Auteur Theory: Mike De Leon

Mike De Leon uses films as a medium to communicate political perspectives to his audiences. Although the mood of his films vary greatly, Mike De Leon’s experimentation helps to tell a series of stories rich with political context. The variety of genres and themes he has worked on can be considered as a testament to his ability as a director, being able to forge unique stories injected with his unique creative vision.

“Kakabakaba Ka Ba?” is one of Mike De Leon’s more experimental films, exploring the premise of the massive underground industry running the economy of the Philippines. The story is told through the perspective of a cast of four characters, Johnny, Melanie, Nonong, and Nancy who unknowingly get themselves involved in a strange conspiracy involving a cassette tape. The premise of the whole film seems to be incredibly random and fantastical, but still manages to get its message across. Although the film is comedic in nature, it tackles ideas of powerful underground syndicates running the country. The misadventures of our four characters leads them to confront these syndicates, one of which having connections with the Catholic Church. Mike De Leon creates such a ridiculous setting for “Kakabakaba ka ba?” that it’s honestly hard to take seriously. By paying close enough attention, however, we can begin to grasp how dire the situation is in the story. Something as powerful as the Catholic Church being involved in underground activities brings concern to Johnny and his friends. Nearing the end of the story, the film verses both the Chinese and Japanese factions in a music-filled battle with the main characters getting caught in between their dispute. The musical number performed during this part seems to be a satire of the Philippine economy, being run by 3rd party factions and manipulated from the underground where Japan’s economy can proliferate.

Mike De Leon has the skill to build on these large ideas and mask them as something else entirely, requiring the careful attention and insights of his audience in order to full grasp the real idea behind his films. “Kakabakaba Ka Ba?” takes a generally terrifying concept and presents it as a comedic musical. Mike De Leon is able to command the mood of his film to mislead the viewer in perceiving the film at face-value. He is able to hide so many ideas behind this technique that it allowed him to express such strong political opinions in his films during the Martial Law period. A film where we can fully appreciate Mike De Leon’s craft is Batch ’81, a fraternity film which directly references the abuses committed during Marcos Regime.

Batch ’81 follows the journey of Sid Lucero as he becomes an initiate at his university’s most influential fraternity, Alpha Kappa Omega (AKO). Mike de Leon utilizes the fraternity premise as way to reference the Martial Law period. Throughout the film, the main cast of characters are constantly subjected to tests intended to test their faith in the fraternity. Each hazing they received individually tore down each character, damaging their pride and made them question their decision to become initiates. Eventually Sid Lucero comes into conflict with his group when two of them decide to back out of initiation, hearing of this, the masters have Ronnie Roxas strapped to an electric chair where the rest of the group is tasked with electrocuting him for every wrong answer. One of the questions Ronnie was asked to answer involved Martial Law, and if it was beneficial to the progress of the Philippines. At this point, Ronnie who was presumably dead was unable to answer the question, referencing to how the people’s voices were silenced during the Marcos Regime.

Batch ’81 demonstrates the vicious cycle of abuse, as we come to the realization that similar events may transpire for the next batch of applicants. Sid Lucero saw the fraternity as his crutch for success, thinking that the ends had justified the means. In reality, Sid progressed to become more callous and shameless towards his friends and himself. He endured the countless events of humiliation from his superior, putting in all his faith because he believed that it would be worth it in the end. Sid’s aggressive character was able to drag his friends into his own ambition, forcing them to endure the abuses that they would have otherwise escaped. Batch ’81 manages to manifest a frighteningly accurate atmosphere of how it would feel like in a world stripped of human rights, being ruled by “masters” capable of taking away the joy of expression and punishing those who stray too far from their word.

Mike De Leon successfully gets his message across with Batch ’81, once again packaging his political perspectives into a film. Batch ’81 not only functions as a political whistle-blower, but is also able to stand alone as a brilliant drama depicting the darkness within human nature. His creative vision allowed him to completely take command of his projects, crafting visceral scenes of violence using up close camera-work and masterful control of lighting, setting the grim scene of the dimly lit electric chair and emphasizing the brutality of the brawl between the fraternities. Mike De Leon formulate his own style of political storytelling through engaging audiences with believable, realistic stories.