Markova: Comfort Gay (2000 Movie)

[00:00:00] This episode of Fetch the Smelling Salts contains references and discussions of sexual violence, so listener discretion is advised. Hello and welcome to Fetch the Smelling Salts. I'm Alice.

[00:00:22] And I'm Kim. And this is a podcast all about historical dramas from movies and TV shows to miniseries from every era and all around the world. And we're your period drama buddies and we're here to make your period drama watching experience more enjoyable with production information and historical context. And if you're still sleeping, all I have to say is, wake up you gay fossils! Yeah, wake up gay fossils, have some breakfast!

[00:00:50] Why would they be sleeping though? I know. Why would they be, they put on a podcast in their sleep and they were just waiting for that moment where we were like, get up, get up gay! Maybe they just leave it, you know, like some people are like, they just have their podcasts on all through the night, our lovely voices, lull them to sleep. I will say my, this is what my brother-in-law does by the way. Yeah. He puts on our podcast when he can't go to sleep. I'm like, I don't know, I don't know whether to be happy or sad about that.

[00:01:20] Yeah, no, that happens to me with some podcasts, some podcasts that I don't want to fall asleep to. But if I'm on public transportation and I'm listening, I'm like on the train, on a train journey, I'll just fall asleep to a podcast that I wanted to hear and like glean information from. So, no, I understand it. And yeah, if you use our podcast to fall asleep, that's wonderful and that makes me really happy. Maybe, oh, maybe you've got just like the whole catalog. Mm-hmm. It's been going. Yeah. It's just going and going and going.

[00:01:47] And so now you've gotten to this one and now it's time to wake up because you're an old gay. Exactly. I mean, we're all gays, aren't we? Yeah. Okay, we're middle-aged gays, it's all right. I think, yeah, we are, if all of these things are a spectrum, we're somewhere on the spectrum of both old and gay. Yeah. There we go. Also, happy pride. Oh, yes. Woo-hoo! Oh, we haven't even talked about what we're doing.

[00:02:14] We are covering Markova Comfort Gay on a recommendation, right, Alice? This is our second, okay, what is it? The second recommendation from the same listener. Oh, we love you. Which is, yeah, stop already. Don't. Don't ever stop. Yeah, which might be a first, maybe not.

[00:02:34] But it does make me, it makes me feel, because I come up with so many things to feel bad about in life that just like, oh no, but if we do a request from one listener twice, then what about our listener who asked for Last of the Mohicans? We said we were going to do it, and then we never did. Sorry. Oh, we gotta be in the mood. Especially because this one is a little bit more hard going than we usually do. Mm-hmm.

[00:03:05] It's not as hard going as Persepolis. True. But way less hard going than Last of the Mohicans. And way less hard going than you, than I kind of went in thinking it would be, I would say. Yeah.

[00:03:21] And I, I think that this is now my, with my data set of two of these hard going Filipino movies that I feel like they cover really, really difficult traumatic stuff in a way that is like for a viewer, I find quite palatable and like, like, yeah, it's not too much for me. Yeah. They don't get greedy with it. No, no, no.

[00:03:49] In our annual and also kind of always celebration of queeria dramas, we wanted to try something a little bit different. We love this recommendation. Oh, and as a bonus, this movie, Markova Comfort Gay, two cool things about it. It received a really intense digital restoration in 2019. Mm-hmm.

[00:04:13] And it is, I think the first film that we've covered that actually takes place at least partially in the present. Oh yeah, that's quite true, actually. Also thinking of Persepolis, is there, is there a little bit in Persepolis where she's kind of in the present? She is, she is, right? Because she's, she's in, she's at the airport and then it's all the flashbacks. So yeah. Yeah.

[00:04:38] So this is similar to that and that we have, but we have more kind of scenes and dialogue and characters and stuff going on in present day. So around the year 2000 Philippines. Anyway, I'll get into it with a summary. Yes, please. Okay. So that was the first kind of caveat kind of point that I wanted to make in the timeframe was that because this is an old man talking about his experiences, we get that kind of set up. Mm-hmm.

[00:05:05] But to us, this is a period drama because it tells a story set in a real time and place. And, but especially because this is a, based on a true story from a particular moment in history. I also, before I start the summary, want to do a quick note about pronouns. Mm-hmm. So in the summary, I'll be using he pronouns to refer to Walterina. And that's because all the biographical information that I found uses those pronouns, kind of he, him pronouns.

[00:05:33] And everything I've read seems to indicate that Walterina did too during his lifetime. However, I do want to point out that he did seem to go by the name Walterina in his adult life. And in the film, he's addressed by feminine monikers like cis, he's called cis by his friends. Mm-hmm. He's been a gay person today.

[00:06:03] However, it's clear that he feels like his authentic self is when he presents female. Mm-hmm. So all of that to say that conceptualizations of gender are dynamic. They depend a lot on time and place and individual. In the Philippines, in Walter's time, you can talk a little bit about this, I think, when you talk about interviews with him. Mm-hmm. Like he talks about being with a man as a boyfriend, but saying that man wasn't gay. Yeah. Because he was a real man.

[00:06:31] So like, we can't always conceptualize kind of gender and sexuality in the way that we do and we understand it now. So if Walterina were a young person today, maybe living in the UK or living in the Philippines, he might identify as non-binary or a trans woman. But that isn't an identity that I want to retrofit onto him. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Fair. Is that fair? Okay. That's fair. Then let's talk about this movie.

[00:07:00] I'm drinking from a cat mug because Walterina's catty. And I'm drinking wine because Walterina goes to church a lot. Yes. So the film begins with a card reading, this film is inspired by events in the life of Walter Dempster Jr.

