REVIEW: 'Alipato at Muog' is a powerful chronicle of loss, resistance, and unyielding hope
Alipato at Muog, a powerful documentary by JL Burgos, captures the heart-wrenching reality of enforced disappearances through the lens of a family's agonizing search for truth and justice.
At the center of the film is the story of Jonas Burgos, JL's brother, who was abducted in broad daylight in 2007, his fate remaining unknown to this day. But this isn't just a story about Jonas—it's a haunting portrayal of countless families torn apart by this grievous human rights violation. By contextualizing Jonas' disappearance alongside other cases, the film sheds light on the broader, sinister reality of enforced disappearances in the Philippines.
From a purely cinematic standpoint, Alipato at Muog is a compelling piece of work. The narrative is structured with clarity, and events are meticulously presented. JL began filming shortly after his brother’s abduction, capturing every moment of their search for Jonas. These older, raw footage pieces serve as the backbone of the documentary, juxtaposed against more recent interviews with family members and human rights advocates. This layering of past and present creates a vivid, deeply immersive chronicle of their ongoing battle, bringing a real-time immediacy to their fight for justice. The film doesn't just tell a story—it places the audience right alongside the family as they navigate through years of uncertainty, heartache, and relentless struggle.
While Alipato at Muog inevitably touches on political issues due to the nature of Jonas' abduction, politics is not the central theme. Instead, it’s a circumstantial element that underscores the larger narrative. Key political figures are involved because the story demands their presence—they are players in the broader systemic issue of enforced disappearances. This aspect adds a layer of credibility to the film, with court documents, legal rulings, and media coverage backing the claims made. The involvement of these figures, already documented in both local and international media when Jonas went missing, is not sensationalized but presented as evidence of the complex and murky world the Burgos family has been fighting against for years.
At its core, however, Alipato at Muog is a deeply human story—one of love, loss, and resilience. It’s about a family trying to find one of their own, grappling with the pain of not knowing whether Jonas is dead or alive. It’s seen through the eyes of those most affected—his wife, daughter, siblings, and most notably, his mother, Edita Burgos. Over the years, Edita has become the face of the desaparecidos, or victims of enforced disappearances. The term refers to the secret abduction or detention of individuals, often with the complicity or approval of the state, followed by a refusal to disclose the person’s fate or location. The purpose is to remove the victim from the protection of the law, leaving families with no closure and, often, no recourse to justice. This heinous practice has been occurring since the martial law years and has persisted across administrations.
The phenomenon of enforced disappearances is one of the gravest human rights violations, not just because of the violence done to the individual but because of the emotional and psychological torture inflicted on the families left behind. These families are trapped in a state of limbo, caught between hope and despair, unable to grieve, unable to move forward. The documentary poignantly illustrates this anguish, with interviews and personal testimonies that lay bare the raw pain that the Burgos family—and so many others—continue to endure. It’s a film that makes the political personal, showing the devastating human toll of policies and practices that strip people of their humanity and deny them justice.
Despite the success of Alipato at Muog in the recent Cinemalaya Film Festival, the film’s journey has not been without challenges. The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) recently gave the documentary an "X" rating. This classification prevents it from being widely released, restricting its audience despite its sold-out screenings during Cinemalaya, where it won the Special Jury Prize.
Alipato at Muog is scheduled to be shown at the UP Film Institute’s Film Center in Diliman, Quezon City on Aug. 29 and 30. Watch the teaser below.