Ma' Rosa (Brillante Ma. Mendoza, 2016)

Change is coming

In the film Ma' Rosa, a stout middle-aged woman is being shortchanged inside a grocery. A cashier hands out candies in lieu of coins. Ma' Rosa (Jaclyn Jose), after a brief discussion with the cashier, reluctantly takes the sweets as change.

We later learn that Ma' Rosa is owner of a sari-sari store, which serves as front for her business of peddling illegal drugs. Ma' Rosa and her husband Nestor (Julio Diaz) takes precaution when dealing with clients. One rainy night, though, the police makes an illegal raid and arrests the couple.

The bulk of the film shows how the children of the couple tries to raise money for their parents' release. The sacrifices the children go through show how much they love their mother.

Ma' Rosa may not be an ideal mother but she is well-loved by her children. The eldest son (Felix Roco) lugs a CRT television around their neighborhood looking for a buyer. This is in stark contrast to the first time we see him onscreen. He grudgingly carries the grocery goods brought by her mother back then.

He doesn't seem to be a troublemaker but when he heard how their neighbor and family friend betrayed them he goes berserk. After a scuffle with the traitor, he continues with his goal of raising money.

Ma' Rosa's daughter disobeys her elder by visiting her Aunt Tilde. The youngster endures a rant from her belligerent aunt. She keeps her silence and will probably keep the visit secret from her proud mother.

The youngest child goes the extra mile to leech money from his gay benefactor. He easily convinces his lover to withdraw more money for him.

All throughout the film, the presence of Ma' Rosa is felt in the children's quests, the precinct scenes, and the money transactions. The various types of transactions remind us how important it is to insist on getting the correct change. Every centavo matters in the long run.

Mendoza touched on police corruption in his earlier award-winning Cannes film Kinatay. The police brutally chops to pieces the body of a prostitute and dumps the body parts in various places.

In Ma' Rosa, there's no killing but the spectre of death looms in the air. Unless the drug pusher comes out with evidence to nail his supplier he is likely to end up as a statistic in the war against illegal drugs. Someone has to die in place of him.

My favorite scene shows Nestor coming out from a room wearing a light blue polo T-shirt. When I saw the Manila's Finest slogan on the sleeve suggesting it was a police uniform, I was laughing out loud at the irony.

Another scene that had me in stitches involved a cop (Mon Confiado). When asked by the drug pusher's wife about the bloodied state of her husband, the cop replied 'Gasgas lang yan.' The timing of the delivery is spot-on.

Ma' Rosa producers did the right thing in releasing the film early. The Best Actress award for Jaclyn Jose at the Cannes Film Festival is still fresh in the minds of cinephiles. But, more importantly, the relevant story seems to come straight from the news headlines. 

The powerful climactic scene of Ma' Rosa suggests a positive alternative to cardboard justice killings. Ma' Rosa gets a glimpse of a better future on the streets after her release. A redemptive change is possible after all for druggies and drug personalities.

At a Sunday mass I've attended, the priest noted a huge increase in the number of people confessing their sins lately. The spike in numbers was largely due to hordes of drug users wishing to amend their lives. (Yes. I know the priest violated the seal of confession by sharing this info, but that is another story).

Hundreds have been killed in this ruthless war on druggies. Thousands of self-confessed drug users and pushers have surrendered. I hope the government has enough resources to help them change for the better.
 

Lola (Brillante Mendoza, 2009)

Right after winning the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival 2009, Brillante Mendoza went home and started work on this film for 10 straight days. He wanted to capture the rainy season and the floods in Malabon. The movie ended up being a 'surprise' entry at the 66th Venice International Film Festival, where it received good reviews from critics.

Lola is a daunting, demanding, but ultimately rewarding film. If Mendoza kept you on the edge of your seat with the suspense-chiller Kinatay, then this time around, Mendoza will make you teary-eyed throughout the heavy drama movie.