[00:07:20] A woman in a red dress and red heels walks down a city street when suddenly she is stopped and surrounded by soldiers carrying guns with bayonets. And he's, Walterina Markova, played by Dolphi. Is it how it's pronounced? Yes, because stage name, I guess. His name is Rudolpho. So it's Dolphi. Hey, nice. Yeah. He's, yeah. Dolpho Vera Quizon Sr. Known professionally as Dolphi.

[00:07:47] So Walterina Markova, aged 73, wakes up from his nightmare in his bed in the home for golden gays. And he says to the audience, have you heard of a comfort gay? This is the story of my life.

[00:08:01] Walterina lives at the home for the golden gays, which seems to be a rest home for elderly gay men run by a local municipal counselor called JJ and staffed by one sassy gay teenager with hot pants and a boombox. Who, just to be clear from our chat at the top, does scream at them, hey, you gay fossils, breakfast is ready. I fucking love him.

[00:08:32] I'm so mad. It's like the moment he came up, right? You know, like I said, I was filled with a bit of trepidation, you know, like watching this, knowing what the subject matter is. But the moment this guy came across the screen, I was like, ah, it's going to be fine. He really sets the tone. And the tone doesn't change that much as serious as the film gets. Like it all kind of begins and ends with the hot pants and the boombox and the rolling eyes and like chewing gum. Be like, come on, gays.

[00:09:01] So Walterina's life is simple. He teaches beauty walks to Japanese bound entertainers. So he's like teaching girls who are going to go work in Japan how to strut. And he goes to mass. Every day. This sounds like an amazing life to me. I know, right? He's got a mass. He just does his thing. Yeah. He watches documentaries. And he's sassy. When he gets catcalled in the streets, he just goes back or something, you know?

[00:09:31] Yeah. Can't wait to get catcalled on my way to mass when I'm old. Yeah. So one night, the old gays watch a news special hosted by Lauren Lagarda about Filipino women who have come forward seeking justice for their time as comfort women during Japanese occupation during World War II. So just to be clear, if anyone isn't aware, we're going to talk about comfort women. But what this means is basically they were Japanese sex slaves.

[00:10:01] They were enslaved by the Japanese. I have a personal story-ish to add to that. Oh, okay. I look forward to it. Great. I mean, not personal. I mean, I wasn't, you know, born dead then. But it was, you know, linked to my family. But yeah. So watching this news story, Markova gets upset and JJ tries to comfort him. But he really can't get past it. And eventually, Walterina tells JJ he wants to share his story publicly.

[00:10:31] And apparently, JJ and Walterina's friends already know his history. He's been open about it. But he wants to come forward in the same way that Filipino comfort women have been doing. And he wants the world to know specifically about comfort gays. Again, his term. Also, if you're trying to look up this movie, make sure you use the full title. Do not. Yes. Anyway, JJ, being a supportive friend with a bit of power and influence,

[00:10:59] manages to get Lauren Lagarda to come to interview Walterina by telling her that she's going to get the story of another comfort woman named Mrs. Markova. But when Lauren finds out Walterina was a comfort gay, at first she refuses to do the interview. But then she decides to stick around because she's a journalist.

[00:11:21] So Walterina takes us back to his teenage years as Walter in the 1930s, where he, Walter, played by Jeffrey Cousin. Who is his son. Who is his son. Who is Dolphy's son, which is amazing. So Walter grew up in a beautiful house in Manila with his parents, two sisters, and older brother Robert. This is another interesting moment to me when he's talking to Lauren about this. And she was saying, tell me about your family.

[00:11:50] Like, did you have a big family? And he said, oh, there's two girls, two boys. Whoops. Sorry. Three girls and one boy. He's still referring to himself as he and thinks of himself as a man. It is all very. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting, right? I think, yeah, it's very interesting, like, culturally. And even in the interviews, they kind of talk about that a little bit.

[00:12:11] But also, how in Filipino culture, there's a distinction between, like, the bakla, you know, or, like, yeah, a man who sees himself as a woman. And then, like, the real man, or quote-unquote real man, is, like, a man who will sleep with other men. Like, you know. Yes. But they don't kind of, like, present themselves in feminine ways. So, yeah, I think there's this interesting distinction that comes across here.

[00:12:41] So, like, he, I would say that's probably why he says, right, you know, in order for me to present myself in this manner, I have to, like, align myself with the women. And kind of possibly, you know, count myself as one of them. But not really. But, you know, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Anthropologically speaking, this is something that we see a lot where there are different kinds of frameworks for how you understand how gender and sexuality are tied together.

[00:13:08] In a place like the Philippines and other countries around Southeast Asia, you'll have this different kind of distinction between being gay, being considered homosexual, and being feminine or masculine. It's very interesting. Yeah. So, anyway, he has two sisters and he has an older brother, Robert. And Robert is a dick. Walter likes to hang around with girls and get dressed up as a woman in secret.

[00:13:37] But because he's effeminate, he's constantly harassed and beaten up by his older brother. Yeah. This is a total aside, but just kind of historically, I love seeing in the film at this time, which is the 30s, like little bits, you can see little bits of American cultural influence that have like seeped in. Like they're playing basketball. They're like popping up in Coca-Colas and having like sliced bread and stuff like that.

[00:14:07] Like stuff that would have been like relatively new at that time. I mean, like it's only like some of these things are only a few decades old, like in the States and they're coming over to the Philippines at that time. I like those little details. One night, Robert sends Walterina to deliver some black market liquor to his pal Rocco. And when Walter gets there, Rocco brutally forces himself on him, which unfortunately becomes his first sexual experience. It's horrible, yeah.

[00:14:36] Really horrible to watch. But soon after, Rocco brings Robert home after being out drinking and Robert is like vomiting blood. And apparently he was not supposed to drink because of his health. And after like swooning around and spitting some blood all over Walter, Robert dies. I was so happy at that point. I was very, very happy. I was like, yes! And you died painfully and horribly. Good for you. Yeah.

