Customer Reviews

Imelda - Power, Myth, Illusion

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Altho an American, I lived in the Philippines 1977-1980, 1985-1986 and 1996-1997. I consider the Philippines my second country.

I know what it is to live under martial law 24/7/365 for three years during the peak-power years of the Marcoses. It is from this personal background that I viewed the documentary "Imelda."

First the positive. It was welcome to see Imelda go about her routine day to day to get some insights about who she is, what she is about, and try to compare that with the thoughts and feelings that I have from living in the Philippines and seeing her in the press in its various forms across the years as well as from reading the Philippine News here in the U.S. for many years. Just this aspect makes this documentary well worth watching.

The negative. Nothing I saw in the documentary caused me to significantly alter my perceptions of who and what she is about. Ms. Marcos has a nearly supernatural case of well-polished denial (how do you know that she is lying? -- her lips are moving). She achieved unprecedented levels of fame as First Lady to the President of the Philippines, but may have become even much more famous as a result of the Marcoses fall from power, when their methods caught up with them.

Sadly, a second generation of Marcoses is involved in politics too with apparent intentions of "carrying out a family tradition."

Overall the documentary provides Imelda more time to use her charms on the viewer and does not provide equal time to opposing views. The commentary piece that was required to be stripped out of the film by Imelda prior to its release may have attempted to provide some balance to what viewers take away from the work. The mere fact that Imelda let the project push through,, albeit with her stipulations, suggests that it shows her in an advantageous way.

I strongly encourage all who want to watch this to carefully compare the statements by those who have been political prisoners duing the Marcos years to those of Imelda -- I think you will find the gap to be predictably wide, but by doing this may find some balance between the official Imeldific version and the political prisoners' version of truth.

Never has a documentary been so mezmerizing as Imelda. The documentary gives an inside look to one of living history's engaging and influential ladies. This has more to offer than her wide shoe collection, trace her majestic beauty captured on screen. Even Catherine Zeta Jones hails herself as the next Imelda Marcos.

The documentary itself was almost not able to see the day of light when Madame Imelda tried to halt its screening in the Philippines, but later on gave in provided that the word documentary be stripped out from the feature.

Up till now, she has a way to place you under her trance, be entralled and become one of her loyalistas. Highly recommended.

Oscar missed out on a great feature. what a shame.

Having grown up in the Philippines at the height of the Marcos years, it's amazing to see Imelda being, well, Imelda. She's brilliant and, it seems, entirely mad.

For all the criticism she and her husband recieved, they certainly did so much for the Philippines...certainly far more than anyone since or prior. A pity that they came off the rails.

Anyway, a fascinating story of one wild woman!

I really didn't intend to write a review of the wonderful Imelda but I felt I had to, however, after reading Wyoming Nomad's review of this wonderful documentary. Why? Because I think Wyoming Nomad misses the point of Imelda. Yes, Imelda gives Mrs. Marcos a lot of screen time. Yes Imelda gives Mrs. Marcos a significant amount of screen time to speak her mind. But by doing this Imelda does not function as an apologia for Mrs. Marcos. Rather, by allowing Imelda to speak for herself this documentary foregrounds the human tendency that Imelda expresses so well, the human tendency to create ideological driven positive justifications for our actions and our behaviours. And it is this, this pulling back of the curtain on Imelda's rather ahistorical manufactured mental world by counterpointing Imelda's ideology to historical reality, that makes Imelda so brilliant.

Love or hate her... this DVD presents an intersting look into the weird life of the former Philippine first lady. HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS DVD!

Seller was very prompt in responding to shipping questions. Very polite. Products were in excellent condition.

