Embracing (1992)

Just like an embrace, it needs the wisdom to know when to hold on and when to let go.

Unlike how most films or shows portray that growing up with your parents being absent can completely damage you as a person, Naomi thought otherwise. She didn't live in complete misery for her parents' absence, neither did she live as if yearning for the incomplete part of her.

Naomi's search for her father was not merely about her yearning for him, but it was mostly about the need or desire to know. I think Naomi is a person who is filled with wonder and curiosity. It is even evident in this experimental documentary of hers. She's very observant and in awe even about the simplest of things that are surrounding her. She wants to know everything around her. I think this desire to know is what led her to live more in the wonder of tomorrows instead of living in wander in the past.

E M B R A C I N G

When we hear this word, the initial thought might be of encircling or enclosing someone in one's arms. Though, embracing can also mean "to welcome" or "an acceptance". It is not merely the attachment, but also the detachment—peacefully letting go of something or someone: embracing the reality of a certain circumstance or person because no amount of action or decision can change it anymore.

This experimental documentary of Naomi has been just that: an embrace. She desires to be close enough and really know those that she deems important to her and to accept and welcome them as they are. Then, letting go if necessary, because change is the only constant in this world. Her grandmother warned her about the search for her father, but she thought otherwise and refused the negative aspects that might come after. Her grandmother was afraid because of the ugly past, but she is willing to let the ugly past go since she was more curious about the present.

It might be that the past can happen again or the present and the future are another place—another canvas that need their own story and colour. Just like an embrace, it needs the wisdom to know when to hold on and when to let go.

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