Narrated with Tahimik’s eldest son, Kidlat, Bakit Dilaw Ang Kulay ng Bahaghari offers a sociopolitical portrait of the martial law era of the Philippines. Tahimik revels in the role of proud ‘Yellow World’, ‘Third World’ people power documenter, critical of the impact of ‘First World’ reliance on, and subsequent corruption by, machines. Tahimik charges his ‘spaghetti camera’ lens with the cultural resistance of his countrymen, admiring their fragile resilient existence between tradition, Capital and dictatorship, an energy mirrored by the forces of nature—where typhoons, farming skills and animal behaviour are studied in stark contrast to newspapers, fast food and the Trojan Idiot Box (television). Exploring the colonial umbilical cord of the Philippines and the country’s attachment to all things American and Christian, this essay film comically upturns acronym and slogan, satirising popular and consumer stereotypes and ultimately demonstrating how imagination, attitude and language can empower a differing relationship to power, wealth and influence.
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