Yanggaw

Yanggaw is an Ilonggo term meaning ‘to convert to being a witch or aswang’. If used as a noun, yanggaw means ‘a new convert; a new witch or aswang’. Technically, yanggaw connotes witchery and must be used sparingly and in private conversations or in whispers only. However, lately, the term has evolved into a common idiom which is used openly in jest. It loosely means ‘to convert’, or ‘a convert’ without the aswang connotation. So, a new member of a group of drinking buddies can be referred to as a yanggaw; or a new member of a barkada is a new yanggaw. Similarly, somebody who has just been addicted to smoking or to a new Boy Band is said to be na-yanggaw.

Yanggaw is also the title of an indie movie currently being talked about in Iloilo. The movie has earned awards and citations and is especially popular among the students from the elementary to the graduate school.

But unlike other indie (for independent, or a movie made outside any major film studio) movies, Yanggaw is not about sex, sexuality, and sex organs. Yanggaw is about culture, traditions, and beliefs which may clash with modern day living.

But what makes Yanggaw a hit in Iloilo is that, it is a mainstream Philippine movie that depicts a slice of Ilonggo provincial life. And most of all, the movie was dubbed in Ilonggo and is topbilled by Ilonggo actors.

It is a story about a yanggaw in a rural baranggay which is, based on the names of places in the movie, somewhere between the municipalities of Oton and Tigbauan. And possibly, it is a story common in many Philippine rural towns told in a hush and only to trusted friends, lest the ire of the concerned is stoked. Or worse, the rumour monger gets the sinister attention of the real aswang and the aswang stalks him (the rumour monger) till he dies of fear or from loss of blood after being disemboweled or dismembered by the aswang before he is turned into sushi or dinuguan.

Yanggaw, as the title connotes, is a horror movie. But unlike other horror movies, it does not use heavy make-up, prosthetics, zombies, alien creatures, and ghosts which tend to be hilarious rather than horrifying. It does not need an expert make-up artist or a cinematic engineer to create an aswang. An aswang is just any common folk around us. He or she can even be the person sitting beside you right now. Yanggaw creates fear through implied scenes and situations which become vivid in the viewers’ imaginations. It is a researched movie, playing on the aswang image and derring-do as cultivated in the Filipino psyche through years of story telling from childhood to adulthood. Scenes are made real by terminologies like ‘buyag’ (means ‘the ire of evil spirits’), which were long lost after the aswang-believing generation has died or has been eaten by the ghost of alzheimer’s.

I like the movie, not necessarily because of its technical aspects, but on its way of unravelling the story and its ability to capture the attention of the viewer from start to finish with feelings of non-stop excitement and anticipation. The dialogue is simple and real, with no flowery lines of written prose. The scenes are heart-rending especially to a family person. The line ‘a face only a mother can love’ pertaining to a super ugly baby is truly reflected in the movie. A father will do whatever he can, even to kill another person, just to protect his child, even if his child is a known aswang. Parents will never abandon their child, even if they know that their child is an aswang. And to do the extreme of killing his aswang child , a father will do it but with the welfare of his child in his mind. ‘Patya na lang ko, Tay’, the daughter implores her father because she is an aswang, a beast. The father will do it, but will first advice the daughter in a fatherly tone to first close her eyes. ‘Piyunga lang mata mo’, so the child will not see death coming. And death will be sudden with no pain at all to the aswang.

Ti malantaw na kamo Yanggaw?

The first time I uploaded this post, I included an internet version of the movie which I found by sheer patience. But I took it out for professional reasons. Instead I placed a YouTube version of the trailer. Anyway, you still can find the internet version if you really search for it, and if it was not yet taken out.

The internet version is free. But please help the Philippine indie movie industry. For many of you who are abroad and who can not watch personally the movie in its commercial screening, please advice your kins in the Philippines to watch Yanggaw in its commercial run. Or if they prefer the VCD version, please advice your kins to buy the original copies and NOT the pirated ones.

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