Average Rating: 7.3/10
Reviews Counted: 35
Fresh: 33 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 15
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 98
Yes, she loves shoes. But Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines and two-time presidential hopeful, is passionate about more than just her soles. Offering an objective look at Marcos's often controversial life and political career via interviews with her fans, critics and the woman herself, this thought-provoking documentary examines one of history's most colorful examples of female leadership.
May 31, 2005
All Critics (37) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (34) | Rotten (2) | DVD (1)
Makes up for what it lacks in political and historical depth by providing a stunning study in the sheer imperviousness of the unchecked and over empowered ego.
Mostly it's Marcos' mysterious sway over those who stood to lose the most from her power, coupled with her amazing inability to face that fact, that makes Imelda maddeningly fascinating.
At its most acridly useful when comparing the former first lady's recollections with others' less sanguine memories.
Even though Marcos, in this film, provides enough material for a few hundred giggles and head-shakings, she also shows a pathetically human side.
In addition to being a shrewd character study, Diaz's sharply assembled film reminds us that charm can be as toxic as anything else when it comes to acquiring, holding and abusing power.
Fascinating and impressively balanced.
If the shoe fits, go for it, Cinderella might advise. But how about 3,000 pairs of them.
If the shoe fits, go for it, Cinderella might advise. But how about 3,000 pairs of them.
Imelda is not just in a league of her own, but in a universe of her own.
[Documents] a once-in-a-lifetime development of a certain personality type, the result of which isn't as simple to pin down as we'd expect.
does history a great service
Both enlightening and entertaining.
There may be no new revelations in Imelda, but the film still proves highly instructive in the ways in which power corrupts and politics attracts the opportunistic.
Diaz's portrait of Imelda Marcos attempts to get beyond the shoe thing, into the gothic heart of 40 years of Philippine politics.
As glossy as its subject's heavily lacquered trademark coiffure.
Instead of enabling Marcos to tell the world how caring she is, the movie gives her enough rope to hang herself, and she does, again and again.
Although the fact that Imelda does most of the talking begins to feel like election year rhetoric or just plain propaganda, there's something perversely fascinating in listening to such sincere self-deception.
The sole conclusion you can make at the end of Diaz's repetitive film is that Madam Marcos is as mad as a hatter.
This was really good, but later on it kinda becomes weird and Imelda starts sounding a bit strange. I don't remember if the movie went into the Marcos crimes but I didn't find it as a brainwashing kind of film that paints the pair as innocents.
October 31, 2009gawd, what a deludenoid. imelda has such a distorted view of herself and of life in general, i'm no longer sure whether to feel more of disgust or more of pity for her. that crap about the apple computer - is she for real? Yo, mama!
April 14, 2005
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