Censored Out From Anita Biopics: The Late Anita Mui's Pro-Democracy March And Tribute To The Tiananmen Square Victims

You can never kill heroisms, and not all heroes/heroines are martyred. For Filipinos, the first person to come to their minds is Jose Rizal. For Chinoys, perhaps they also think of both Rizal and Anita Mui. Such is the case of the late Anita, who died from cervical cancer complications on December 30, 2003. Anita was only 40 years old when she died. However, Anita's legacy lives on. It's so sad how four years after she died, the BS biopic called Anita Mui Fei was released. Thankfully, I didn't get the chance to watch Anita Mui Fei, especially with how it portrayed that Anita died on stage in Andy Lau's arms. THAT. NEVER. HAPPENED. The Anita (2021) film was released. What was sanitized was the reality of Anita's bitter childhood. I read through the biographies of both the late Teresa Teng (who died in 1995) and Regine Velasquez-Alcasid -- both of whom came from poor families but had supportive mothers. Anita's mother was actually a CHRONIC GAMBLER. 

Anita didn't have the supportive family that Rizal had. Anita didn't have the kind of mother that Regine or Teresa had. However, that didn't stop Anita from becoming a heroine in her own way -- such as her advocacy against SARS. Not surprisingly, Jolin Tsai (probably the only person I believe can portray Anita to a T, but those BS productions don't deserve her) also went for advocacy against COVID-19. In fact, Anita was among the big organizers of the Concert for Democracy in China in 1989 -- all before the FAILED protests against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). EDSA was still fresh in the minds of the world when EDSA staged its peaceful protest against the crumbling Marcos Empire. 1989 was also the year of the Berlin Wall on November 9. The May 27, 1989, protest came to support the students in Beijing. Sadly, the Tiananmen Square Massacre happened as China had achieved more power than the deposed Empire of Marcos. However, one could never deny the string of influence, such as that of Rizal and Mahatma Gandhi, who inspired peaceful protests. Anita would've followed in such a way, not especially because the Philippine protests were featured worldwide. Strangely, it would also be the year when Regine won her awards in HK on December 23, 1989.

It's crazy, but Anita Mui Fei and Anita (2021) lacked the fidelity to help define Anita beyond her singing and acting career. Anita was also involved in the 4 June 1989 to 30 June 1997 Operation Yellowbird event. It was the event where Chinese dissidents who were lucky enough to escape were helped by Hong Kong to become the point of helping the surviving Chinese dissidents escape overseas. It was a shame that China learned economics but failed to dismantle totalitarianism as a way of life. Only this time, the CCP's response to the students at Tiananmen was because they had a more organized, more loyal military. Those were things Marcos failed to account for during EDSA.

It's really a shame that such important events should be removed from Anita's biopic. A truly faithful Anita biopic wouldn't hide her biggest advocacy. If Anita Mui Fei were produced in TAIWAN instead of Mainland China, it would definitely NOT censor out Anita's biggest advocacy beyond stardom. Anita was definitely FIGHTING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS for the Chinese people, against a government that oppresses them. What was even crazier (but also glorious) was that a 40-year-old Jolin Cai (same age as Anita when she died) actually pulled an Anita by supporting the Taiwanese athletes. Crazy enough, I once had a nightmare 

For one thing, I felt that Filipinos may need not just to read Rizal's sacrifice but also Anita's advocacy too.