Back To The Past

Just finished revisiting Donnie Darko again. Not the director’s cut though, I missed that when it screened at the theatres last month. And almost serendipitously, I am also reading The Time Traveller’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger:



Interesting book, it’s about a man who travels back in time to interact with his wife at various stages of her life- when she’s six, when she’s a teen, and when she’s in her 20’s. It’s an original concept that keeps me riveted and negligent of the fact that it’s essentially a Nicholas Sparks-y (i.e. sappy) love story. I don’t know the ending yet, but based on Mel’s wet-eyed response after putting the book down I would say it ends sadly, the way the best tear-jerkers do.

But time travel. As far back as I can remember the concept has always intrigued me. I remember writing a short story for English class about a teenage boy who, along with his prom date (of course!), goes back in time in his Corolla-cum-time machine and alters Philippine history by preventing Lapu Lapu from slaying Magellan. Yes, I blatantly ripped off the Back To The Future premise and placed the characters in the Battle of Mactan. Taking a Hollywood concept and putting it in a Filipino setting. Maybe I should be working for ABS…

That bit of plagiarism thankfully exorcised from my system, I’ve always felt a gnawing feeling in me to one day do a film that involves time travel. It’s a subject that’s been tackled endlessly in countless films that the genre has almost become a cliché in itself, but, as Richard Kelly proved with Donnie Darko, there will always be a new way to tell the same story. My take would probably stem from a very personal standpoint- I would like to use time travel to delve into my deeply rooted sense of nostalgia, my oftentimes ridiculous attachment to the past. I have no interest in seeing the future. I’ve always felt one of the biggest joys about being human is waking up and not knowing how our day is going to turn out. I relish that.

The past on the other hand, is fair game. I would like to go back, invisible and without the capacity to alter anything, just to merely be an observer. I would like to revisit old friends, see my mother again, and relive defining moments in my life which have dulled over time. In seeing my past I would then be essentially altering my future, because my realizations and lessons would be refreshed. Guilty moments like disappointing my parents would sting all over again. How would that affect me in the present? Would I be a devastated mess or a stronger person? I think a story about a guy who discovers he has the ability to time travel backwards to remember his past sounds very doable.

But that’s my small-scale art house treatment. If I were to go Spielbergian, I would do a time travel story wherein the lead character goes back in time and finds out that ancient civilizations like the Egyptians, Incans, and Aztecs were all governed by aliens (which would explain their advanced architecture, writings, and language). He would then learn that aliens are actually humans from a more distant future- hundreds of thousands of years ahead of our time, and they are the evolved version of us. They have perfected time travel and are seeing to it that man evolves properly and making sure history falls into place the way they know it to be. After a quasi-existential argument disguised in the form of a Hollywood-style galactic battle featuring a cast of thousands (CGI of course), peace would reign and the guy eventually finds his way back to the present day…where he discovers that apes now rule the planet!

Okay, I’m kidding about the ending, but everything else prior to that sounds pretty cool don’t you think?