As an American of Philippine descent, I was very interested in watching this documentary of the former first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos. I watched in bemusement as she kept claiming how her people loved her while there were many of the country's citizens holding signs protesting her and her husband, then-president Ferdinand Marcos, for abuses they committed like declaring Martial Law so the Marcos could stay in power indefinitely. It took the assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino and the eventual election of his widow, Corazon, as president to force the Marcos into exile to Hawaii where Ferdinand died in 1989. Besides vintage footage of them and of many other protests, you see Mrs. Marcos swaying her charm with Muammar Gadaffi, Henry Kissinger, and, no, I couldn't believe it either, George Hamilton who sings "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" substituting "Imelda" in place of "Baby"! She also recounted her encounter with songwriter Irving Berlin who, after hearing her sing "God Bless the Philippines" (to the tune of "God Bless America"), gave her her own song called "Heaven Help the Philippines". The fact that many Filipino residents still revere Imelda is the result of her charm and always dressing up for the occasion. And her legacy, besides many of her criminal charges, is two of her children, Ferdinand, Jr. and Imee, getting elected in their chosen office. All in all, Imelda was quite a fascinating documentary directed by Ramona S. Diaz.

Superb documentary on the hugely entertaining (her loopy theory of the cosmos and galactic order alone is worth the price of admission), absolutely appalling, diamond and shoe collecting former First Lady of the desperately poor Philippines. Apparently, Marcos attempted to block the doc's release in her home country, and one can see why. However, as she gets to speak throughout, she wasn't able to claim her words were taken out of context or that she was slandered. Happily for film-goers, her efforts to suppress the film failed. Documentarian Ramona Diaz combines archival news footage and interviews with Marcos sycophants, relatives, former employees, supporters and political opponents to present a very balanced and revelatory portrait of this truly ghastly woman, the epitome of small-town ambition run amok. Indeeed, this could be a biography of dictators anywhere. Having lived several years in the former Zaire during the era of the megalomaniac bandit Mobuto Sese Seko, I felt a thrill of recognition while watching the antics of the Marcoses. A needlepoint cushion on a sofa in Marcos' Park Avenue penthouse, one of her several international real-estate holdings, sums her up: "Better Nouveau than not Riche at all". In a chilling coda that proves people get the government they deserve and do not seem to learn from the past, Marcos' son and daughter win municipal elections and appear to be launching little political careers of their own.

Why Imelda Marcos would allow filmmaker Ramona Diaz to get as close to her for as long as she does is anyone's guess, but this is documentary film at its best. At 70, Imelda is every bit the royal: charming, poised, beautiful, grand. "Imelda" is an excellent character study in power, greed and delusion.Some of my favorite moments in the film: * Anytime Imelda opens her mouth, especially when she espouses her views on beauty, truth and love: give people enough rope and they hang themselves.* George Hamilton serenading Imelda aboard her yacht: "I can't give you anything but love, Imelda." * Female security guard at the Imelda Marcos Shoe Museum who whispers to the camera that she sometimes sneaks in and tries some of them on.* Imelda dancing with Henry Kissinger * Imelda's description of the assassination attempt against her, "And he used such an ugly instrument. At least he could have tied a little bow on it or something." * Comments from opposition are sometimes deadly accurate: "She built so many public works, she had an edifice complex." This movie is available on DVD. Hard to find, but more people should see it. What it provides that I have never seen before is a closeup of one of the world's most notorious she-villains and the global power circles where she once strode.... in fabulous pumps.

Everything concerning the documentary was controversial and very high profile.But when I saw the film, I realized that it had a reason for it to be as it is. The whole documentary, holds many interesting facts. It answered a lot of questions concerning our former first lady and things that are related to her. The film makers did their share of research really well because the whole movie (from beginning to end) had extensive information.It has featured the aspects/angles that you might see (or not have seen) of Mrs. Marcos and her life and lifestyle. This documentary might change one's opinion about Mrs. Marcos (-Be it a negative or positive one).This is a must-see film.