SUMBANG: The Origin Myth of a Mother’s Love
This is a story that I have always wanted to tell.
My mother told me stories about her hometown to put me to sleep when I was a kid… of a golden turtle and a spell that can separate the rain… of the Parimanis, a spell of absolute beauty… and of Puring, her pure and enchanted hometown at the end of Palawan island.
I would ask more stories from my relatives whenever they visited Manila. They told me of the great invisible giant dog, the Dongon, which protected the enchanted forest; of our Ancestors’ powerful magic—of lethal blowguns that could freeze the blood of a ship full of invaders; of our great Shaman-Kings who protected our land; of a forbidden love that defied tradition; of a simple spell that protected the feet from the poisonous spines of the stonefish; and a promise to the Diwata, the spirit of the islands, that was broken when my mother left for the city.
Upon graduation from the University of the Philippines, I returned to my mother’s hometown of Puring, located in the remote south-westernmost point of the Philippines. When I returned to my roots I learned that my Mother belongs to the indigenous Palaw’an people who have been isolated from the modern world, creating a culture that is so distinct, full of magic with original stories that their history is yet to be told. I also learned that my mother came from a lineage of Tungkuls, the Shaman-Kings, that we were like “royalty”, respected by the Palawan people for they ruled the Southern Palawan Islands in Ancient Times. I also realized that I come from the first generation of Palawanons not born in the tribal land and that a well of knowledge and ancient tradition opened itself up to me.
So I asked the elders, “What is our Origin Myth?” And they told me that the first story was about a mother who survived the great Deluge by climbing the highest mountain. She was pregnant, and she gave birth to a son…. Since there were no more people, she asked the Ampuh, the Weaver of the Universe, if she could mate with her son… So that there can be people once again. And that is the Sumbang, which should never happen again. That is why Mothers love their sons too much.
I knew one day I had to tell these stories, that is why I decided to make films.
In making this film, I shall recreate a time of isolation and innocence, of great magic and a culture that is almost gone, of stories that is almost forgotten, and how its own people and the country’s political history contributed to its eventual fall from grace. It is a film that will fulfill a promise by my Ancestors to the spirits of the islands, that no children of their children will ever leave Palawan.
Even though I grew up in the city, it’s as if I grew up in Palawan itself through my mother’s stories. Through my film “Sumbang”, I shall re-live my mother’s world, as if she and I never left Palawan and by this, fulfill a promise made by my Ancestors.
Sumbang is my film for the Palaw’an people… for my Ancestors… for my Mother.
Sumbang is the story of a forgotten people. Our Presence becomes our history!
My mother used to tell me that the chants were sung from twilight till dawn and these, she says, were her “movies”. She would imagine each myth in her mind and wait each night for another myth to be retold. Perhaps now, as a modern filmmaker with an ancient lineage, it is my turn to retell these stories and visualize them through film. This film is my film.
My Ancestors were Palawan.
I am Palawan.
This is my Birthright!
Palawan Magic
Director’s notes on his dream film “ Sumbang (Deluge)”
By Auraeus Solito/Kanakan-Balintagos
What is Palawan Magic?
The Palawan developed a special kind of magic to deal with any conceivable problem that may come in their life’s journey. The Tungkul, Palawan’s Shaman-King, would dream of solutions when needed and great magic came with this dreams.
Palawan as a place and Palawan as a people.
The people of Palawan are also called Palawan. Palawan as a landscape; Palawan as a tribe. The Landscape and the People are one. Man is one with nature. When man is one with nature, Nature respects man. Man respectfully talks to nature, nature follows. The Palawan landscape is composed of pristine islands, sandbars, rainforests and mangroves surrounded by brackish lakes and the vast sea. That is why the Palawan people developed great magic that is needed in the great Palawan landscape.
Framing Palawan Magic
The poetry of nature with man is the main theme of this film. The film is separated into two parts like two floating bridges made out of ropes and bamboos connected by trees; the first bridge is when magic existed, and the second one is when it diminishes.
