The Kingdom

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Kalayaan is a Southeast Asian country that was never colonized by a foreign power and ruled by a monarchy led by Lakan Makisig Nandula (Vic Sotto), a descendant of historical figure Lakandula. The eldest child and heir to the throne Magat Bagwis (Sid Lucero) is temperamental and is more interested in pleasure than duty. The older daughter Dayang Matimyas (Cristine Reyes) is responsible and reaches out to critics of the royal family wanting to prove them wrong, but is not on good terms with her father because of a mistake she made in the past. The youngest daughter Dayang Lualhati (Sue Ramirez) is the king’s favorite and betrothed to the prince of Thailand for a royal union of the two kingdoms. When Lualhati is kidnapped on her wedding day, she is rescued by lowly farmer Sulo (Piolo Pascual), a Tinatwa or outcast who has an axe to grind with the king for the death of his father. Will he deliver the princess from harm or lean more on revenge?

What if a Southeast Asian nation was not colonized, had a monarchy, and survived all the way to 2024? While the premise is intriguing, my initial reaction was how reductive and unnecessary this is considering Thailand literally exists next door. In fact, Thailand is even mentioned here because one of the subplots is that of a royal wedding between the younger princess and a Thai prince. But I guess every country deserves its own fantasy shoulda-woulda-coulda alternate reality, and The Kingdom tickles that fancy for many Filipinos who ended up instead in a shithole doubling as a fiefdom ruled by political dynasties. Who needs royalty when each region or city has a ruling family anyway, right?

Aside from the flag of the kingdom resembling Captain Marvel’s costume, my only other complaint about this movie are the isolated cases wherein Spanish loanwords such as sobra, trabaho, gastos, siguraduhin, kalsada, gusto, pwede, intindi, para, ensayo made it to the dialogues. If the Philippines were never colonized by Spain, those terms wouldn’t have had a chance to edge out the local Tagalog equivalents labis, gawain, bayarin, tiyakin, daanan, nais, maari, unawa, upang, sanay in daily conversations simply because they would’ve never been introduced and the resulting diglossia that led to such replacement wouldn’t have even existed.

It’s wonderful to see Sotto doing something different. He has been a staple at the MMFF for quite some time until the audiences grew tired of the repetitive fantasy comedies he used to churn out every year. His role as a weary monarch is commendable but the praise seems to have more to do with pleasant surprise to the tune of “Oh wow, so he can do drama after all?!” kind, which comedians transitioning to dramatic roles tend to be showered with. The acting nomination in the lead category is well-deserved for the silent but meaningful demeanor he crafted his character with. His acting is subtle but in this case, less is definitely more.

Lucero received a rare double nomination in the SAME supporting category for his roles here and in Topakk. Of the two, his acting in the latter left a more memorable impression compared to his role here where his character’s only purpose is to serve as a red herring to mislead you from the plot twist. Pascual who received a co-nomination in Lead should have been the de facto nomination in Supporting because his is clearly just a supporting role. I’d even dare say that they should have considered Cedrick Juan for that, given how the guy managed to give a masterclass in acting in the less than five minutes of cumulative flashbacks he appears in.

Before watching this film, I stumbled upon some comments saying that Reyes was miscast, and I wondered why because her first appearances in the movie felt more like a simple supporting role. When the twist was revealed, however, I started to understand where such comments were coming from. Dayang Matimyas is a well-written and complex character and while Reyes has the acting chops for it, she simply doesn’t have the regal aura. She gives the role justice, but you can easily think of others who could’ve made the character more iconic. Iza Calzado, who figures in an extended cameo, is one name that comes to mind.

Overall, The Kingdom is one of the more creative and original storylines to surface in Philippine cinema in the last decade or so. While this particular cast and crew did a stellar job and came up with a product that is worthy of praise, you also wonder how such material might have fared in the hands of a different director and cast. This production feels compelling yet generic. It might have benefited from a darker tone and more visual style, maybe even switching the genre to a political thriller. For now, we give kudos to everyone who made this film possible, because it has become rarer and rarer to get to watch something like this as of late.