[00:15:04] And this, not specifically the death, although that was also nice. But I think this is my favorite scene in the movie where you have him, young Walter, he's like covered in his brother's blood. Yeah. He goes running into his own room. His brother has literally just died. Mm-hmm. He's still on the porch. And Walter's there with old Walterina, who comes into the scene and they greet each other. And he just says, I'm free. Yeah.

[00:15:33] And he just dances around the room covered in blood. Yes. Good for you. It's joyous. It's joyous, yeah. We jump forward to 1942 when Walterina has an established group of gay cross-dressing friends. So I'm just going to refer to his friends or queens. There's Carmen, Sophie, Anita, and Minerva.

[00:15:56] January 1942 is also when the Japanese arrive to occupy Manila, which you might remember from our episode on Oroplata Mata. Or just like you might know that. Yeah, you know. You might not have learned it from listening to a podcast about a Filipino movie. But, you know, I love callbacks. I love a callback. I love that it's a callback to when I learned that that was a thing.

[00:16:25] Me learning historical information that I probably should have learned in high school in real time. So this group of queens work at the Tsubaki Club as like femme-presenting dancers, like doing belly dancing. And one night they entertain some Japanese officers. And it gets to the point where each of the friends is taken back to a fancy hotel by their officers. So like as a group, they each have an officer and they're all going back to this fancy hotel. And they all go into their rooms.

[00:16:54] But when the officers discover their anatomy, it's very surprising to me that they are surprised by that. Because you would think, not just because like, oh, these look like men. Because that's not necessarily the case. Although Walterina does not skip arm day. Walterina is like a very tall, broad-shouldered person. The person who plays Walterina? I didn't mention this. Oh my gosh, yes.

[00:17:22] So the person who plays Walterina at this time is an older version of Walterina. Not a teenager anymore. Walterina, adult, played by Jeffrey Cousin. Also, the son of Dolphy. I fucking love this, right? It's Dolphy and his two sons who are aged perfectly to play these roles. Oh, it's perfect. It's so good. So fucking good.

[00:17:53] Because that's amazing to watch. They all are such good actors. And they all do this so beautifully. Yeah. What a joy. What a joy to see. Anyway, this is not a joy what we're talking about now. Sorry, back to this bummer scene. But I do have to say that it is weird to me that these Japanese officers don't know what kind of establishment they're going to. Like, do they really think that they were...

[00:18:21] Maybe I have a poor understanding of, like, how they would be presented. Like, were they not like, oh, we're going to this gay club? So apparent. Yeah. So from things that I've read, like interviews with Walterina, what he said was that when they were presented as dancers, they were kind of not presented as cross-dressing dancers. Oh, okay. So even though in the movie, I don't think they're wearing any... Like breastplates? Yeah, breastplates, right? It didn't seem like they were.

[00:18:51] But according to Walterina, that's what they would wear. So they would wear some form of breastplate they would present as women, rather convincingly. Or as he kind of, like, differentiates, he says that, like, okay, Filipino men can tell. But like, the American... If you're cross-dressing. Yeah. You know, according to him, again, this is all just stuff, you know, like, this is based on what he had said to the two, the interviewer.

[00:19:19] So he says that, yeah, like the American men, the American soldiers, the Japanese, they couldn't tell because they were not aware of, you know, what a cisgender female Filipino woman would look like. So I guess basically it was all very new to them. Yeah. So I guess that didn't really come across, you know, in the movie. So we kind of just have to take Walterina's word for it that they really did not realize. But at the same time, I'm like, what do you think was going to happen, darlings? Yeah.

[00:19:49] It's all an unfortunate series of choices. And they certainly didn't deserve the outcome. No, no, no, no. Not just... Not just... Like, you could say, like, yeah, it wasn't, in hindsight, not a good idea to go to a hotel room with these Japanese officers who had a lot of power, who, if they weren't happy with the situation, could make it very, very, like, horrific for you. Yes. Yeah. But, you know, youth. Yeah.

[00:20:17] You know, and they're trying to make the best of... I mean, I think, you know, if you think about it, right? Like, what was happening at the time, Japanese occupation, again, I'm... everything I'm taking from it is just based on my own familial historical knowledge, right? Because, you know, in Singapore, we went through the Japanese occupation as well. And my grandparents, you know, lived through it. And everything I heard about, it was just this horrible, horrible time, you know?

[00:20:43] Time of fear, time of scarcity, starvation, just horrible things happening, right? So I can only imagine that these young people were just trying to make the best out of the hell that they were already living in. Yeah. Trying to make money. But... And also, I didn't consider what kind of choice would they have if they've got Japanese officers saying, you're going to come back to my hotel room now. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:21:11] But the upshot is, the officers are not happy. They have soldiers come in and drag the friends out to a truck, which takes them to some kind of a warehouse. Mm-hmm. There are lots of sacks of grain. I don't know what's in those sacks. They're trapped there overnight. They're, like, chained the door. And in the morning, a group of soldiers comes back to rape them all at gunpoint. Yeah. It's horrible, horrible scene. Definitely the most graphic scene. Mm-hmm.

[00:21:41] Yeah. And this begins a period of time for Walterina and his friends as comfort gays, which is, I guess, just part of the everyday life and, like, entertainment of Japanese soldiers in Manila. Mm-hmm. So there's this really interesting kind of montage scene, and not in a fun way. Yeah.

[00:22:00] Where we're seeing Japanese soldiers and officers being entertained at the theater and in these other ways, and then also, like, going and raping this group of friends. Yeah. So that it's all just kind of the same. Mm-hmm. Like, this is how they're just passing the time. Mm-hmm. Which is really horrific. We don't get much other detail about this time period, how long they're there.

[00:22:26] But older Walterina explains that they were able to escape at some point, like, quote, when the bombing started, which could be as early as, like, October 1944, like, late 1944, early 1945. Mm-hmm. This would mean that potentially the friends spent two, maybe close to three years enslaved. Although, again, from what I've, what I read, it seemed as if it wasn't that long. Okay. About four weeks.

