A Summer’s Tale (The Summer Solstice)

Have you ever feels the pain when your love one’s is happy to someone else? Do you still accept the fact that he or she is not yours anymore?

Well, this is my critique about the Filipino movie that our teacher tasked us to watch it. “A Summer’s Tale” is a very nice movie that gives us realization in life. It’s all about the couple who wants to have a baby. But the wife has difficulty in giving birth.

This is the vid. It was acted by the student of our school before...

Characters:

-Lupeng(wife) is a Filipino woman who feels closed to her womanhood, married to

-Paeng(husband) , who is doubt loyal to her.

-Guido(Paeng’s cousin) came from Europe

This movie produced significant results showing that the Tatarin Festival is for women who have a difficulty in giving birth. The one who wrote this is Nicomedes Marquez Joaquin who born on May 4,1917 and died on April 29, 2004. He was a Filipino writer, a historian and journalist also. He is best known for his short stories and novels in the English language. He is considered one of the most important Filipino writers In English, and the third most important overall, after Jose Rizal and Claro M. Reto.

This is the flow of the story (I make it shorter based on the movie I watched):

The couple went to the mansion and greet their father a happy birthday. Paeng’s cousin named Guido came from Europe is also there. That time Lupeng meet Guido for the first time. Paeng’s father told Lupeng and Paeng that he wants to give him a grandson because, he is old enough and whoever will be the first to have a children in the family will inherit his property. But, Paeng told his father that Lupeng(wife) has a difficulty in giving birth.

So, his father suggested to join Lupeng in incoming fiesta named Tatarin Festival.

Tatarin Festival is a Summer Solstice, a short story written by a Filipino National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin. The story narrates a ritual performed by women to invoke the gods to grant the blessing of fertility by dancing around a Balete tree that was already a century old. It is held during summer in the Philippines. The narrative of the Summers Solistice begins with St. John’s Day, as it occurred in the 1850’s.

They decided to follow the said event of his father to join the Tatarin Festival, so that Lupeng could give a birth. On the day of 24th of June is the celebration of Tatarin Festival. Lupeng and Guido came and after a while, the ritual is started, so Lupeng joined in the dance together with the girls. Paeng watching his wife Lupeng enjoying dancing while suddenly Guido(cousin) had come.

Paeng had an emergency meeting so he told Guido(cousin) that he is the one who will take Lupengs home. In 11th day of October Lupeng is finally pregnant and Paeng is so happy that he will become a father. When the weeks has passed by, Guido’s friends and neighbors had an issue or topic about Lupeng and Guido. So, a friend of Paeng told him that he is not the real father of their child but it’s Guido.

Paeng very mad at them and he doesn’t believe what they’re saying all about was true. Because he knows that Lupeng (wife) will never do that stupid thing to him.

In other side, Lupeng told Guido(cousin of Paeng) that he is the real father of the baby because on that day after the ritual they made something miraculous. So, they decided to leave before Paeng catch them.

But, Paeng suddenly bump down in front of their car and they all went outside, trying to explain about the situation. But, Paeng can’t control his emotion, he hold a knife and trying to kill Guido(his cousin) but in the last part the knife threw away. They rumble each other and Paeng took a rock and throw it to Guido but before he will made it, Lupeng(his wife) took the knife and push it to Paeng’s body. Suddenly, Paeng laid down and Lupeng cried loudly and loudly. Saying sorry, she didn’t mean any of this and it’s all an accident, and that night Paeng died….

But, that’s not the end of the movie…….

On the 24th day of April, the day of Tatarin Festival, Lupeng woke up with the gaze in her face and take a deep breath. Paeng ask Lupeng what happened to her, and Paeng told her that it just only a nightmare. Be ready for the Tatarin Festival and Guido appeared in the room so Lupeng feel nervous. Paeng brought a gift for Lupeng which is the red dress that she wore in Tatarin Festival (during her dream).

So, Lupeng screamed because she knew that her nightmare will might be true…

----------------The End----------------

So, the story is all about the Tatarin Festival. It is a very romantic as well as creepy. I can say that love can kill someone else. It can cause argument and misunderstanding. The literary criticism is Feminism that’s all about the role of Lupeng, it emphasizes her dream about the Tatarin Festival.

The main theme is St. John’s and Tatarin Festivals, which is The St. John’s Festival is about men and their fertility, which seems quite vulgar to Lupeng and makes her start to realize how she wishes women could be seen in the same way. The Tatarin Festival is the exact opposite, showing women as leaders of fertility since they carry children. This festival is the last trigger to make Lupeng feel as though she is stronger than a man and deserves adoration.

Based on the movie my insight is love can kill someone even though it’s your family or siblings. It’s important to care our virginity and give it only to our love ones. As a girl or women, we need to be aware and be mindful of the people around us especially boys or a circle of friends of ours. Because, we cannot predict the mindset of them even though it’s our family, relatives and close one, as long as BOYS.

As we can see in the movie they wanted to have a child but Lupeng has a difficulty in giving birth. Many women who can’t give birth but, because they trust in Tatarin, so they do joined the ritual and participate because they wanted to have a baby.

It is represented a “stereotypical notions of masculinity and feminity”,a two difference between genders and the hierarchy that bound the two sexes. It is a tale of a triumphant woman because of Paeng’s submission to Lupeng and the portrayal of women’s reproductive role that made them the rulers of men.

We need to be careful of our fertility and virginity as a woman in the society. Be mindful of that, because this story tells us that we need to be alert and never trust ourselves to someone else that we didn’t yet met or knew. Man will do all the things for his love ones because love is like a lightning, beautiful but painful. There is no fear when we choose love. The more we choose love, the more love is in our life. It gets easier and easier.

“Let’s wake up to the truth. Things in this world are temporary. Be loyal to your love one’s, be truth to him/her”

Thank you for reading. Hoping that you can also watch it in youtube. “ A Summer’s Tale”. I paste the link above .

Write your overall critique about it in the comment section… God Bless Us All.

@whitney123