Above The Clouds
the Philippines
Pepe Diokno
Just before Christmas 2011 a big flood hit the Philippines. It struck in the middle of the night. Extremely violent rains caught everyone by surprise. And when the sun rose, over 1,200 people were dead. Thousands of others were homeless or with-out water and electricity. Villages had been entirely swept away, roads and bridges destroyed. It was a desolate landscape invaded by the smell of decaying corpses.
It was a huge tragedy out of which rose a silver lining. Filipinos came together. We saw a community spirit so strong that in just a few days we were already rebuilding what was lost.
Above the Clouds [Alapaap] takes as a starting point the floods, unfortunately not uncommon in Philippines, but seeks nonetheless to transcend this subject.
The film is about a 15-year-old boy, Daniel, who loses both of his parents to these events. He is forced to go live with his estranged grandfather in a province in the north far from the city.
Imagine losing everyone you love. Imagine being robbed of everything you own, then being wrested from your hometown and being sent to a strange place, to live with a man you don't even know.
Daniel becomes withdrawn. He's always on his cell phone; he’s always listening to music through his headphones. Nobody can get through him. No one. Not even his grandfather.
One day Grandfather gets an idea. He shows Daniel photos of Daniel's mother and father hiking up a beautiful, mystical mountain. We see shots of them standing before a crystal-blue lake, walking through century-old woods and, at the peak of the mountain, overloo-king a sea of clouds that stretches as far as the eye can see.
Daniel and Grandfather embark on an overnight hike retracing the steps of Daniel's pa-rents so that Daniel can revive the past and the memory of his family. But when they reach the mountain they find it's totally unlike the pictures. The lake is now dry, the trees have been cut down and the entire place is polluted.
Daniel experiences the journey reluctantly but his Grandfather is adamant in his intentions. Frictions increase. Tensions rise. Then it begins to rain, cutting Grandfather and Da-niel off from civilization, driving them apart and forcing them further up the mountain.
But through the journey, the two eventually both control their mutual agressivity and find each other. They realize they weren't as alone as they thought, that they have a family, even though they felt they had lost everything.
“It doesn’t matter what life takes away from you. Life is what you do with whatever you have left.” say Grandfather to his grandson at the end of the film. Then they find a boulder where the names of Daniel's parents are carved. There’s trash all around. Daniel cleans it up.
“I’m sorry we haven’t left you with much,” says Grandfather. He pulls the boy to him in a tight hug. This is the first time we ever see them embrace.
Grandfather sends Daniel off on his own to explore the peak. The boy runs up a long footpath, and is met by the most amazing sight he’s ever seen: a sea of clouds that stretches to the hori-zon like waves of white dancing in the air covered in a wash of yellow sunlight.
Daniel whistles at Grandfather to let him know that he’s ok. Grandfather whistles back.
It was a huge tragedy out of which rose a silver lining. Filipinos came together. We saw a community spirit so strong that in just a few days we were already rebuilding what was lost.
Above the Clouds [Alapaap] takes as a starting point the floods, unfortunately not uncommon in Philippines, but seeks nonetheless to transcend this subject.
The film is about a 15-year-old boy, Daniel, who loses both of his parents to these events. He is forced to go live with his estranged grandfather in a province in the north far from the city.
Imagine losing everyone you love. Imagine being robbed of everything you own, then being wrested from your hometown and being sent to a strange place, to live with a man you don't even know.
Daniel becomes withdrawn. He's always on his cell phone; he’s always listening to music through his headphones. Nobody can get through him. No one. Not even his grandfather.
One day Grandfather gets an idea. He shows Daniel photos of Daniel's mother and father hiking up a beautiful, mystical mountain. We see shots of them standing before a crystal-blue lake, walking through century-old woods and, at the peak of the mountain, overloo-king a sea of clouds that stretches as far as the eye can see.
Daniel and Grandfather embark on an overnight hike retracing the steps of Daniel's pa-rents so that Daniel can revive the past and the memory of his family. But when they reach the mountain they find it's totally unlike the pictures. The lake is now dry, the trees have been cut down and the entire place is polluted.
Daniel experiences the journey reluctantly but his Grandfather is adamant in his intentions. Frictions increase. Tensions rise. Then it begins to rain, cutting Grandfather and Da-niel off from civilization, driving them apart and forcing them further up the mountain.
But through the journey, the two eventually both control their mutual agressivity and find each other. They realize they weren't as alone as they thought, that they have a family, even though they felt they had lost everything.
“It doesn’t matter what life takes away from you. Life is what you do with whatever you have left.” say Grandfather to his grandson at the end of the film. Then they find a boulder where the names of Daniel's parents are carved. There’s trash all around. Daniel cleans it up.
“I’m sorry we haven’t left you with much,” says Grandfather. He pulls the boy to him in a tight hug. This is the first time we ever see them embrace.
Grandfather sends Daniel off on his own to explore the peak. The boy runs up a long footpath, and is met by the most amazing sight he’s ever seen: a sea of clouds that stretches to the hori-zon like waves of white dancing in the air covered in a wash of yellow sunlight.
Daniel whistles at Grandfather to let him know that he’s ok. Grandfather whistles back.
Support:
Festivals and Awards:
in competition in Tokyo 2014
World Sales:
Doc & Film International