[00:22:57] Long enough. Look, that's long enough. Okay. That makes me feel, that makes me feel a lot better. For Walterina, because I was imagining, literally, that they are in this situation. For years. For years. Yeah. Apparently, they were moved from, like, one place to another. So it wasn't so much that they were taken from the club itself. They were at a club, and they didn't have any patrons, really, that night. So they kind of, like, went for a walk.

[00:23:25] And they were going to go to the Lunetta Hotel. And then as they were walking in front of this place called Rizal Park, that's where they met four Japanese officials who then took them to the hotel. Yeah. And everything apparently happened as, you know, you described. And the place that they took them to was kind of what's known as the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium. And then they were then kind of later on moved.

[00:23:52] So they were there for about two weeks, and they were moved to this other place. And then aside from that, so we, you know, obviously, we, yeah, we see them being raped repeatedly, you know, day after day. What isn't represented is that they were also forced to do manual labor. They were forced to wash and clean the Japanese officer's clothes. They were forced to move things around. They were just used in many ways, in horrible ways.

[00:24:17] But of course, yeah, I guess the main atrocity, you know, that they suffered was that they were raped repeatedly. No, I just like, I'm just like seized with upset. And so it's hard for me to transition from that, be like, cool, moving on. No, it's just, it's horrible. And it's just the way which she describes it. And what was so interesting also in the interview, right, and also in the movie, which you'll see, because it goes back and forth, right, between the present and the past. Yeah.

[00:24:46] Like President Walter Rina is, when he talks about it, he's like, yeah, well, that happened. Yeah. It was horrible, but yeah. I mean, there's no rules about trauma. No, no. Yeah, exactly. Which is so, which is so interesting, right? You know, you can't, you can't, you can't go in going all right. You know, he'll be, he should be bursting out into tears. Like he's handling everything in the way he handles it. It's personal to him. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, I was interrupting you. No, no, no.

[00:25:16] So they, they did escape. Did Walter Rina say anything else more specific about their escape? Yes. So they were, they escaped. They were basically being transported somewhere else. Ah. Yeah. And then while they were being transported, there was some, the truck had some engine problems. And that was when they, they, they took the opportunity to just run. Oh my God. Yeah. I mean, can you just imagine like, yeah, it was, it's just crazy. So yeah. So I know he didn't say too much about it, right, in the movie.

[00:25:46] He just says, oh, we escaped during the bombings and stuff like that somewhere else. One of the things about, about Walter Rina is that he seems to be one of, if not the only comfort gay to come out and talk about his story publicly. So I'm just imagining this world in which they had this escape attempt and he was killed. Yeah. Would we have just never known this? I know. I guess so. I don't like it. I don't like it. Hmm.

[00:26:16] So things get a little hazy with the story after their escape, but they stay living together. They managed to stay together for a while. But one friend, Sophie, decides to seek revenge by soliciting soldiers for sex out in the street and then stabbing them a lot. Again, I would kind of love to see it. Mm-hmm.

[00:26:41] Unfortunately, she eventually is caught and she's tortured and dies in Fort Santiago prison. And around the same time, another of the friends, Carmen, is accused of stealing and like chained to a fence wearing a sign that says thief in Tagalog. But she survives. So at some point during the liberation, Walter Rina just says the liberation.

[00:27:06] I'm assuming he means like the Battle of Manila, which around February 1945. The friends, like when ground war started in Manila, that's when the friends became separated and then only Walter Rina and Anita managed to stay together. So now living in Walter Rina's family home with his mother, they go back to performing in drag.

[00:27:34] I just, this is, this is a beautiful thing about this movie and Oro Plata Mata. Just the, the depiction of the mundane kind of funny things that you just have to get on with during times of war is amazing. Good for his mom. Good for his mom. And yeah, and he did say his mom was totally fine as a young age. He came up to his mom, his mom's like, okay, whatever. He came up to his father, his father's like, I don't care.

[00:28:04] I'm just, I'm just going to ignore this. His, his sisters loved it, but were also kind of jealous of him because he was prettier than them. That's what he says. Yeah. So, you know, yeah. So they're performing in drag and this time for American servicemen at the USO club. And this is when Walter Rina takes her stage name, Walter Rina Markova, after the dancer, Alicia Markova.

[00:28:28] And at some point he reunites with Carmen and the three friends, Anita, Walter Rina and Carmen start rebuilding their fabulous gay lives. And Walter Rina then starts a career as a successful makeup artist for theater and film. Later in life, Anita contracted HIV and died from AIDS and Carmen died from heart disease, but Walter Rina maintained his bond with them up until their deaths.

[00:28:59] Back in the present, having told his story to Lauren Lagarda, Walter Rina like worries that he won't be believed. And when Lauren says she'll be investigating his story, he's deeply offended. And he takes the tape off her saying, come back when you believe me. And later in his room, Walter Rina puts on makeup, a dress, and this beautiful purple feathered turban.

[00:29:22] And in an iconic final scene, he dances in a dreamscape in a purple gown accompanied by his younger self and his teenage self in these complimentary dresses. It's gorgeous. It is. And the final card reads, Walter Dempster Jr., brackets Markova, still lives in the home for Golden Gays, a project of Pasay City counselor Justo C. Justo.

[00:29:52] His life remains basically the same. He goes to church every day and trains Japan-bound entertainers. The end. Very nice. Good for him. Yeah, what a life. Also, what? The home for Golden Gays is real. It is real. It is real. So I'm just going to start with that then. Yeah. It's a non-profit organization, supported elderly LGBTQ people, established in 1975 by Justo Justo.

[00:30:22] And there are about 40 active members of the organization now, colloquially known as the Lolas. Basically, Lola is Filipino for grandmother. Aww. Yeah. So originally, it was in Justo's house, like his own house. It does look like just a house. Yeah, exactly. But then, when Justo died, literally the day after his death, all the members were evicted. What? Yeah.

