“Babae ka, hindi babae lang.” Dekada ’70 did not merely allow us to witness the turbulent years of Martial Law, it also exposes the quiet struggle of being a woman and a mother inside a patriarchal Filipino home. 

Set during the Marcos regime, the movie portrayed the lived realities of what families, parents, and the youth went through under Marcos dictatorship. It made us see the brutality of the regime and the suppression of human rights, especially against young people fighting for justice. Beyond that, it also made us see the quiet battles fought within the home, embodied by Amanda Bartolome, the mother at the center of the story. Throughout the movie, the mother’s daily routine revolved around her husband Julian and their five sons, and at first, she seems content in her traditional role, being nurturing, mediating, and maintaining harmony. Yet the film slowly reveals the restrictions placed on her simply because she is a woman. While her husband dominates conversations and her sons are allowed to voice their opinions, Amanda is expected to listen quietly and adapt to the decisions of the men around her.

What makes the movie more compelling is how the film captures her gradual awakening, her gradual resistance. As her sons become more politically active and the realities of Martial Law grow impossible to ignore, Amanda begins to question the rigid expectations imposed on her. She challenges Julian, asserts her own perspective, and starts to recognize her power not just as a mother, but as a moral and emotional center of the family.  This personal struggle within the household mirrors the larger social and political struggles outside the home. 

Although the film focuses mainly on the Bartolome family, which is a middle-class household, the broader experiences of other sectors of society, such as farmers, workers, and the urban poor were not given much attention, even though they also played significant roles in resisting Martial Law. Overall, the film is especially relevant today, serving as a vivid reminder of how Martial Law was a period of systemic repression, where political power served the elite and controlled the masses. Dekada ’70 reminds us that history is lived through the bodies and hearts of real people. Forgetting the struggles of those who resisted not only dishonors their sacrifice but risks repeating the same cycles of oppression. By centering the story on a single household, the film humanizes history, showing that social and political liberation are inseparable from personal awakening.