Filipiñana.     2 1/2 suns

Filipiñana from the Philippines was one of my least favorite films so far.  The movie is set in an exclusive country club in the Philippines and is all about the rich taking advantage of the poor and separation of the classes. We follow young Isabel who is a tee girl at the country club, (That’s a person who places the golf ball on the tee for the rich members. ) She admires the president of the club and spends much time trying to return a lost golf club to him.  The caddies at the club are exclusively women. The film puts on full display the patriarchal nature of this society and how the wealthy minority are taking advantage of the poor farmers by taking their land.  There is a hint of the violence in this country, but we never actually see it.  The movie is filled with scenes of little dialogue and static camera shots that seem to stretch on forever.  It is all about injustice but is so subtle in its approach I found it hard to detect.  Sometimes a movie can leave too much up to the imagination of the viewer.