History Literature / Dekada70

* TheCameo: Major TV personality Kris Aquino[[note]]who also happens to be the daughter of Ninoy Aquino, the Marcos regime's most prominent opponent and its eventual martyr in 1983, with Cory Aquino, who then became the opposition's figurehead and succeeded Marcos as President due to the non-violent People Power Revolution in 1986[[/note]] as a student activist during the First Quarter Storm in 1970, making her very distinctive shrill voice heard through a megaphone.

* BananaRepublic: Although set in Southeast Asia (but then again, it ''was'' a Spanish colony too for 300+ years), the Philippines under Martial Law is effectively this, with the Marcos dictatorship insidiously pursuing and brutally suppressing all opposition, including [[LaResistance the rebel movement which Jules joins and Eman supports]], and making the country a corporate playground for multinational (usually American) {{Mega Corp}}s and a welcome mat for [[EvilColonialist the U.S. military]], in the form of the giant bases.

This was the Philippines' entry for [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestForeignLanguageFilm Best Foreign Language Film]] in the [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward 76th Academy Awards]]. A theatrical musical adaptation is due out in 2020.

* TheCameo: Major TV personality Kris Aquino[[note]]who also happens to be the daughter of Ninoy Aquino, the Marcos regime's most prominent opponent and its eventual martyr, with Cory Aquino, who later led the People Power "Revolution" against Marcos and succeeded him as President[[/note]] as a student activist during the First Quarter Storm in 1970, making her very distinctive shrill voice heard through a megaphone.

This was the Philippines' entry for [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestForeignLanguageFilm Best Foreign Language Film]] in the [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward 76th Academy Awards]].

* PuppetState: The radicalised Jules and Eman (as well as their friends and colleagues in the university and rebel movement) fervently believe this is all the Philippines really is: a puppet (and not even a particularly subtle one) of the United States, with its [[MegaCorp|s]] draining the national economy and its government propping up Marcos and having free rein on the giant military bases. TruthInTelevision.

* AdultFear: Imagine raising five children in the middle of a dictatorship. Any or all of them could one day disappear in the night without prior warning and for no apparent reason, and you're faced with the sadistic roulette wheel of seeing them jailed, tortured, and/or killed, or simply never seeing them again, among other options. Plus, they're mostly minors—and boisterous, outspoken boys at that—so they don't act or think very maturely, and thus are always at risk of doing or saying things that could easily make them a target by the regime. Whether it was intentional or accidental doesn't matter, and even if your kids have no obvious political activities or leanings whatsoever, even if they're actual children, they're all still fair game. Not to mention all this was a full generation before cellphones or email or instant messaging, which means if they have no access to a telephone (as is most likely the case for Jules when he goes out into the provinces), they're as good as gone.

* TwentyMinutesInThePast

* TheQuisling: When Gani announces his intent to apply with the U.S. Navy, his elder brother Jules—who has in the meantime become an anti-American activist—wonders if he hasn't become this. [[MoneyDearBoy Gani, of course, sees it differently.]]

Pronounced ''Dekada Sitenta'', this [[UsefulNotes/{{Philippines}} Filipino]] novel was written in TheEighties by author Lualhati Bautista, depicting the struggles of a typical Filipino family trying to survive the Martial Law regime under the dictator UsefulNotes/FerdinandMarcos, which defined most of TheSeventies in the Philippines, for which the novel is named. The novel revolves around the five-child, solidly middle-class Bartolome family, headed by the conservative breadwinner Julian, and TheNarrator Amanda, who has to balance her role as disciplinarian to her five sons with an inner feminist spirit encouraging her to find work—to support the family, yes, but also for her own sense of fulfilment.

This was the Philippines' entry for [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestForeignLanguageFilm Best Foreign Language Film]] in the 76th UsefulNotes/{{AcademyAward|s}}.

This was the Philippines' entry for [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestForeignLanguageFilm Best Foreign Language Film]] in the 76th {{UsefulNotes/AcademyAward|s}}.

This was the Philippines' entry for [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestForeignLanguageFilm Best Foreign Language Film]] in the 76th UsefulNotes/AcademyAward|s.

This was the Philippines' entry for [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestForeignLanguageFilm Best Foreign Language Film]] in the 76th UsefulNotes/AcademyAward.

** Bingo's formal given name is Benjamin—the youngest of the brood, like his [[TheBible Biblical]] namesake.

* FascistsBedTime: The notorious Martial Law-era curfew gives the Bartolomes no end of trouble when their boys stay out late at night. Part of what makes the search for Jason so harrowing is that if he's caught out of doors after midnight, the police will instantly round him up—if not worse. [[spoiler:(Eventually, of course, it comes to the worst possible conclusion—he's found brutally murdered.)]]

* MeaningfulName: Bingo's formal given name is Benjamin—the youngest of the brood, like his [[TheBible Biblical]] namesake.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Take a guess what era this novel/movie is set in. Go on.

* TheSeventies: Well, duh.

* ShoutOut: To Creator/KhalilGibran. Part of his poem "On Children" makes an appearance, in Tagalog translation. The book mistook him for {{India|n}}, though.

* ShoutOut: To Creator/KhalilGibran. Part of his poem "On Children" makes an appearance, in Tagalog translation. The book mistook him for UsefulNotes/{{India|n}}, though.

* ShoutOut: To Creator/KhalilGibran. Part of his poem "On Children" makes an appearance, in Tagalog translation.
** Although the book gets his nationality wrong by assuming he was from UsefulNotes/{{India}}.

* EagleLand: Played with. The overweening flavour is Type 2, given Washington's support of the Marcos regime and American {{Mega Corp}}s effectively monopolising Filipino production and consumption, which quite reasonably causes the radicalisation of Jules and Eman. Gani, however, sees a Type 1 Eagleland, noting (and this is TruthInTelevision) that joining the U.S. Navy will provide him a steady paycheck and benefits besides—not to mention a green card. Julian appears to see more of Type 1 in America as well, given he likely came of age in the "Liberation" of Manila during WorldWarII, supports the (U.S.-backed) Marcos regime, and ribs Gani about bringing home fancy American imports (Blue Seal cigarettes in the novel, Johnnie Walker whiskey in the movie).

* DirtyCommies: The NPA (New People's Army, the armed wing of the new Communist Party of the Philippines [[note]]"new" because this Maoist-oriented party was founded in 1968, displacing an older, Marxist-Leninist party of the same name founded in 1930[[/note]]) is the general scapegoat of the Marcos regime and its stated primary justification for declaring Martial Law, but its rank-and-file are humanised in the persona of Jules