience the stench every single day. As for the
irony, art can be shown in different ways; even through a septic tank.