A SHORT FILM ABOUT THE INDIO NACIONAL (OR THE PROLONGED SORROW OF FILIPINOS)

One of the most ambitious Filipino films in the last decade, Martin’s gorgeously photographed Indio Nacional is a collection of silent film actualities revolving around the Indio, the common man during colonial times. Set in the 1890s brewing revolution of Filipinos against Spain and follows the life of an Indio in three different phases. A loving historical tribute, it tells the story of a child church bell-ringer torn between his duties to the Spanish state and as a Filipino, then a pubescent caught in the growing pressures of the revolution, and finally an actor in a rural community escaping his troubled soul. Running at 96 minutes, this silent film invokes the atmosphere and nostalgia of the forgotten era of silent films.