Tatlong taong walang Diyos

This movie tackles the story of Rosario, a teacher, who was raped by a Japanese- Filipino during the Japanese occupation in her small town in Laguna. She got pregnant and had to live with the prejudice of her town mates after her family accepted Masugi.

It was not long before Rosario accepted her fate, she bore her child and married Masugi. But when the war came to an end, she had to face again the fury of her town mate, and they were unforgiving.

The movie depicts the horror of war, the fear that it creates, the dilemma of the people trapped in the struggle to survive. But most of all, the movie tackles the love and aspirations of the three main characters, their faith and before the movie ends, hope.

This movie really surprised me, the story and script were superb. The pace was believable, Rosario falling for Masugi's charm was not forced. You emphasize with the characters and their plights as they move through the three years of darkness ,without God. Christopher de Leon playing Masugi is also believable as the half Japanese born in Manila. I am glad he didn't play a character who for example, is really a Japanese but just so happen to speak Tagalog fluently; a scenario not uncommon in other Filipino movies.

My only scene that didn't go well is when the town folks cut Rosario's hair. Yes , yes I get it but Nora's face after her hair was cut was too funny and felt out of place. The music is a little redundant, playing the same song throughout the movie.

Overall,this movie is well made, worthy to classify this as a classic, and perhaps O Hara's best movie of all time.

What makes Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos (Three Years without God), about the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines during World War II, such a great film? O'Hara's style is thrillingly simple: each scene begins and ends like any other scene in a well-shaped drama. But there's a quiet undercurrent that builds, sequence upon sequence, with the smoothness and power of a rising tsunami, until it pulls your feet out from under you, breaking high over your head, overwhelming you.

I can cite similar examples: Hemingway's simple, sinewy prose, which (as he once described it) was like keeping an alcohol flame as low as possible, until it explodes. Or Jean Renoir's films, which Tatlong Taong most resembles (if it resembles any film at all). Renoir and O'Hara (in Tatlong Taong at least) share several virtues. An unassuming yet undeniably cinematic visual style (O'Hara's shots are so good, yet serve the story so well, you might want to watch the film three times just to find out why they are good). An unerring sense for understated drama--you find yourself perched at the edge of your seat wanting to learn what happens next. And an amazing--Godlike, yet intimate--empathy for the people in their films.

That empathy is, I think, the source of Tatlong Taong's greatness. Sympathy for wartime Japanese has always been in short supply, with the words "comfort women" and "wartime atrocities" being rattled about in Asian newspapers like so many closeted skeletons. The Chinese have no love for World War II Japanese; you just have to watch films like Farewell To My Concubine, or Red Sorghum (with its horrific flaying scene) to appreciate how little they are loved. Even the Americans have done their share of Japan-bashing, with films like Rising Sun and Black Rain.

There have been exceptions, mainly in American movies: Bridge On the River Kwai, Sayonara, the awful Come See the Paradise. There's even one Thai film that featured a sympathetic Japanese soldier.

But Thailand and America were never conquered by Japan; they never tasted the pleasures of Japanese Occupation firsthand. Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos is unique in Philippine cinema--in all the world--as being the only film, made in a country once occupied by the Japanese, that treats those same wartime Japanese as human beings.

Not that the Japanese soldiers in Tatlong Taong are sweetened versions of the real thing: they are shown as killers and rapists, capable of performing all kinds of brutal acts. But they are also shown to be capable of regretting their acts; they are shown to be deserving of our sympathy--even of our love.

As an act of understanding, almost of forgiveness, this is totally unheard of. It could easily be seen as a mistake, a foolish gesture made out of weakness by one small, Asian nation to another, far more powerful one.

I don't think so.

I could go on and on, talking about technique and story and historical context; I could talk about Vincente Bonus' contribution to the production design (he was responsible for every accurate detail about wartime Philippines), or Conrado Baltazar's glorious color photography, or Ms. Minda Azarcon's lovely chorale music. But Filipino filmmaker Tikoy Aguiluz (Boatman, Rizal Sa Dapitan (Rizal in Dapitan), Segurista (Dead Sure)) sums it all up nicely with a simple formula: he measures a film's greatness by the impact it had on him personally. By that standard, I think Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos is the greatest Filipino film ever made.

Watched via ABS-CBN Star Cinema Youtube Page. It is free and with hardcoded English subtitle.

'Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos' tells the story of Rosario and her family during the three years of the Godless Japanese Occupation -beginning towards the upstart of the war towards the literal end of it.

Interesting film.

I think I have watched so much of this war 'collaborator' films that I tend to put this film against a higher pedestal. This kind of film is rife AND follows a tried and trusted formula (Europa, Europa , Lacombe Lucien*, Hiroshima, Mon Amour). Someone is piled into collaborating to survive and ultimately just tries to be alive.

I think the main difference here is that it is about a woman forced via rape. It really tips a certain uncanniness that defiantly Filipino. It hits the rampant sexism in our country and plays out the exploitation narratives common during the Marcos era films.

It sadly did not live up against those three listed above.

I'll start with what I love. The acting is supreme. The gothic styling of Aunor is such a pleasant thing to watch. She just has this style that really exist on her own realm. O'Hara specifically compliments it with how he presented her in some key sequences. It is also nice to De Leon strutting a much darker aura against his usual hot guy roles and shows why he is one of the biggest stars of all time.

But it ultimately feels uninspired and quite confounding.

It just lacks the duplicity of it all.

Like I wish it really tried to keep up that *rape* of it all. That element of the film was truly turned into a cheap excuse of drama in the end. It ultimately never mattered. Also, how it depicted the narrative of Rosario's vs the non-collaborators felt emotionally manipulative. There is a weird lack of care about the locals in this film. They were portrayed as if they are actually bad to have this feeling (primarily towards Rosario) about her collaboration and is shown that their action is selfish in hindsight. It did not really turn me off but it made this film a bit muddled in my eyes.

Ultimately, this is good but not as punctuative or innovative as I thought it would be. I think this is a rare instance that a PH film centered around collaborators. That was a unique change but I think this questionable facet of war has been handled better in other films.

After watching this film, I was left in tears. It powerfully depicts the harsh realities faced during the Japanese occupation in the 1940s. Although it focuses on the stories of just three individuals, their experiences resonate deeply and serve as a poignant reflection of the suffering endured by the entire population during that tumultuous period. The performances are subtle and authentic, avoiding melodrama and instead conveying raw emotion through genuine acting. It was heartbreaking to witness how, in just three years of war, humanity seemed to be lost. This film is a moving reminder of the devastating impact of conflict on both individuals and society as a whole.

Amazing film making from the Philippines, the times where arts and talent bound together. Today filmakers feed people of what they like nurture them with shallow and dumb stiry telling.

Gone are the days of creativity where film makers create movies that will question their history and induce conflict among viewers. They make stories of what people should know and how things are happening during the times of aggression amd famine.

Nora deserves her best actress award for this movie. This movie is one of the best in Philippine cinema.

Farewell to the one and only Philippine Superstar Ms. Nora Aunor.