Seklusyon (A Trial of Faith) Movie Review

To formally introduce the film, Seklusyon is a 2016 MMFF(Metro Manila Film Festival) thriller film by award winning director Erik Matti. It is a story of Faith and the elements around it. It is starred by Ronnie Alonte, Rhed Bustamante, Neil Ryan Sese, and Phoebe Walker. What is Seklusyon? What does it mean and how is it related to Faith itself. Seklusyon is the time where potential priests are tested for seven days without any contact to the outside world. It is said that during these times is where the demons attack spiritually those who are undergoing the trial. Some quit and some succeed resulting them to formally be granted priesthood.

The story was set in the year 1947 where old rituals are done by churches where aspiring priests are sent to a secluded place for the last seven days of their training. The Main character of the story is Miguel(Ronnie Alonte), an aspiring priest who left his love for the purpose of achieving his dream of becoming a priest. Meanwhile Anghela(Rhed Bustamante), is a young girl who has mysterious healing powers in which she uses to heal countless diseases. Padre Ricardo(Neil Ryan Sese) who was sent by the bishop to gather testimonies of the miracles of Anghela was somehow unconvinced about the miracles made by the child. And one night, he was caught surprised by Anghela bloodied telling him that her parents were dead. Anghela and Madre Cecilia(Phoebe Walker) was sent by the bishop to the place where the deacons are undergoing their seclusion. They were welcomed by Mang Sandoval(Lou Veloso), who at first questioned why were they there. Mang Sandoval left the place after Anghela told her that he doesn't belong there and to release the pain he has. The following days become heaven and hell for the aspiring priests. As they faced their worst nightmares which is their dark pasts. Anghela got their favor one by one, through healing them of what the deacons are facing. Miguel at first doesn't believed in Anghela and tried to escape the place. He had an accident as he is escaping from Anghela and the other deacons. Splitting his soul from his body, he saw everything that bugs him the most his love, Erina and his unborn child. Anghela brought him back and finally got his favor as well. Padre Ricardo learned from the nuns that Madre Cecilia was a teacher in a convent that was raped by soldiers and burned her face from the burning of the convent. Padre Ricardo was shocked and learned as well that the young girl is a False Prophet, Anghela translates into Ngahela meaning that the young girl's god is the devil. He rushed to the seclusion to stop the young girl but he failed and died. Miguel woke up from the madness and told his co-aspirants that Anghela is a devil that they shouldn't follow her lead. At the end of the story, Miguel stabbed Anghela revealing her intentions that she wants evil priests to mesh with good priests in the church so people won't know that there are evil priests. The three aspiring priests were grant priesthood after finishing the seclusion leaving Miguel to be the one who failed to finish the seculsion.

The lesson of the story for me is that even though you do the right things if it doesn't seem right for the others you're still the one who isn't right. The story is great, I love how every story was told. It really deserves the awards it got during the MMFF earning Best Director and Best Screenplay for Mr. Erik Matti, Best Supporting Actress for Ms. Phoebe Walker, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Design, Best Original Theme Song and Best Production Design for the Film, And Special Jury Prize for child star Rhed Bustamante.

Baroque Art

The Characteristics of Baroque Art:

Light

• There is usually one source of light, known as tenebrism, in Baroque art. The contrasting light and dark, such as in shadows, bring drama to the works. Both have an effect on the emotions and the intensity of the piece. One illustration of this concept is "Judith and Maidservant with Head of Holofernes" by Artemisia Gentileschi. In the piece, Judith saves her people by having a banquet to intoxicate and then behead General Holofernes.

Realism and Naturalism

• Realism is an important aspect of Baroque art. Rubens embraced reality in his art. In "Saint George and the Dragon," Saint George is muscular with a suit of armor that appears as it did in everyday life. His horse is depicted as feisty and strong. Naturalism was also seen in Baroque art through the use of normal details unique to daily life. Caravaggio employed this technique in his work by showing local places such as taverns and peasants. He places the viewer in the painting through applying things as part of both the foreground and central space. Facial expressions highlight the subjects' moods or emotions. Artists would sometimes put themselves in the painting as part of the shadows. For example, Diego Velazquez is seen in the left of his painting "Las Meninas."

Lines

• Lines help to convey motion and were often featured in Baroque pieces. Foreshortening -- reducing the length of lines in drawing to give an illusion of extension in space -- contributes to the feeling of motion. Whether asymmetric, vertical or horizontal, this technique can fool the eye and give space to the piece. Works follow an "S" shape in composition. For example, in "The Conversion of Saint Paul" by Caravaggio, diagonal lines show drama. Lines also go through diffusion in Baroque art with curved figures and horizontal layers.

