Kubrador (a review)

o ha! nag-review sad ko ;)

Neways, this article was published in TF last Saturday (?), limot ko. Basta, if you have time, watch this movie. It's tagalog, but it's good.

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"Kubrador" takes you to a rough (literally and figuratively saying) yet smooth-sailing journey of a life of a typical Filipino. The setting is very Filipino. The script is. And everything else about the film.

As Amelita/Amy, aptly played by veteran actress Gina Pareño, takes her daily rounds in her community as she collects (hence the title "Kubrador") bets of jueteng, she also takes us to our very own surroundings. Jueteng, for those who do not know of it yet, is an illegal numbers game played in most parts of the country. Apparently, this same game caused the early exit of Joseph "Erap" Estrada from his presidential seat.

Now, as Amy, already middle-aged with an evident sign of failing health, works her way through a maze of her neighborhood's dwellings, she meets different kinds of people: the gossip-mongers, the kids playing along the street, the men busy caressing their roosters, among many common sights seen only in poor communities. These are the same sights many of us have lived through, or for the fortunate ones have seen only in television or in movies.

And while we see Amy collects bets from her neighbors, she does not actually condone illegal gambling. Amy, just like most of us, only wants to earn, and earn that (illegal) way is all she can afford to do. She knows the consequences of her acts: getting caught by the authorities and be fined a lot more than what she earns in a month or even in a year. The same with most of us Pinoys, we always take the risks no matter what the consequences are. Not that we love challenges, there are just very few options (if none at all) in life, or we die of starvation. But then again, Amy always gets through with it all, unscathed and free. Call it lucky, I call it survival, though, the hard way. Well, that could be part of living the Filipino way, as according to Pareño, in an interview with the press before the premiere showing of the film, Filipinos are simple people, they make do with what little things they have, and they are virtually happy with it.

This flick is reality. That is despite of its "odd" cinematography that reminds you of The Blair Witch Project (no, this is not about witches. I'm talking of the motion sickness you get from watching it). But then again, Jeffry Jetturian (the director) does not let you move your eyes from the screen for too long. The film is even entertaining in its own way. Joel Jover, the script writer, did not make quotable quotes here, he just borrowed the lines we use everyday. Like in that scene when Amy is crying over the death of her neighbor's grandson (she remembers her own son, who she lost early on), and when she suddenly remembers the words "grief" and "death" (which apparently have number combinations: 13 and 47, respectively) she immediately takes her pen and paper and writes the number combination: 13 for "grief" and 47 for "death." That got the audience laughing. I mean, we easily forget that we are supposed to be grieving.

Amy, in her daily journey, also takes us to another reality: the "buayas" all over us. Jueteng lords giving payolas to the public officials and even to the church. Nothing's new, in fact, we have already learned to face that fact. Or have ignored it as we are very busy with our respective lives making both ends meet. But, let's leave politics (discussing it is not my job here), and focus on this critically-acclaimed movie, that actually earned the Cebuano audience's approval, as manifested by their standing ovation when the end credit rolled to end that premier showing last Monday night in SM Cinema 1.

Sad to say, the theater was only half-filled. There is no Judy Ann Santos nor any of the hot showbiz love teams in this movie, as "Kubrador" stars ONLY Gina Pareño, who represents the Filipinos.

I tell you, this film definitely hits home.