Kwesi B.

Delgado Legal Philosophy

2017400326 1C (Tue 7:30-9:30)

Reflection Paper

“Liway”

Liway tells the story about the experiences of Dakip, a young boy growing up in a

prison as the son of anti-Marcos dissident Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, better known as

Commander Liway and referred to in the film by the vernacular endearment "Day", during

martial law. The parents, while behind bars for rebellion, are raising their 10-year-old son

Dakip and an infant daughter named Malaya. Rico prefers to tell his son about their real

situation but Day will not have any of it. She prefers to feed Dakip with fantastical stories

about a powerful enchantress named Liway of Mount Kanlaon, romanticizing their struggle,

in the mother’s eyes, will lessen its blow on her kid. Considering the situation they are in I

find the mother’s emotional struggle to be really compelling to the audience and evoke

emotions deemed long dead and ideals perceived as largely forgotten. When the horrors of

life inside the cell unfold, it becomes bigger than just one family’s woes. There is the man

whose daughter mistakes fireworks for gunfire. And a woman whose son dies while prisoners

are being segregated into female and male. I always believed that truth will set a person free,

and to me that’s the power of this film it challenges people to question themselves how much

is the price of truth and freedom or is even worth it. As a viewer I find Liway isn’t a perfect

film, but what works is downright compelling.