Time

• Many artists using the Baroque style were aware of time and used it to convey the strength of nature as well as how time was a part of life's process. An older man symbolizing time was included in a great deal of pieces to illustrate that time comes for all. The positioning of people in each work gives the feeling of time moving forwards and backwards.

  
  

  The artist confronts the interactive media. As for Botticelli, condemned to imitate a classical painting of which no examples survived, there are no models --  save the idea of art itself, and that is a concept in crisis. Much of what is made builds deliberately not on the past but on the future: a future-directed art which derives its imagery from utopian or dystopian science-fiction, and which, in sealing the image of the future, seeks to control it in the name of the present. And what else does the future contain? Death. Though decked in the archaisms which Freud associates with regression, the sci-fi game that dominates the interactive media is built in the  denial of mortality. The crisis of interactive arts concerns the difficulty of making a shift from a future for the self to a future for others -- a future over which, by definition, we now can have no control.

  An art of surrender, and a chaotic art. It seems then no accident that so many artists derive such inspiration from the Baroque, an art of sublime submission and creative dementia. If it is true that the arts of forgetting condemn us to the repetition of history, still, in this instance, we could wish to believe that it was the first Baroque that lived out its crisis of signification as tragedy, and the new Baroque of the digital media that has a chance to work through, with hope, the dialectics of submission and futurity.

  The Baroque is legible as the expression of an absolute state confronted with the crisis of its own mode of signification. As John Beverley observes, the Spanish baroque was, like postmodernism today, at once a technique of power of a dominant class in a period of reaction and a figuration of the limits of that power (Beverley 1993:64). In that configuration, the arts add layer on layer to the web of allegorical significances, and simultaneously discover the vortex of instability at the heart of allegory itself. Humanism sought to recover; the Baroque to discover, but the arts of discovery bring on crises of overproduction (the economic disaster created by flooding European markets with American gold), which in turn generate vertiginous inwardnesses revealing more of the Devils bargain than those contracted wished to see (in Spain the emergence of narratives of the conquistadors brutality and retreat of the emergent mercantile bourgeoisie into pseudo-aristocracy as a result [cf Nerlich 1987]). From the troubled triumph of the absolutist state to the troubling security of the administered society, the Baroque recurs in the heart of both the 17th and the 20th centuries, their churches, our communications, as the rage to control. This rage is not angry but viral: replicating its order as excrescence and ornament on the body of its host, but in doing so breaking open the integrity of the host -- a crisis of permeability

  
  

  Baroque art and architecture – extravagant in concept, exuberant in spirit, elaborate in detail – flourished in the 17ths’ century Europe and through the ages has continued to stir us with its vitality and dynamism, its mood of barely suppressed passion. In the architecture of St. Peters in Rome, St. Paul’s in London and Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, in the works of Michelangelo, Bernini and Rubens, the Baroque spirit still lives today to inspire us. The Baroque style is still used today as inspiration when it comes to decorating a home in a rich manner. This style is well known for being dramatic and opulent, characteristics which can transform a simple home into something flamboyant. Many people choose to decorate their living space with a baroque style, and there are a variety of ideas that you can incorporate; ideas like using baroque style patterns to enrich cushion covers, linen, upholstery, curtaining and much more! The interior design business wasn’t the only one inspired by the Baroque movement. Now graphic artists can add Baroque flair to almost any design project with elements like lush florals, rosettes as a repeating motif in a frieze and many more ornaments with a clear Baroque influence. Baroque designs can be used by artists to enhance various items, because the ornaments specific to this style have the great capacity of making an art work look richer.It’s not an unknown fact that often in modern graphic design the inspiration comes from art styles from the past. If you have the right skills, you can combine past and present design and create amazing modern art work. The Baroque Style is represented by beautiful and rich decorations that can perfectly combine with the styles designers who love to ornate their work with flowers and swirls.

Renaissance Art

The Renaissance popularity of Humanism and classical readings, combined with the availability of literature such as Dante's Divine Comedy, led to an interest in mythology, pagan and secular themes. Humanism emphasized the importance of education and knowledge, as well as the potential of the individual and civic responsibility. So in the Renaissance, we might see a civic mural like Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Peaceful City, a secular mural like Raphael's School of Athens with its themes of philosophy and science, or Boticelli's lyrical, mythological Birth of Venus. Formally, Renaissance art is characterized by naturalism, the use of expressive gesture, linear perspective, atmospheric perspective, and chiaroscuro. In painting, figures are placed in a three-dimensional, believable space, and their posture and gesture is part of a complex formal arrangement. Compare, for example, Leonardo's Madonna of the Rocks, 1483 to Cimabue's Madonna Enthroned, ca. 1280-1290. The gestures of Cimabue's figures are varied and angled to make a pleasing formal arrangement and to lead the eye to the Madonna and child, but they are not naturalistic. There is the beginning of perspective in the work, but not is a sense that makes the space look real. 

