Father Balweg, Rebel Priest (1986)
This documentary on a rebel group in the Philippines delivers a certain amount of propaganda along with inadvertent information on the kinds of issues inherited by President Corazon Aquino's new government in the mid-'80s. The rebel group in question fought dictator Ferdinand Marcos for years and were joined in 1979 by Father Conrado Balweg. One year later, Father Balweg was defrocked for taking up arms against Marcos. After the dictator was deposed and Aquino elected president, she sent a representative (her brother-in-law) to talk to the rebels about their demands. This meeting is recorded in the second half of the documentary. The first half contains the usual stock phrases about Third World problems, and explains little except that this rebel group wants independence from the Philippines for the region they control.
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Stylish but barely mediocre overall
This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.