Imelda

Ramona Diaz's documentary film Imelda brilliantly delves into the life and merit of Imelda Marcos, offering a rare and stunning glimpse of one of the world's richest and most powerful women. Imelda herself guides the viewer through her life story, from her days as a young beauty queen through her whirlwind romance with the future president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos. The young Imelda had to adjust quickly to life in the spotlight as a politician's wife and overtime developed into a highly influential person in her own right. As a de facto ambassador, Imelda negotiated meetings with world leaders while simultaneously hosting late-night parties for New York's hoi polloi.

This exquisite film tells more than one version of the same story. The film deftly crosscuts between the views of Mrs. Marcus and her confidantes to vastly differing accounts from opponents and journalists once imprisoned under her husband's martial law. Unprecedented access to the first lady, combined with remarkable personalfootage chronicling Ferdinand and Imelda's lives, makes the film both intriguing and haunting.

As Imelda's son puts it, "get beyond the shoes" and allow this fascinating story of power gone awry, and one woman's supreme ability to reinvent herself time and time again, to captivate and enlighten you.