Much maligned and in the Western media only known for her infamous shoe collection, most of which were gifts anyway from the Marikina shoe factories in Metro Manila, this DVD shows an Imelda Romualdez Marcos that very few people have seen and it is best to judge only her words and actions when seeing this extremely complex personality talk, than listen to the comments of US diplomats and clergy, who I'm afraid have absolutely no grasp at all of the geopolitical implications that were the motivations to bring down the Presidency of Ferdinand Marcos.
Especially with the US and European economy in the mess it's in, with China being the only hope for economic recovery in the West, Madame Marcos was already a pioneer in opening the doors of the People's Republic of China and laid the groundwork for Malacañang Palace to be the conduit between the West and Beijing.
For all her human errors, history will show her degree of patriotism and in fact will thank her that the survival of the US and European economies today in 2009 depend entirely on cultivating very carefully that link that passes through Manila towards Beijing which is, in my opinion, the Magnum Opus of Imelda's work as the former First Lady of the Philippines.
Mind you, I'm not a Filipino at all but I am a very close observer of the region and a keen geopolitical analyst working on my own account for a major privately owned Corporate Finance firm in Madrid.

I gave the above title with reference to Ralph Cowan's portrait of the radiant Imelda in the mid 80's. She was at the pinnacle of power at that time and just a few months after, her entire empire collapsed before leaving her exile in another place in the planet.

Imelda is a fascinating and an extremely complex character. She has been a victim of mud slinging and spatting for a number of years now. But as Ralph Cowan aptly named a portrait, Imelda has triumphed time and time again. With sheer determination, her beauty has been her scourge and weapon, but in the end.She has triumphed.

I met Imelda through my best pal in 1996. She has an uncanny ability to draw attention to herself and be surrounded by people and I just strangely found myself falling in love with her. Love, yes, she loved that word. You can hear her say loudly words such as beauty, love, goodness, peace over and over again. She is the goddess of beauty and love.

Over the years, Imelda has been associated with frivolity, luxury, superficiality, corruption but layers beneath that people don't understand lies one if not the best success stories ever, better than the story of Cinderella. Born to a not-so-rich branch of the powerful Romualdez dynasty, she climbed to the super jetset rich status that she is right now and became the first lady of the land.

As Eva Kalaw said, she put the Philippines in the map whether positively or negatively, has hobbed-nobbed with Khadaffy, the Aga-Khan, Farah Diva, Mao-Tse Tung, Nixon, Saddam Hussein and the list goes on. There is not a single person from that country who's more famous and whose first name evokes multitude of feelings than Imelda. Imelda has put the Philippines in the map, everywhere you go now, very rarely do people hate her. Acquitted in New York and the lower courts in the Philippines, leave her alone. She's 76 now but still makng waves.

This documentary was actually filmed in the mid 90's when Imelda was in her mid 60 but still she's a knockout. The masses of jet black hair swept to the side in a chignon, the flawless complexion (one has to see this woman in person to believe me. Even in old age, her skin is so luminous and beautiful, no make up is needed. She is serenely lovely.

This documentary is not as comprehensive as it should be. It's just dissected into different sections but isn't brave enough o tred unexplored territories in Imelda's life. Read Katherine Ellison or Paterson's biography. But for a visual treat, this DVD is magnificent and fascinating. She is so engaging "It isn't expensive to be beautiful, it takes only a little effort to be presentable, but it takes a lot of effort. and E for effort. But unfortunately, people think of beauty as luxury, as frivolity, No! beauty is a discipline, it's art, it's harmony. Its love and God made real" Might sound crazy but think of it in a deeper sense and thought, she's right!

Imelda is one of the most beautiful women in the world. Perhaps for most Filipinos, she isn't (their concept of what's beautiful is Julia Roberts or Demi Moore yuck!), they tend to see Causcasian as beautiful. Imelda has a frozen perfection, not sexual. Hers is face and body that on wont be tempted to reach and ruffle. She is a classic beauty even with fluctuation of weight, is still mesmerizing. One remarked that when he saw Imelda in Persepolis, he couldn't sleep. It was like dream, a vision.

The dvd is worth watching for there's no real documentary about the first lady except this one. It's proven now that it isn't Imelda who is the problem. Look at politics now, compared to Imelda, they look so tawdry and evil.

So there you are,Imelda you are amazing, and don't worry about this documentary. It doesn't present you in a bad light, in fact, it just made you more fascinating and we want more!!!

I was amazed by this DVD. It really showed the life of Imelda Marcos. The ups and the downs. She is just misunderstood. I recommend this movie to everyone. If you haven't seen it, you are missing out.