In the first part is when the Shaman-King rules the islands—man is still one with nature and nature with man. All scenes will be still to show stasis or the order of things. Each Palawan character is framed within the vast Palawan landscape, to show the indigenous people’s oneness with his environment. Even at night, we see the vast landscape through the windows of their huts. Man and nature are doing their part. The camera is nature’s eye, minimal and natural.
In the second part, when the children start to abuse the magic passed to them by their father, the Shaman-King, man dominates the frame, or tries to, but Nature tries to fight back. Sometimes we see the Tungkul’s children up close with Nature in the background, but sometimes they are insignificant, with the landscape dominating the screen and man seeming miniscule amidst the vast nature. There is disorder. Man and nature are fighting each other; the magic given by nature to the Shaman-King are not being used the way they should be by his children.
In the end, total chaos takes over and a stronger force—History—rules over both man and nature. When the deluge of the military takeover comes in and the magic is lost, the camera takes a life of its own and moves in a chaotic way. We hardly see man and nature anymore; machine guns, helicopters and military uniforms dominate the screen instead. The power that is beyond their lost magic is overpowering. Man amidst History is helpless. When the islands are taken over by the dictatorship thru Martial Law, nature becomes just a resource. Nature is seized by History.
The Palawan, both man and nature, is swept away by History.
Magic as poetic image.
The Magic in this film will be unlike the Western way of portraying “super powers’. There won’t be any grand special effects or computer generated magic. Instead, magic will be portrayed as a poetic image.
I shall go back to a time of innocence, when cinema was simple and untainted by the Western dominance of their technology. Instead, I will use what old magicians called “sleight of hand”. In this case, I will be playing with the concept of the seen and the unseen, of believability and unbelievability, which is the basis of magic. You do not see magic, but when things happen that is magical, you believe it.
For Palawan magic is poetic… a spell of absolute beauty, a dart from a blowgun that can wipe off an entire race, a charm to become a child once again, a prayer to make the rain part, and the secret name of the stonefish.
Parimanis, the Spell of Absolute Beauty
Absolute Beauty is Faceless.
This magic is invoked on the full moon. Like the moon, Luming becomes faceless and illuminates the night. That is why Juano will call her Illuminada when he baptizes her to become a Christian like him. When she is taken over by this absolute power, she seduces the first teacher who comes to her homeland. She ends up having two men in her wings. She becomes a metaphor of the Philippines itself, colonized by the Spanish thru religion and by the Americans thru education.
Sepuko Banar, the Most Lethal Dart
The Best defense is Death.
The Sepuko or Palawan Blowgun is a 4-foot bamboo blowgun used for hunting. When invaders from other islands started attacking the Palawan, the Shaman-King dreamt of a poison so lethal it could kill a whole shipload of people with just one dart. When Puasan, expecting to be Tungkul’s rightful heir, instead receives only one magic, the sacred blowgun becomes his weapon of revenge and a path of carcasses and, eventually, mythical beasts go his way.
Dua Bata-Bata, the Charm of Youth & Innocence
Youth is preservation of Culture.
The chanting of the stories of a people is its oral history. When Sadya the chanter is eclipsed by her sister’s absolute beauty, she falls from grace. She rebukes her talents and decides to become a child forever. By being a child she is loved by everyone more than her sister who is desired by men. When she becomes a child we do not see the process through Western standards of transformations, instead we see the simplicity of an older woman coming down from the top of a hut and a child at the end of the steps. But when she needed to convince her Father, the Tungkul, to remember who he is, she becomes all the ages of man—a baby, a young child, a teenager and an adult—and chants once again.
Dua Culambo, the Prayer to Separate Rain
The Best Offence is Stillness.
When Buning, the only son to the Shaman King’s second wife refused a greater magic, the control of the Dongon, the dog-like beast that protects the forests, we see a humble character accepting his own fear of power. He instead receives a lesser magic: a prayer to part the rain. We see Buning amidst the monsoon, dry and untouched by rain. But even humility has its limits. When he discovers that his mother was seduced, humiliated and “magically raped” by the Tungkul, he joins forces with his brother Puasan and helps him find a way to kill the Dongon and face his fear. Killing the Dongon is a metaphor for killing the Father.