[00:30:51] So it was quite horrible. It was quite sad. Yeah. So they were evicted and the people who had families went back to their families and the people who didn't kind of had to kind of float around. And they still hold drag shows and community outreach programs once a month to get funding, to cover groceries, healthcare. They try to take care of each other and also take up odd jobs. So, you know, yeah, you can go online and see how you can support them. Oh, brilliant. Yeah. So really, they still do it. It's beautiful.

[00:31:20] Like, some beautiful articles of the end have all these elderly Filipino drag queens all beautifully dressed up. You'll see them in all their glory. So, please. Does Drag Race Philippines do anything with them? I don't know. I don't know. I'm going to find out now. Yeah, they should. You know, this is so wonderful. Yeah. So they do. They try to take care of each other. Um, that's, that's all I could find out about it, really. Should we put a link to it in our show notes? Yeah. Let's go. Let's go look for it. Yeah.

[00:31:50] So, you know, go support, please support Home for the Golden Gays. Walter Rina lived so, but he was about, what, 73 or so, right? When he, when he had the interview. He lived for another 10 more years. Nice. Yay. You know. Oh, no. Slightly less than, he passed away at age of 81 when he was hit by a cyclist. But, bless him. I mean, okay, yes, that's horrible.

[00:32:14] But if you're Walter Rina and you've seen two of your very closest friends go out from disease, then I could see wanting, preferring to go out kind of with a bang. With a bang? Yeah. Yeah. You know, so good for him. Not so many. Yeah, good for him. 81. Yeah. That's a good, yeah. And if he had lived a nice, good life, you know, in his last few years, just continuing

[00:32:41] to just go to church, do his thing, and continue to train these performing artists who were going to Japan, why not? Yeah. You know? So the film was released on Christmas Day. Woo! It's a Christmas movie! It is a Christmas movie. It was one of the official entries for the 26th Metro Manila Film Festival. And it won, that's where it won.

[00:33:06] Sorry, it was where Jeffrey, who plays the Walter Rina, the younger Walter Rina, won the best supporting... What a weird competition! What a weird competition! I know! It's like, ooh, I'm up against my little brother and my dad. Yeah. Yeah, so Jeffrey won Best Supporting Actor. So he won that at the Metro Manila Film Festival, as well as the 24th Gawad Urien Awards. And in 2002, it was included in the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and the San Francisco

[00:33:35] International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Yeah, it's pretty cool, right? I'm so glad that it's had, that it had its digital glow up. So for those of you who are living in the UK or not sure about elsewhere, you can find this film in all of its digitally remastered glory with subtitles. You can rent it or buy it on Apple TV. Can you also get it on Amazon Prime or am I thinking of something else?

[00:34:04] No, I think it was just Apple TV. It was just Apple TV, yeah. I also found it on YouTube without subtitles. Oh, okay. So yeah, if you, you know, do understand Tagalog, I'm assuming it's, that's the language being spoken. Then yeah, go watch it on YouTube. And you know, apparently there's also a movie as a musical, Gigi at Waterina Ang Musical. Okay, I'm sorry. I just, I'm sorry, what?

[00:34:34] A musical is based on a film that focused on what happened behind the scenes in the movie featuring Markova and Giusto. Like, we're figuring out what to do with the money they received from the film rights. That is so strange. Why is that a thing? I don't know why it's a thing, but I thought that's what I found. Could you make that, okay, aside from that, which seems, which seems just like a fever dream. 2024. What?

[00:35:04] You waited 22 years and then you... Wait, sorry. This was in 2018. Still though. Okay, forget that. I'm going to, I'm going to try to forget about that. You could make a movie, a musical out of this movie though, I think. I think you could. Yeah. Yeah. And there you go. You'd have an opening number done by the kid in hot pants. And it would be called Wake Up Gay Fossils. Yes.

[00:35:33] Wake Up Gay Fossils. Oh my God. Oh, I pretty love it. Yeah. So it was... There would also be a, I'm sorry. There would also be a really amazing musical number right after older brother Robert dies. Oh. I'm free. Yeah, that would win, that would win the Tony. Yeah. Yeah, beautiful. And then he'll be like covered in blood. And it's like blood. So, you know, he'll just like, he'll be dancing.

[00:36:02] Dancing in like a rain shower of his blood. He's like, yes, fuck you. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, how he got his name actually. So, you know, we, how he got the name Markova. So he said that he, before the war, he was an exotic dancer and he had some sort of like gay coronation. And it was his friends who, yeah, who basically gave him the name Markova after the Russian ballerina. Oh, they bestowed it on him. Yeah.

[00:36:29] So yeah, so Alicia Markova came to the Philippines to perform. So yeah, he was bestowed upon, you know, it wasn't just like, oh, right. I just, you know, I'm just looking at this and I'm going to pick up the name. It was important. It was bestowed onto him. Yeah. I liked the bit about the makeup. Young Walter putting on the makeup and that whole scene. And he describes it in the interview as well. He said it was just some sort of like, he calls it this Chinese powder and you have to kind of crush it, mix it with water.

[00:36:58] And like, and he just, and then puts it on his face. He quote unquote, like pancake makeup. And then the eyebrows, man, that's like hardcore, right? So he basically, he would burn this matchstick and then blow it out and use the ash. Oh yeah, we see him doing that. We see him doing that. Yeah. You know? And then with the blush and the lipstick, he would say it was basically red crepe paper that he will wet. Paper?

[00:37:29] Crepe paper? C-R-E-P-E. Yeah. Crepe paper. What? Yeah. I know. Innovative, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. So makeup has come such a long way and I still have not cracked it. Me too. Despite my efforts. Yeah. I try. So I like that they included that bit. I thought that was actually really interesting. You know, you're like, hey, I'm just, I'm making do with what I have. Yeah.