The Renaissance, translated as "rebirth," was a time that is considered by many scholars to be the beginning of modern history. It was in this era that European artists started becoming interested in the world around them as well as more aware of their surroundings. Consequently, much of the art created at this time became affected by this new "realistic" style. Whether it's in sculptures, paintings, or even architecture, the art became more focused on a real life feel that centered the spotlight on nature as well as depicting people's feelings. As a cultural movement, it encompassed a revival of learning based on classical sources, the development of linear perspective in painting, and gradual but widespread educational reform. Traditionally, this intellectual transformation has resulted in the Renaissance being viewed as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern era. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism and human emotion in art.

The Renaissance came into being through the humanists and their ideas.
The impact of humanism on the arts was enormous. The subject matter of painting prior to the Renaissance was primarily religious: it was concerned not with the naturalistic portrayal of human life, but primarily with provoking a religious reaction in the viewer. Painters were not interested in making a picture "realistic" they did not use perspective. The more important figures in the painting were frequently made larger than all the others, and often the element of landscape was omitted completely.
During the Renaissance, all that changed. The period was characterized by a renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman design and included an emphasis on human beings and the environment. The feature of Italian Renaissance that distinguishes it from preceding eras is the extent and depth of its devotion to Classical Antiquity. Renaissance art demonstrates how the search for the idealization of form itself can be a spiritual exercise, summoning up for the viewer a sense of the perfection of God via the perfection of the idealized human figure or the proportions of a building. The rediscovery of classical art that glorified human beauty and emphasized individual differences had a profound effect on painters of the Renaissance. 

Christian Art

Early Christian art survives from dates near the origins of Christianity. The oldest surviving Christian paintings are from the site at Megiddo, dated to around the year 70, and the oldest Christian sculptures are from sarcophagi, dating to the beginning of the 2nd century. The largest groups of Early Christian paintings come from the tombs in the Catacombs of Rome, and show the evolution of the depiction of Jesus, a process not complete until the 6th century, since when the conventional appearance of Jesus in art has remained remarkably consistent. Until the adoption of Christianity by Constantine Christian art derived its style and much of its iconography from popular Roman art, but from this point grand Christian buildings built under imperial patronage brought a need for Christian versions of Roman elite and official art, of which mosaics in churches in Rome are the most prominent surviving examples. Christian art was caught up in, but did not originate, the shift in style away from the classical tradition inherited from Ancient Greek art to a less realist and otherworldly hieratic style, the start of medieval art.

Christian art is sacred art produced in an attempt to illustrate, supplement and portray in tangible form the principles of Christianity, though other definitions are possible. Most Christian groups use or have used art to some extent, although some have had strong objections to some forms of religious image, and there have been major periods of iconoclasm within Christianity. Images of Jesus and narrative scenes from the Life of Christ are the most common subjects, and scenes from the Old Testament play a part in the art of most denominations. Images of the Virgin Mary and saints are much rarer in Protestant art than that of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

My Reaction about the dominant style and its subject matter is " I'm amazed". I not only amazed by the art itself but what message it wants to convey. Usually paintings in this era is more realistic and its all about the great gospel. In every medium, they show the story behind the life of Christ. The era has influenced me when it comes to my style. Sometimes, I tend to do some mosaics which started in this era of art. But i'm too busy now, so that i can't do any mosaics anymore. I guess i could do if it is a must.

Ancient and Classical Arts

Ancient art refers to the many types of art that produced by the advanced cultures of ancient societies with some form of writing, such as those of ancient China, India, Mesopotamia,Persia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The art of pre-literate societies is normally referred to as Prehistoric art and is not covered here. Clear and simple lines combined with simple shapes and flat areas of color helped to create a sense of order and balance in the art of ancient Egypt.