The Secret Name of the Stonefish
The Weakest magic can be the Strongest.
When the Tungkul dreams that his beloved youngest child will die from the poison of a stonefish, he furtively teaches her the secret name of the fish whose poison can kill a young child. When she refuses to participate in the parting of magic, one magic is not passed, thus no one controls the Dongon. Instead she exiles herself and crosses the great sandbars, assured that she will not be poisoned by the stonefish when the tide is at its lowest. A simple magic, a magic that drives away harm; a magic that will eventually help her tribe to cross the vast seas in their exile as a people.
The Mythical Beasts
Nature as Magic
There is a triad of magical creatures that protect the Palawan’s universe: The Dongon, the invisible giant dog-like beast that protects the forests; the Santo, the golden sea turtle that swims the brackish mangrove lakes; and the unnamed Albino Alligator that maintains the ephemeral magic reality of the islands. Again, portraying these mythical beasts will be unlike the Western way. Instead, what will be seen are the simplicity of giant footprints in the forests for the Dongon; intense light reflected on a real sea turtle to make it golden; and a still white alligator in a cave with shafts of light coming from the outside. In the end, when the brothers succeed in killing two of these beasts, we only see the visible giant bones amidst the burning forest and the white hide of the alligator’s skin on the wall of a cave.
The Palawan Universe: Seven higher plates and Seven lower plates
A magical worldview of different realities existing together
The Palawan believes that the Universe is made out of plates; seven higher worlds and seven lower worlds. Man exists within these worlds. In making this film, I shall show a reality that is unlike the Latin American concept of magic realism or the epic storytelling of Western mythology or the catharsis of Shakespearean tragedy. There are elements that are similar but essentially, I shall go back to the stories that my mother told me to put me to sleep when I was a child—about her family, the great magic and the land that my ancestors had and later lost, and how we will reclaim it through Cinema!
SUMBANG (DELUGE) by Auraeus Solito
Logline, Tagline and Synopsis
* LOGLINE:
An old Shaman-King has a dream in which his people are completely destroyed. To prevent this from happening in reality, he decides to pass his magic on, dividing it up and giving it to his five children. But as the children’s own desires come into play, the life they have known comes closer and closer to the old man’s premonition.
* TAGLINE:
Love and History is beyond Magic!
*SYNOPSIS:
For a long time there was only one Tungkul, the shaman-king , who ruled the remote and pristine Palawan islands, the South-Westernmost point of the Philippines . But when the Tungkul dreams of a great deluge that will wipe the Palawan tribe off the face of the earth, he attempts to avert the disaster by dividing his great magic among his five children. His eldest son, Puasan, receives the Sepuko-banar, the blowgun whose poison dart can kill a hundred men with one blow. His eldest daughter, Luming, learns the spell of absolute beauty, the Parimanis. The middle daughter, Sadya the chanter, receives the gift of the Dua bata-bata, the spell of eternal youth. To Buning, the son of his second wife, he gives the spell of the Dua-Culambo, a spell to separate the rain. And to Agis, his youngest child, he gives the protective spell, the secret name of the stonefish. After passing his magic, the Tungkul retreats to the Mountains of Forgetting.
Meanwhile, each child uses the magic received in his or her own way. Luming, with her absolute beauty, enthralls two outsiders, both of whom she marries, breaking ancient tribal tradition. The brothers, Puasan and Buning, join forces to kill the Dongon, an enchanted invisible giant dog that protects the land, so they can transform the enchanted forest to ricefields. Sadya achieves eternal youth so she can chant the stories of her people for eternity, and Agis, dismayed, exiles herself by crossing the great sandbars untouched by the lethal poison of the stonefish. When the former Tungkul returns from the Mountains of Forgetting, everything is in chaos!
With the abuse of their magic their powers diminish, leaving themselves vulnerable to the outside world. Martial Law is declared by Dictator of the Philippines and the troops approach… this is beyond their magic!
