A standout stepping stone in the Philippine animation landscape, ‘Iti Mapupukaw’ despite being a patchy project, is a labor of care from Carl Papa and his team in presenting healing amidst trauma that showcases the local animation scene thriving in its own way.
Spoilers include: Iti Mapupukaw, Omori
The stories of traumatic experiences from people’s childhoods now told in their adulthood have been a turning point of discussion regarding how parents and relatives must treat and interact with children who rely on their families to learn how to grow up in this oppressive world. Perhaps there is a reason why people tend to dive into childlike backdrops as a way to escape their reality and their trauma - mostly because that’s the point in time where their imagination and wonderment are at their peak that puts them into their own safe space - hence why one of their major comfort zones are in the space of animation, a medium that relies on a team of animators and their vision on expounding worldbuilding that is not just visually appealing, but also emotionally resonant for a lot of people. Yet there is something to be said about how it’s viewed and treated, especially in the Philippines where despite notable albeit patchy 2D and 3D works by local animators, it didn’t flourish in the same way. And it’s easy to point out why, for three reasons: lack of industry backing that if convinced will allow these animated works to be pushed to multiple venues and provide a bigger promotional net to gather dozens and dozens of people, the downplaying of creative careers from families and industries, and the few and far between opportunities for animators to grow in the local space.
Circling both topics into one, ‘Iti Mapupukaw’ is an animated landmark amidst the tidal wave of social and cultural snobbery to the local animation scene, the first full-length animated film to premiere at Cinemalaya that won Best Film and the NETPAC award a few months after, and is the official Oscars 2024 representative despite the unfortunate chance to be in the shortlist dozens of weeks after. Presented mostly in Ilokano, English, and Tagolog, the film's overall animated backdrop has a lot of care within and one where the differing aesthetics play a role in Iti Mapupukaw’s internal narrative. Utilizing rotoscope techniques with a washed-out rendering contrasts with the 2D animated moments with a child-like imaginative flair; both animated aesthetics present the reality and the fantasy of Eric’s perspective from present and past, the former dealing with his trauma and the latter recounting his experience.
It’s worth noting the metaphors that were used to explore Eric’s personal journey of dealing with trauma and the recovery that comes afterward: Eric’s fascination with sci-fi imagery presented through child drawings; bits and pieces of his own body slowly turning away from him that present the trauma taking away his senses; and his imagination that’s blurring together with his reality are consistent thematic shards shown throughout the movie that then works altogether to invest to its crushing moments of anxious awareness that is then projected to Eric’s crumbling state of mind, from disappearing to places unknown to cowering from that source of trauma time to time even despite Carlo and Rosalinda’s constant worrying about what’s going on.
The film explores the dicey discussion of childhood abuse in a hushed way, where, providing an open book into Eric’s viewpoint is intended for the viewer to know and understand Eric’s harrowing experience despite his inability to tell his story to those that he trusts, yet the execution of this mediation is rather shaky. Perhaps it has something to do with the dialogue that doesn’t gel well with the great performances from Carlo Aquino, Gio Gahol, Dolly De Leon, where it gets rather stilted, especially in the third half; the rotoscope art style that does get jarring at patches, not helping with the unfortunate timing where this art style has been replicated to death by lousy AI generation; and as much as the metaphors and motifs are well placed to make this story land, the fact that the audience themselves are the only one’s who can capture the trauma Eric tells and not have Precy’s presence in the room that may perhaps actually have a similar experience as Eric does create a distancing effect on this tangled story. Interestingly enough, that last point of phrase is reminiscent of a certain game that has precisely similar thematic explorations of trauma - more on grief and guilt rather than abuse, but trauma nonetheless - through imaginative dreamscape with just the same conclusion as this film goes to, Omori. Where, the inclusion of other voices who can resonate with that trauma makes its tangled feelings feel starker, pulling the player deeper into its narrative where the climax and conclusion effectively land with a gut punch.
There is compassion and comfort within ‘Iti Mapupukaw’ and its portrayal of traumatic abuse for those whose source of that trauma is now gone, leading to a much-complicated road for them to find their reclamation of self and the peaceful resolution for that eventual healing. The ambition from themes and animation alone is worth respecting, even if parts of that alongside dull writing create a distance on how much the film can connect despite all of its good intentions to show empathy and kindness to those who have similar experiences with what Eric experienced in his own story. Still, what ‘Iti Mapupukaw’ does succeed is enough to highlight the thriving state of the local animation industry whilst presenting a tangled discussion of trauma with enough consideration and thought for it to be worth checking out nonetheless.