‘And So It Begins’ immortalizes a people’s movement with room for a lot more | Movie Review

Amid Filipino elections, a grassroots movement emerges to protect truth and democracy from growing threats. People unite in joyful acts of resistance, kindling hope while autocracy expands.

Leni Robredo in And So It Begins. (C) Solar Pictures PH

It’s Leni Robredo and the people’s campaign - how could you not be moved? It’s technically the sequel to Maria Ressa and Rappler’s journey to combat disinformation (‘A Thousand Cuts’) - how could it not be compelling? Both happens here in the film yet combining the two leaves a lot of room for more - like a lot. The choice to combine the two is the film's greatest flaw and it is really felt all throughout. The vision is there to tell a grand narrative but it limits their potential to expound what’s really at stake or who Robredo even is.

On Maria Ressa and Rappler's side, we see Ressa win the highly-coveted Nobel Peace Prize yet we don't really see how disinformation really progressed during the 2022 campaign. It's able to build the case on why Robredo became the center of attacks and we see a supporter trying to combat it yet it feels like it leads to nowhere. To be fair, Robredo lost the election and perhaps the producers preferred a different outcome to wrap the story better so they did not really know how to restructure the narrative when Marcos Jr. won. However, one can still argue there's path for a better story here.

On the people's campaign side, it's a bit surprising that they misinterpreted what led to the rise of the movement even though Robredo is already mentioning it herself. If the film wanted disinformation as the focus, all the charming and inspiring tidbits from the pink campaign also feel irrelevant. As a film about the supporters, it also leads to nowhere. The focus on an LGBTQ+ member in Naga started strong but ultimately lead to nowhere. Considering Robredo's complex stance on their community's platforms, it's a missed opportunity to tackle that side of Robredo. That alone actually would've made a compelling separate film. 

Then, ‘Rosas’ plays. Seeing the culmination of these two stories still incites emotions. It kind of justifies the title that the story is just beginning at the expense of telling & commemorating the full story. However, it's a lot without really saying a lot. 2.5/5 ⭐️