Why you should watch 'Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis'

MANILA - More than them and more than the Berlinale award, Kapamilya stars John Lloyd Cruz and Piolo Pascual have urged Filipinos to challenge their perception of the country's history by watching Lav Diaz's eight-hour epic, "Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis."

"Imposibleng hindi ka tamaan ng pelikula," said Cruz, one of the stars of the film, in a joint interview on Friday's "Tonight with Boy Abunda" with co-star Piolo Pascual.

"Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis," which took home the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize at the recent Berlin International Film Festival, is a story that focuses on the Philippine revolution and tracks the influence of Andres Bonifacio.

In the film, Cruz plays a struggling poet named Isagani whose life changed when he met what the Hollywood Reporter, in their review of the film, described as the brilliant aristo rabble-rouser Simoun (Pascual) -- "easily the film's most memorable character."

In an interview with host Boy Abunda, Pascual gushed about the "poetic" and the "beautiful" lines Diaz gave him for his 17-minute monologue as Simoun.

"It's a sin if you change the lines. It's better to go verbatim because there's so much --iyong laman ng script, laman ng eksena, iyong mga sinasabi ni Lav are profound. Malalim siya. There's so much substance to it," he said.

Meanwhile, Cruz, donning his best impression of his character Isagani, expressed his frustration over the feeling that nothing has changed throughout the country's history and that the Philippines has remained a society" Diaz described as "displaced" and "dysfunctional."

"It actually amazes me that we're talking about and showing a film set in the time bago patayin si Rizal --ang tagal na noon, but what amazes me is that we're still asking the same questions. Hanggang ngayon po," Cruz said.

Both Cruz and Pascual admitted that their perspective on films changed after working with Diaz on the historical epic.

"More than our careers, it's changed the perspective of cinema in general, starting at Berlinale because of what Lav did, what Lav showed. Because it's the longest entry in Berlinale. That alone will change the landscape of cinema viewing," Pascual said.

The two also talked about the experience of meeting Hollywood icon Meryl Streep, a member of the panel of judges of the Berlin International Film Festival who gushed about Diaz's latest obra.

Cruz shared that he felt like a "dumb dude" when Streep approached him. "She did most of the talking --wala, tulala lang ako kasi hindi ako makapaniwala na Meryl Streep is asking you a question. Like a real question and nagiintay siya ng sagot. Kakaiba."

A photo posted by thessgubi (@thessgubi) on Feb 20, 2016 at 7:02pm PST

Diaz, in an interview on the late night talk show Wednesday, criticized Filipinos for failing to confront the demons of the nation's past. He said that Filipinos should dig for the truth and examine the country's "beautiful" past so that they can find what he called "the Filipino soul."

(FULL STORY: Study the past, Lav Diaz urges Pinoys)