Classical art dates back to as early as 500 B.C. during the rise of the Greek Empire. The Greeks celebrated the human figure through sculpture in highly naturalistic detail. This is one of the eras defining qualities. After the Romans conquered the Greeks they still regarded Greek culture and art as superior to any other. The Romans imported thousands of original Greek artworks and had them copied in even greater numbers. In fact, much of what we know about Greek art, we only know through Roman copies. Ancient architecture in Greece and Rome are also considered classical works of art including: The Pantheon, The Parthenon, The Arch of Constantine, and the Column of Trajan.

My most striking impressions about the Ancient and Classical Art are about the fact that they're actually not to art but they made art for communication. It may be accidental...but I believe that it is on purpose. I believe that these two different eras of art really influenced me in my style of art. It may not be the same as it should be but you can still see the very foundation of it. During those times, i also have been interested in their artistic style and subject matter. For example, the Stongehenge it started the things how architecture should be. And in the classical art era, the Architecture became more complex each part of it is made wonderfully and all functional. It is easy to create artworks inspired of these eras. Because, This things are the foundation. We might not know that we're inspired by it. But it is really there. And I think it's very impossible to create a more complex figures if we did not know how to create its foundation.

“The more the Realistic, The Better”

If I were to choose on what kind of art that would prefer, I’d choose Realistic art. In realistic art, we can easily define what is the artwork all about. We see figures that are not vague so that means we can completely understand it. We see a vivid illustration of human figures. From head to toe, and other models of things. Mostly realistic art portrays life. What it is all about? What are the common things happening around us. It is a story in a canvas or in papers. Would you believe it a story of life in just an artwork. Every time I look on artworks, I search for realistic artworks. Because it somehow tries to converse me and tell me its story. I love stories so much. Maybe that’s why I love Realistic art too. Realistic art is so amazing to view. But how can a person create such as this?

Realistic art known as Realism” is the general attempt to depict subjects as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation and "in accordance with secular, empirical rules." As such, the approach inherently implies a belief that such reality is ontologically independent of man's conceptual schemes, linguistic practices and beliefs, and thus can be known (or knowable) to the artist, who can in turn represent this 'reality' faithfully . Realism was an artistic movement that began in France in the 1850s, after the1848. These Realists positioned themselves against Romanticism, a genre dominating French literature and artwork in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Seeking to be undistorted by personal bias, Realism believed in the ideology of objective Reality and revolted against the exaggerated emotionalism of the Romantic movement. Truth and accuracy became the goals of many Realists. Many paintings depicted people at work, underscoring the changes wrought by the Industrial and Commercial Revolutions. The popularity of such 'realistic' works grew with the introduction of Photography— a new visual source that created a desire for people to produce representations which look “objectively real.”- Wikipedia

While Art as Alteration and Distorted Art are not realistic. They’re only made by human imagination. In this kind of arts we’ll often see the Abstract Technique. The Output of the artworks here really came from the reality. But the artist only modified the parts and made them unreal and out of this world illustrations. I find it hard to understand it. It seems only the artist can express its true meaning. It doesn’t matter what art do you prefer. Every person has a unique sense when it comes to art. Art is an expression of what we feel, we see, and what we hear. It doesn’t matter what technique you feel like using. The important thing here is we express!

“Doing an Impromptu Art”

I would like to share in this blog post my experience doing an impromptu art. Impromptu means “With little or no preparation”. We have experienced it during the opening of the Private Schools Athletic Association in Laguna. Where our school is its host and we thought we’ll have no works to do. In my mind, it’s the time to have fun enjoy the ambiance. But When things start to be fun. We are told to do an artwork that shows the different movement in the Event. I was shocked at first. Even though I lost my enjoyment a little bit. I regained it again because I made the art quickly. That move helped me to avoid spoiling my enjoyment.

As multimedia arts Students, we’re gonna have more of this impromptu art in the future. We’ll never know what art project we’ll receive. It’s indeed unpredictable. Even in your times of leisure, this impromptu arts will come to you. It’s a bit unforgiving haha! But if you’ll finish it, you’ll say to yourself that you can do things unexpected. It can give you additional confidence and the experience in the times of pressure. Doing impromptu art must not degrade your work. If you do great in projects that are notified you must also do the same thing here. You must sustain your style and techniques. It’s much better if you do more here to pass your limitations.

Well that’s all the things that I can share about doing an Impromptu art, I’ll share what happened that day. After we finished the given task, we have a lot time for enjoying the sports action. I’m a bit satisfied in what I saw in the volleyball game. But not in what I saw in the football game. Life is indeed unpredicatable. Maybe right now you’re happy, but not tomorrow. There are a lot unexpected things that come than the things that are expected. So we just only have to get ready. Prompt ourselves that when things come. There’s no shock we’re gonna feel…Haha…