The mood is drab, funereal, and quite depressing really. The heartbreaking plight of the elderly, prisoners, and impoverished people is too much to take. Think in terms of the gloomy aftermath of tropical storm Ondoy. The worst flooding in the Philippines since 1967 resulted in the deaths of hundreds and the displacement of thousands of families. But, amidst all the dreariness, the extraordinary resilience of the Filipinos shines through. Bayanihan spirit will help our countrymen get through this crisis.

Lola highlights that type of resiliency and indefatigable spirit inherent in Filipinos. The Mendoza film features two grandmothers who've probably encountered and weathered all types of crisis and troubles. The two senior citizens are linked together by a homicide-robbery case. Lola Josefa ‘Sepa’ Quimpo (Anita Linda) lost her grandson in the incident. Lola Purificacion Burgos’ grandson Mateo is the suspect in the killing.

Adversity brings out the best in Filipinos. The elders (brilliantly acted by veteran actresses Linda and Rustica Carpio) will do anything for their family members. Lola Sepa mortgages her pension card in order to raise money for the funeral service. On the other hand, Lola Puring pawns television, and mortgages her property to amass funds for a possible amicable settlement. However, extreme crisis also brings out the worst in the Filipino. Lola Puring resorts to shortchanging buyers of vegetables to raise precious money.

The funeral procession on the inundated streets of Malabon is destined to be an iconic Mendoza moment. We see Lola Sepa, family members, loved ones, friends, and neighbors riding in bancas as they serenely go to the cemetery. No one is crying. It is as if their tear ducts have all dried up.

There is also a beautiful, night-time shot of a shimmering, gleaming flooded street that bodes hope and redemption. The ending shows the two grandmothers, along with their loved ones, coming out of the Hall of Justice. They have overcome the latest problem that life has thrown at them. Drawing strength from family members, they are ready once more to wade through life’s joys and sorrows.

*original online posting in 2009

Kinatay (Brillante Mendoza, 2009)

This is no ordinary Brillante Ma. Mendoza film.

Vividly colored snippets of people doing their routine morning chores. Friendly game of basketball among the young men. Tween girls running an errand. A cook cutting a chicken into pieces. Happy portrait of a couple with their cute boy.

Is this really a Brillante Mendoza film?

Employing an Alfred Hitchcock's trick in Rear Window, the Mendoza film lures the audience into the blissful, carefree world of Peping (Coco Martin), a soon-to-be-married criminology student. The beautifully-lensed daytime segment takes a voyeuristic peek into the activities of Peping's neighbors. This segment will soon segue into a cheesy interlude onboard a jeepney and ultimately culminating in the joyous wedding celebrations. However, the daytime segment ends with an ominous shot of a red-tinged sunset.

Night falls and we see Peping running an errand for a criminal syndicate headed by rogue cops. His friend Abyong (Jhong Hilario) later convinces him to join an operation. They catch up with their colleagues inside a family van. A prostitute named Madonna (Ma. Isabel Lopez) becomes the last rider to hop onboard.

What follows is a Stygian journey into the pits of hell. Peping didn't expect anyone to receive any kind of beating. When the gang members start gagging Madonna and tying up her hands, Peping helplessly looks on. Sarge (John Regala) slaps and kicks the prostitute. The muffled cries of Madonna eventually die down. A shocked Peping can't believe the events transpiring before him. Even if he wanted to leave, he knows he can't get pass through the tight-guarding Cerberus-like trio near the van's door.

Scriptwriter Armando 'Bing' Lao provides a solid depiction of Peping's slow descent into the heart of darkness. After the group unloads the unconscious prostitute in a house, Peping contemplates on ditching the group. Escape is not an easy option, though. The group members are mostly cops-turned-hardened criminals and he is just a student. They won't hesitate to kill him. The crooked police captain (Julio Diaz) drags Peping further down the abyss by giving him a gun. The lure of power clouds the student's judgment. Soon, he is fetching sacks that will be used in the disposal of Madonna's chopped-up body parts.