[00:37:53] So we talked about when, you know, when he was a performer, he wouldn't be performing as a drag queen, right? You know, he would basically be presenting as a woman. And he had, in the interview, he also said that the American soldiers, the Japanese soldiers, you know, they didn't know. They wouldn't know. I need to know. I need to know what like a 1930s, 1940s breastplate is made of. Ah, yes.

[00:38:21] If they're drying on their eyebrows with like ashes and using paper for lipstick, how are they producing a chestplate? Were they made of rubber? I have no idea. Wouldn't it be kind of fun, actually? I mean, although in the interview, he actually describes having sex with a man. I think it was an American man. And the man didn't know that he was biologically male.

[00:38:47] And he describes it as using his hands to kind of create a little fake vagina. I mean, okay. I don't know how useful it is for me to try to go down this, to dive into this. So he would have sex with men and they would not realize that he had male bits. And they would think that they were having sex with a vagina.

[00:39:16] Again, we had this conversation in M. Butterfly. I don't know why we're revisiting it because it was just us kind of fumbling around, not understanding like how this is happening. And I remember in M. Butterfly, there was some kind of like genital folding and kind of creating or like tucking in, but not in the way you would think to create like an inverted sort of like vagine type of situation.

[00:39:43] And now you're talking about hands being involved. And it basically, the reason I'm sounding so incredulous is because it all seems like so much more choreographed than I could ever be. I know, I could be bothered. Yeah. Good for it. I mean, you know, I appreciate the effort. Yeah. Also, I found, yes, it was rubber. Rubber, rubber boobs. Rubber! Oh my gosh. Yeah. It must have been so hot and heavy. I know. I know. How would they, would they skin match? No, probably not.

[00:40:13] They would just have, it wasn't like a full, like you would see a drag queen now wearing a full chest plate. It would be like, just kind of a thing, like fake breasts in your, in your thing. I guess so. He didn't, he didn't, he didn't go. He just said that. And when customers started to hold my bus, I told them, darling, this is private property. I'm sorry, darling. Well, yeah, it was probably really expensive. Yeah, I know. It's like, bitch, don't touch this shit. Yeah. Oh, that's amazing.

[00:40:43] I love hearing about this kind of craftiness. I know, I know. Good job, right? And we've already covered what really happened to him during this whole row for a few weeks that he was captured. And he did say that, you know, I think in the interview, they asked him like, how do you feel like you're now training these women performers to kind of go and work in Japan, you know? He said, well, you know, he's young Japanese, I don't really care.

[00:41:10] But I do feel this rage if I see an old Japanese man, because I wonder whether, you know, they were around like, did they did, you know, did he do this to me, you know? Oh, God. And it was actually quite interesting. Again, like there's some things that he's, you know, he's talking about this. And I mentioned my own kind of personal link to this is because I remember my mother telling me the story of her mother living through the Japanese occupation.

[00:41:39] So, Comfort Women, there was a thing, it was a thing that was happening in various parts of Southeast Asia, East Asia. There's a whole, there's a whole thing of what happens in Korea. We might cover that, you know, there is an interesting movie which you and I talked about. Yeah. Yeah, so I won't really go into that too much. But just a little bit about Comfort Women. It's hard to know how many that were happening.

[00:42:08] I mean, like how, you know, it was basically from Korea, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Burma, slash Myanmar, Japan, other Asia Pacific regions. This kind of roughly happened between 1932 and 45 as a way to quote, control soldiers' sexual activity, reduce rape. Oh, God. I know, right? No. Limit venereal disease. Obviously, you know, this didn't really happen. Often, the women were taken through various ways, right?

[00:42:38] Coercion, deception, abduction, you know, false job offers. Some historians estimate between anything between 20,000 to 200,000 women. Oh, God. Because it is impossible to know, isn't it? It's impossible to know. Considering how many men this must have happened to as well. Mm-hmm. It's like we don't know about men. Yeah. Yeah. And that we only know this personal story.

[00:43:05] I'm sure he's not the only one, you know, in all of the war that came forward with their story. And I would really, really like to go on a deeper investigation of other Comfort Gays specifically.

[00:43:19] But, yeah, considering the dearth of public stories we have about Comfort Gays when we know now that it must have been happening on a much greater scale than people were aware of for Comfort Women, the number could be mind-boggling. Like, astronomical, right? Yeah. It was either kind of held in, you either like formal setups or informal setups. So, like, I guess, you know, in like what was depicted in the movies, kind of like semi-informal setting.

[00:43:48] But I know, again, just through historical accounts and stuff, like for example, what was happening in Singapore, there were like literally like formal places, like buildings, you know, that these women were held in. Oh, my God. Yeah, like it was just a very formal setting and there was that. That makes it sound clinical. Like, oh, it's so horrific. It is, it is.

[00:44:14] So, just to talk just a little bit about the Philippines, you know, so in the movie, you know, you mentioned that one of the most important Filipina survivors was Maria Rosa Hansen, often called Lola Rosa. So, she first disclosed her experience in 1992. So, that's what he says in the film. He sees her on the TV and then he says, I want to, I want to tell my story the way she told her story. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[00:44:41] And then they kind of, the Filipina survivors and campaigners and stuff, they formed these groups such as Lila Filipina and Malaya Lolas. And they've kind of demanded like, you know, official apologies, historical recognition, legal accountability. Numbers of, you know, Filipina women who were affected by this, again, hard to estimate. Some sources say around 1,000, but could be a hell of a lot more, right? You don't know.

[00:45:11] In 2023, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women found that the Philippines had failed to provide reparation, social support and recognition to survivors of Japanese military sexual activity, sexual slavery. The Philippine government, however, argued that the wartime claims against Japan were settled in the 1956 Treaty of Peace. But obviously the survivors are like, no, this is not good enough. No, it's a total cop out. Yeah, totally.

