Imelda

Running time: N/A

She could change her shoes every day for eight years and still not wear the same pair twice. Her beauty and charm won over the likes of Colonel Khadafi, General MacArthur and Irving Berlin. She survived an assassination attempt, exile and over 150 charges of corruption and human rights abuse and is still convinced that she is the beloved symbol of her people and country. Widow of the late Ferdinand Marcos, exiled president of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos rose to power as a diplomat and Governor of Manila during the twenty-year reign of her husband. Because of the Cold War and the strategic military location of the country, the Marcoses garnered profit from close ties with the United States, maintained a stranglehold on the government, and thrust the Philippines into the world's spotlight. By the time of their forced exile in 1986, her beauty, cosmopolitan bearing and ruthlessness, arguably, had transformed Imelda into the richest and most powerful woman in the world. Director Ramona S. Diaz captures Imelda's unique character through home movies, archival footage and rare candid interviews. Whether expounding idiosyncratic cosmology, complaining that her would-be assassin chose too ugly a weapon or passing out autographed pictures to the poor, Imelda remains a stellar beauty with a talent for self-delusion. Imelda is a provocative and savagely entertaining film about power, egotism and deception. - Meredith Sherter Benston