The claustrophobic trip back to the city is equally hellish for Peping. Madonna fails to pay the required money and is soon thrown, limb by limb, out of the vehicle. The stench of the rape-slay crime overcomes Peping. He vomits and realizes that he has reneged on his school oath. He can never get back the much-desired integrity.

This is no ordinary Brillante Mendoza film.

Kinatay is the most terrifying film made by Mendoza so far. To horror fans out there who have never seen a movie by Brillante Mendoza, now is the right time to savor the brilliance of a Mendoza film. The suspense ratchets up to the roof since the start of the Stygian journey. The film's chills quotient never flags down. It maintains its feverish pitch until the end.

The most chilling sight is seeing a pot-bellied man washing bits of skin and blood off his body. The man, who will later don a long-sleeved white polo, is Sarge, a police officer. Criminal cops? Scary stuff. The scarier part is they do really exist. As the movie of ex-Dagdag National Artist Carlo J. Caparas would say, 'God have mercy on us!'


*original online posting in 2009

Serbis (Brillante Mendoza, 2008)

Serbis competed for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. Critics were divided over the merits of the film by Brillante Ma. Mendoza. When it crossed over the Atlantic, it was met with mostly positive reviews by American critics. It is still one of the highest-rated Filipino films tracked at the Metacritic site along with Graceland.

I have seen two versions of Serbis but I still haven’t seen the Cannes Film Festival version that deeply polarized critics. The indieSine version is a heavily-cut R-18 film with valuable English subtitles. The censored scenes were re-integrated back for the UP Cine Adarna run of the film. Alas, the so-called Director’s Cut version did not have English subtitles making it difficult for viewers to take a grasp of Ilocano and Kapampangan dialogues. And apparently, it was not the definitive version. 

The French DVD version of the film is probably the ultimate version. It seems to feature Coco Martin’s frontal nudity scene, which was not shown (censored?) at the initial UP Cine Adarna run.

Frontal nudity and graphic sex scenes abound in this movie. The initial scene shows a naked nubile girl preening in front of a mirror. She repeatedly whispers the words ‘I love you,’ which are barely heard amidst the noise of motor vehicles outside the room. Eighty-eight minutes later, I was muttering ‘I love this film.’

With Serbis, scriptwriter Armando Lao shows why he is the master and originator of the ‘real-time’ mode, which emphasizes the power of the place. In this film, Lao deals with the lives of denizens in a decaying movie house that features soft-porn flicks. Nanay Flor (played magnificently by Gina Pareño), matriarch of the family running the crumbling business, is deeply involved in a case against her philandering husband. Her daughter Nayda (Jaclyn Jose) gets embroiled in an incestuous relationship. Male prostitutes loiter in the lobby. At the end of the film, a movie house employee named Alan (Coco Martin) had enough of filthy things and promptly leaves the place.

A major strength of the film is its realism. The audience squirms as Alan cleans the clogged toilets and his buttock. These and other scenes of squalor are probably alien to foreign critics who lambasted the film. But, there are scenes that should have been excluded or minimized. Mendoza sometimes belittles the intelligence of his audience. A case in point is a scene showing a vehicle clearly going the wrong way. Mendoza finds it necessary to supply a close-up shot of the ‘One-way’ sign.

The trademark kinetic camerawork of a ‘real-time’ film is also here. The camera follows Nayda as she traverses the stairways and dark hallways of the movie theater. After opening the door of the projection room, she seems to be taken aback by what she sees. The scene then cuts to a shot of a hunky projectionist playing with himself.

The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board initially gave the film an X rating. In response to the board’s action, Brillante Mendoza and Bing Lao inexplicably sought a compromise and allowed the snipping of some scenes in order for the film to be shown in a mall in 2008. That was a grave mistake committed by the duo. What does it profit filmmakers if they gain a wider audience but loses their creative vision and soul?

Mendoza learned his lesson and vowed not to show future films in an edited version.

*original online posting in 2009