Why Cardinal Tagle endorses indie movie ‘Boses'
Has Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle gone from a papabile to a movie endorser?
The charismatic archbishop of Manila was generous enough to give his “blessing” to “Boses,” a 2008 small-budget movie about the rebirth and the power of friendship between a gifted boy and a reclusive violinist.
“It is not only reflective of some of the important concerns that we are facing in families, especially the plight of our children. It is also a story of redemption, how God can use friendship, compassion and music to restore our broken hearts and spirit,” Tagle said in the weekly TV program “The Word Exposed.”
After receiving three minute-standing ovation in Cinemalaya where it was first screened in 2008, the film by Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil has been exhibited in various international film festivals worldwide.
Growing support
Another endorsement for the movie came from Fr. Gregg Banaga, Jr., president of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP).
In a memo circulated through the Superintendents, School Heads and Presidents of all CEAP schools, Banaga wrote that the movie “tries to respond to the problem of child abuse being suffered silently by many Filipino youth. The educational aspect of the movie which is to be used as an instructional tool for students from the Upper Grades to College prompted us to support it wholeheartedly.”
"[Boses was] specially moving and value-laden film. I was in tears many times, so clean and well told,” veteran broadcast journalist Cheche Lazaro, meanwhile, was quoted as saying.
The movie stars first-time actors and real-life violinists Coke Bolipata and Julian Duque, Cherry Pie Picache, Ricky Davao and Meryll Soriano.
Upon watching the film at the Riverside Theater in London last June, psychologist Margie Holmes related that the movie demonstrates how music—which she underscored as accessible to everyone regardless of social status—can help people rise above painful circumstances.
“The film shows that it’s possible to recover. It doesn’t matter how much or how little education you have, how much or how little family support you have. That’s why it’s a wonderful movie for me.”
Five years after it was made, “Boses” is finally set for commercial release nationwide through SM Cinemas starting July 31.
