Jennica Garcia was nervous on the set of Sisa.
The historical thriller, directed by the award-winning Jun Robles Lana, is not an easy story to tell. Beyond tackling the final, doomed days of the war between the Philippines and America, Sisa dives deep into the lives of the Filipino women who paid the real price of the bloodshed. Deceit, death, and an insurmountable grief all play a part in the film, with Hilda Koronel leading the charge as its titular character, out for revenge.
Garcia, in turn, was given the challenge of playing Leonor, a young widow who has become the town pariah for allegedly sleeping with Commander Harrison (or “Eddie,” as she calls him in private). Pushed onto the outskirts of the village by her fellow neighbors, Leonor begins to believe more and more in the Americans’ promise of a peaceful, “civilized” future for the Philippines.
For Garcia, Sisa proved to be the most difficult film she’d ever taken on since she began acting at 17. “I think this was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she told Rolling Stone Philippines. “I had anxiety the entire time we were doing Sisa.”
Despite having worked in Philippine show business for almost two decades, Garcia claimed that she still possessed the same shyness that she had as a teenager when she first worked with Lana on the GMA sitcom series, Boys Nxt Door. “Direk Jun was really one of my first directors,” said Garcia. “Before, when I was starting out, lagi akong nangangapa. I wasn’t sure of what I was doing. I never really had a formal acting workshop. But when I got to work with Direk Jun, siya talaga ‘yung nagbigay sa akin ng confidence ko.”
According to Garcia, Lana was the first director to see her potential as an actress. “I don’t think I’ve even told him this, but I don’t think he even has an idea of what I really feel about him as a director,” she said. “Direk, if it wasn’t for you, I don’t think I’d make it this far.”
On Tricky Lines
So when Lana’s production team reached out to Garcia about starring in his latest film, she immediately leapt at the chance to work with her favorite director again. But it wasn’t until she began reading Lana’s script, written in complete, traditional Tagalog (Sisa is set in 1902, after all), that she began to feel the challenges of the role.
“Hirap pala ako sa deep Tagalog,” said Garcia. “Comfortable man ko with Bisaya, English, pero… these are lines that you really don’t say on the daily. I had to take speech lessons for Sisa kasi may punto man ko. And the thing with me is that I need to memorize all my lines beforehand so that when we shoot, I’m only thinking of my emotions. I cannot do both at the same time.”
When it came time to shoot, Garcia recalled her scenes requiring multiple retakes because she was struggling with her lines. It reached a point that even her co-stars were beginning to notice her nervousness. “Miss Hilda would hold me and tell me, ‘Huy, you’re shaking,’” recalled Garcia. “I was getting so nervous and shy after so many takes, but she’d always tell me, ‘Relax, don’t worry.’ She was very motherly.”
“I really hope that they see how women can be powerful.”
“I realized when I was doing Sisa, na parang… na-question ko kung marunong nga ba ko, kung artista ba talaga ko,” continued Garcia. “There were moments when I knew, in my heart, that I could have done better.”
However, it was Lana’s push to retake scenes that helped Garcia find her way back again to playing Leonor. “I think Direk Jun could notice when I was just trying to get things over and done with,” said Garcia. “Because even if I perfected the line, he would ask for another take. And… I have this desire, with every project, to please my director. Gusto ko na isipin nila, ‘Tama, siya nga dapat si Leonor.’ I didn’t want them to think of any other actor to play that role.”
On Finding Leonor
And on the subject of playing Leonor, Garcia recalled working closely with Lana to flesh out such a complex character. Unlike the other women in the main ensemble of Sisa, Leonor’s allegiances are never cut and dry. Caught between caring for her fellow Filipinos and staying with the American commander she’s fallen in love with, Leonor finds herself unable to completely stand with one side.
“I realized when I was doing Sisa, na parang… na-question ko kung marunong nga ba ko, kung artista ba talaga ko.”
But for Garcia, it was easy to find the humanity in Leonor’s inner conflict. “Leonor is very much in love,” said Garcia. “She finds validation in her love interest. And… I don’t think Leonor is a woman who really knows who she is yet. She believes that she is who her romantic partner says she is.”
“It was very easy for me to understand where Leonor is coming from because I was once like her,” Garcia added. “I was very dependent on my romantic partner before, and I also didn’t know who I really was. My identity was based on how he saw me and treated me.”
Garcia also noted that it helped that her female co-stars were so supportive of her, both onset and in between takes. “The camaraderie was always there,” she recalled. “We would support each other, swap stories with each other, share our Jisulife [fans] with each other. Everything that we had, we shared to make the working experience lighter for all of us. Not a single actor had an attitude.”
The power of Women
The months after wrapping Sisa have been busy for Garcia, who has three more films coming out in the near future. “I don’t have a day off for March, April, and May,” she joked. “I just finished filming Andoy, this horror film,” she said, “and I’ll be shooting in Iloilo, Butanes, and Mindoro for two untitled films.”
Although she was quick to recall all the difficulties she had on the set of Sisa, Garcia noted that she was ultimately satisfied with her portrayal of Leonor. “My favorite part about Leonor is that she’s on this journey,” she said, “of realizing that a woman can stand her own ground while accepting her own faults.”
When asked what she hopes audiences take away from Leonor, Garcia had to take a second before replying. “Well, I hope they don’t think that women are evil,” she said with a laugh. “But I hope that they see how women can be powerful.”
Garcia also emphasized that the film carries a much larger message for Filipino audiences who watch it, and that she hopes that they leave cinemas carrying it with them. “For Filipinos,” she said, “I hope they see… Ang Filipino ay malakas kapag nagkakaisa.”
Sisa is currently screening in Philippine cinemas nationwide.
Styling Edlene Cabral
HMUA Edenikka Tawiran
