- ★★★★★
A QUICK RANT
I find it really strange when people in our country don’t have the urge to watch high end films with ecstatic storyline that not only captivates a certain award giving body but also to many foreigners who have seen these kinds of great movies.
Although for a fact that what I will be reviewing is not a Filipino production, to be specific British, it also kills me to ponder that whenever I read the movie title METRO MANILA; I can’t stop wondering: how is this not famous in the Philippines when the title itself is the most famous word in the country? I mean, aren’t the people raptured by the thought that a foreign production did a high end movie here in the land where we live?
It quite frustrates me that the industry is stuck up with same-old storylines, and I can’t blame Star Cinema nor VIVA Films and other not famous production labels because the people itself is highly hopeless romantic for more of these kind of films where rich guy-poor girl meets and marries in the end, or worst the unending stories about when a third party enters the scene to create chaotic living for everyone else around including the one’s behind the television.
METRO MANILA
I’ve read about this film when a foreign blogger whom I follow on WordPress posted about his favorite films. He talked about British production METRO MANILA film that depicts certain level of poverty in the Philippines and also a great crime that circulated within the story.
My partner and I really thought that this was a local production, but no. It was a no-brainer, and we watched the film the next day.
After watching the film: I am in disbelief of how great the film was. To the exaggerating feels, the film really did depict the Filipino life: it is heart-breaking, pitiful and apparently difficult. You would really sense on how unsophisticated living in a larger part of Metro Manila is, and how poverty is overwhelming within each corners of the self-owned lands.
It really breaks your heart seeing how filthy people have become in order to get cash, and in hard times: to get a piece of bread and a soda to pair it with just to get through the day.
The unbearable slums in Metro Manila are well portrayed by the magnificent cinematography. From the beginning of the film which happens to be in the mountainous part of Luzon (Philippines), up to the climax and dénouement: scenic shots are crucial in depicting such simplicity of rural life or the complexity of the city life.
Metro Manila’s story is quite compelling and bold. It surrounds the heroic hypocrisy of corrupt people especially if they have sinister motives. Also, it also portrays a difficult choice of morality; on what is right and wrong to the eyes of the people who know you versus the eyes of the people you love. And I won’t forget the basis of the story of how a sane person have his world turn upside down and will be left with limited options ending in a gruesome choice.
I didn’t just like the story itself, but also the twist in the end that truly, truly did break my heart. But I won’t spoil.
Anyhow, what I love about this film is that, (also in general); foreign film makers really do set a high standard it is because they are not afraid to push beyond the limits of filmmaking. They have to break barriers in order to create a great story. They are not afraid to show the people how ‘evil’ is evil so that storytelling will not be compensated. In short, the film really has no halls barred when it comes to showing the lowest and the highest points of a real setting and a possible scenario in this grueling part of the world.
This masterpiece offers a compelling, thrilling and heart-warming story of a life of a Filipino family who’s finding their luck in the city.
