Movie Review: Daniela Vega is Simply 'A Fantastic Woman'

Chile finally won a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar a few years ago with Una Mujer Fantastica (A Fantastic Woman), a movie that is both timely and relevant.

Yes, it is about a transwoman named Marina,brilliantly played by Daniela Vega, and the indignities she had to go through when her lover suddenly dies.

I do not know though if this movie will click with local audiences since Filipinos usually see transwomen as loud and maboka, as typified in Showtime's Ms Q&A.

You will not see that stereotype in this movie.

I am sure they will be shocked at how womanly and ladylike Marina is, even after all the insults and physical assault that is done to her character.

She never loses her dignity and self-respect - and even in the face of the gravest insults, she doesn't stoop down to the level of those who think they are more human than she is.

She insists on her identity at all times and even when the police harass her and taunts her of her male past (she was Danilo and now she is Marina) she retains her composure and reluctantly agrees to be humiliated just so the truth will come out.

I am amazed at the restraint the director Sebastian Lelio did in telling this story. Latinos are very known for melodrama with their dramatic and over-the-top teleseryes, but here, there is maybe only one scene where Marina really freaks out - and even then, the audience feels they needed that to happen.

I haven't fully read the SOGIE Bill yet and the rights partners of LGBT people will get once their lovers die, but this movie shows why legislation is really needed to protect LGBT people and their lovers once they die, especially if one of the partners is estranged from their families, which is sometimes the case here in the Philippines.

Transwomen like Vega's character are usually seen as prostitutes and hustlers and any semblance of a relationship between a transwoman and a heterosexual man is usually frowned in polite society - and the reaction of the police to her lover's death shows how authorities like the police view such relationships.

They cannot believe that a successful handsome and rich businessman could possibly fall in love with a transwoman. The businessman's family feels the same way - and treats Marina like shit (except for the older brother).

To polite society, Marina is not a person. My friends would sometimes joke and say "It" instead of "She" as people would often demean transpeople. However, none of that "it-ness" is evident in how Marina conducts herself as she faces society's judgment on people like her. She is indeed, a fantastic woman.