[00:45:41] And there's a 2025 report that said there are about 25 surviving comfort women and victims of wartime sexual abuse connected to the Malaya Lolas and Lila Filipina. You know, and they're still campaigning. Just, yeah, like I said, sidebar to, you know, what happened. So my grandmother narrowly escaped being taken as a comfort woman. Yeah. Oh God, what happened? Before the Japanese came, it was the British, right, who were occupying basically Singapore colonial rule.

[00:46:09] Then when the Japanese came, they basically fucked off, ran away, you know. And the Eurasians were closely linked to the British by ethnic ties, essentially because of the mixes and stuff. And the fact that they spoke English and they used to work in, like, either like in the government or things associated with the British. So they were especially targeted for various reasons associated with that. It's like, we can't get the British, right? So we're going to get the Eurasian women. Right.

[00:46:37] So what parents and families would do to try to, like, protect their girls would basically be, like, shave their heads. So yeah, my grandmother, she had lots of sisters and stuff. So they were all, their heads were shaved. They would cover their faces with dirt and basically make them as unattractive as possible. Wow. Yeah. And apparently there was just one time when they were in their home or whatever, then the Japanese soldiers came. All the girls hid at the back. And they had brothers. So it was a big family.

[00:47:07] And so the father went out with the brothers to speak to the Japanese. And I somehow managed to convince them that, yeah, these are all the kids I have. Maybe bribe them or whatever not to look in. And that's how they escaped. Because if they had gone in, all the girls would have been taken. Oh my God. Because at that point, they were going door to door looking for girls. So it's not like they were going to say, oh, this one's bald and ugly.

[00:47:36] No, they were just going to take them. They were seeking them out. Yeah. That's horrifying. So your great-grandfather stood between the house and the Japanese soldiers to protect my grandmother, her sisters. Scary, right? So, so scary. That's incredibly scary.

[00:48:02] And it's like thinking about Walterina's story, he also grew up in a family. So obviously, if you were a vulnerable person, then you were much more likely to be exploited. And Walterina grew up in like a nice family and a nice house. And like, I'm sure his sisters were able to, he never talks about his sisters being affected in the way that he was. And so his sisters were probably able to be in some kind of relative safety. Yeah.

[00:48:32] But because of his position in society and because of his sexuality, that made him vulnerable as well. And so that, you know, it's all ugh. Yeah. What isn't ugh? What I found interesting also was how Walterina held on to his Catholicism, you know? Yeah. So we are two Catholic bitches who have known trauma, who have held on to our Catholicism.

[00:48:57] And so this seems natural to me, but I could understand also how this would be really wild to see from like another perspective. Like how could you go through all of that and still believe in God and still like go to mass, let alone every day?

[00:49:15] With the added, you know, thing of the fact that the Catholic Church and their attitudes towards LGBTQ women, LGBTQ people and the complexities around that, right? It's difficult enough, you know, to be somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum and reconciling that with continuing to practice your faith, you know, as you and I do. You know, also as women who identify as queer. Yeah. Right?

[00:49:45] You know, and then you have, then you have all the hell that he went through. Yeah. Well, this is going to sound like a weird brag because I'm, as a comparison to Walterina, but like for him, it speaks to, he is, he's an uncompromising survivor. He's like, I am not just going to survive and get by because we see his other friends struggle and like really kind of crawl their way through life after this.

[00:50:15] And like kind of barely have to like rebuild in a way that Walterina just kind of seems to maintain himself in, in like incredible. And like, how, how did he do that? I don't know. The mental strength, man. Yeah. To just say like, look, I am unapologetically alive and me in the way that I want to be. Yeah.

[00:50:42] And that, I can see how that translates to his faith as well to say like, look, I'm Catholic and I am also this. So, yeah. So, you can deal with that because neither of these identities is changing and you can't tell me no about it. Mm-hmm. And that, like, I am not nearly as resilient as Walterina, but I do feel that way about the church. Yeah. And I feel like, yeah, you, you come as you are.

[00:51:11] Mm-hmm. And everything else had better fucking catch up. Yeah. Exactly. Or, you know, he could just be like, you know what? Everything else is just, it's just there. Right? It's just me and God. Yeah. You know? And clearly, God has no, you and I, we're good. Yeah. Everybody else, they could just sort their shit out. You know? And that's how he. Everyone else saw Walterina being pious every day. Yeah. And said like, oh, okay, maybe, well, maybe I'm the problem then. Mm-hmm.

[00:51:41] If I've got a problem with Walterina. Yep. Exactly. Although, I didn't quite get this funny bit where he's, he's, so he's at the church, right? And then he, and then the counselor guy comes, comes to see him. JJ. You know, JJ comes to see him and what's happening. And then he's like, oh, yeah, you know, I'm, yeah. I have my, I have my, my rosary. And then one of them goes, oh yeah, but this is a Chinese rosary. What does he mean by Chinese rosary? I don't understand. I'm like. No, I know exactly what he means.

[00:52:12] I know exactly what he means. Because, okay. You can cut this out, by the way. I should just really want one. I'm going to cut this out. Okay. Because I have a rosary collection. And there is like a hierarchy of rosary holiness. I mean, obviously, anything that comes from, from, from Rome, the blessed by the Pope, that's like high, high, high up. Yeah, so he's not saying like, oh, this comes from China. And therefore, I think he's saying that this is just like, like a plastic manufactured rosary. This is just like the one I keep in my purse. Yeah.

[00:52:38] You know, like this isn't one of my, like olive wood, beet kind of things. Yeah. Or like the, like, the Pope John Paul one. I have one that was like pressed, like pressed roses. Ooh. That's nice. From Rome itself. Mm-mm-mm. Blessed by the Pope. Mm-mm. I'm sure I got one in Rome. I think one of my favorite ones is actually in the shape of, it's a credit card shape. And you keep it in your wallet. Oh, I know what you mean. So, yes.

[00:53:07] The, the background, like the back face, it glows in the dark. And it's got like raised bumps as the beads. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My mom had one of those. Gotta get those, gotta get them, gotta get all different kinds. Or you could be like me and get it, get your rosary tattooed on your wrist. Boom. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. We have it all the time. So, yeah, you go. This is like a side. Walter with his Chinese rosary. Okay.

[00:53:34] Listeners might not have realized like what they were dealing with. So. Like the level of Catholicism that was going on like in your ears this entire time. But look, it's all about joy. Like, right. You know, that's, that's, that's what I love. That's why I enjoyed the movie. Right. Like Walter was just, Walterina was filled with just, you know, even as he's telling his story, he's living his life. He's just filled with joy.

[00:54:04] Yeah. Yeah. And peace. And he's like, I'm just happy to be alive. And, and, and you see that in the, um, in the interviews as well. Like he, that's what he says. He was like, I'm just happy to be alive. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I look, I can understand the other side of that. I can understand like people have been through trauma and I've seen interviews with comfort women who absolutely don't feel that. No. And they don't, they're not saying, oh, it happened in the past. Yeah. Uh, like, yes, I want people to know about it, but I'm not going to sit here being sad about it. You can sit there being sad about it.

[00:54:34] You can sit there and fucking cry about it. You can say, I hate God about this. Or like, obviously there is no God because I had to go through this. Like all of that is, is incredibly valid. Yep. But this is Walterina story and, and it's beautiful. And he's my new role model. Basically. And that's how he wanted to be. And, you know, and that's how he presented himself and that's how the movie presented him. And I'm happy for that. Can I, okay.

[00:55:02] Not to shift too soon to awards. Oh, but no, I'm done. Okay. Okay. Because I say Walterina, Walterina is my new role model. That is true. However, I have a really catty award. Oh, okay. Del. I have a really catty award to give to Walterina for worst brow blocking in a period drama. That sounds really bad.

[00:55:26] But like, especially in the digitally remastered scenes, we get old Walterina closeups. You can see everything that's going on with Walterina's makeup, including that he blocks his brows with some kind of foundation, his natural brows with foundation, and then paints on like a very, very thin arched brow over. That is fine.

[00:55:52] But the blocking, like there is no attempt to like tame the brow underneath. And it's all just super, super caked, like makeup. He didn't use glue. Yeah. He looks like he should use glue. Glue would flatten it down. There's no flattening. It's all just like... He didn't use glue. Yeah. It looks like wood filler for facial hair. It looks terrible.

[00:56:17] And I feel comfortable being critical about that because Walterina is meant to be a makeup artist. True. And to be a professional makeup artist. You should know how to block and draw on your brows. There's no excuse for that, Walterina. Walterina. I mean, you know what? We hope he's just slipshod with himself, right? Yeah. But he does beautiful work for the people he works on. So, you know, one can only hope. I'm sure.

[00:56:46] It's the last level of self-love that Walterina needed to learn. Yeah. I mean, he just splashes face with water every day. I love that. Cold water. He wakes up cold water. Yeah, like Joan Crawford to maintain his youth. I know. So cute. My award, I desperately wanted to give my award to the young man who was working, the young sassy man, boy who was working at, you know, the Home for Golden Gays, right?

[00:57:14] And you reminded me of the whole, what would he say? Wake up you. Gay fossils? Gay fossils. Yeah. Yeah. You know? And yeah, so my award is for best employee training. You're like, where JJ's like, you can say anything to them, just do not call them old. You can call them whatever you want. Just don't call them old. I'm like, yes. Yeah. Have some respect. Yeah. So there we go.

[00:57:45] I can't, I can't wait. Okay. Look, the future is bleak. Yeah. For all of us. But just thinking that someday out there, there could be maybe some kind of amalgamation between the Home for Golden Gays and the Golden Girls. Yeah. And that could be the future for everyone. Yeah. I mean, we just need to set up, you know, like community living, man. That's what I want. That's what I want for my life.

[00:58:14] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just well ventilated, you know, maybe buy a body of water. Mm-hmm. Just some cats. Yeah. Some youthful employees. Mm-hmm. And breakfast. And they can call me whatever, whatever, whatever they want. Just don't say I'm old. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. I would never have known about or watched this movie, I don't think, if it weren't for

[00:58:44] our friend Davry recommending this to us, our friend who also recommended Oro Plata Mata. So thank you for that. And please, please send us more of your recommendations. We're always looking for more queeria dramas, things with queer joy, things in languages that aren't English. But also, you know, we love everything. So yeah, send us what you love. Yeah. And you can do that by visiting our Instagram at Fetch Smelling Salts, or you can email us

[00:59:15] at FetchSmellingSalts at gmail.com. You can also find us on our podcast daddy's website, Pedomity.com. Woo-hoo! Yay! Well, now I'm going to go and look at my eyebrows in the mirror, because I have these like super thin 90s eyebrows, so I might need to do some brow blocking. I need to learn. No, you need to do the, you don't, you don't need to brow block because you've got nothing to block. Oh, you know what I need to do?

[00:59:41] I need to go burn a matchstick and use that and draw my eyebrows. Draw more eyebrows on with the matchstick. Okay, look, I think I need to go and work on Markova the Musical. Yes. Because I've already got the overture and I've got the Tony Award winner. And then just think, think of the choreography, like think of the dance sequence for the end. Brilliant.

[01:00:08] Yeah, so it has to be done and it has to be done by, by moi. Who knows really nothing about musicals or music? Sorry. I don't make the rules. Okay. And until then, we'll all say goodbye. Goodbye. It's all finished.

[01:00:34] This podcast is part of Pedomity, the UK's podcast comedy network. Why not laugh at what else we've got? Visit Pedomity.com.