Velez: Circles and kills: Movies on our violent times

LATE at night, a kid scavenges at a dumpsite, oblivious to the rain and the stench as he looks for bottles to sell or leftover food to bring home. Then something strikes his head as he crumples on the heap, and he gets picked up by a shadow that disappears to the night.

Somewhere in the mountains, two Lumad children join their father in collecting harvest of monggos. On their way home, they were stopped by a squad of soldiers. Suspecting that the food will be brought to rebels, one soldier spills the monggos to the ground, then he abducts the father, prying him from the wailing hands of his children, who never get to see him again.

These two scenes seem like the news we see every day, of extra-judicial killings in the urban poor cities, and militarization in Lumad communities. These two scenes are actually from two movies that will be shown this Wednesday December 6 in Davao City, and their screenings come at a relevant time.

"Smaller and Smaller Circles" is an adaptation of the crime drama novel by Felisa Batacan, which follows a series of mysterious deaths of young boys in the Payatas dump site. Their bodies are left mutilated, with faces peeled off and genitals cut out. Who is behind these murders? Why children? Why such inhumane killing? The questions hound two detective priests who track every clue and pattern to find the killer, and outdo police investigators who are shown here as lazy and just waiting for credit and promotion.

When the killer is revealed in the end, his motive and past is equally painful as his sins. Painful that one of the priests, Fr. Gus Saenz, tells police he wants the killer alive as wants to save him.

It’s a thought we could hold on to, as we see bloodlust in the killings of drug suspects and petty thieves as police give their alibis. Do we like these shortcuts, or do we cure the deeper problem of poverty and give those who fall wayward a second chance to find the right way?

Moving on to the second movie, "Tu Pug Imatuy" (The Right to Kill), tells the nightmarish encounter of a Lumad family in the hands of soldiers who forced the parents to act as guides in their counter-insurgency operations. The movie shows relevant issues as Lumads fear the soldiers who act as security for a mining company encroaching their ancestral land, and also as brutes who disrupt a Lumad school for mere suspicion that it is funded by rebels.

The movie questions who has the right to kill? The issues raised in this story are very much happening in Lumad communities. In Lianga, Surigao del Sur, soldiers enforced a food blockade and refused the return of bakwit students to their community school of Alcadev. More than 30 Lumad schools have been closed all over Mindanao as militarization continues, and we don’t know what will happen next as the government is geared for a war in Lumad communities.

The movie is directed by Tagum City born Arnel Barbarona and was shot in Brgy. Baganihan in Marilog District where its lush greenery is well captured. The film swept major awards including Best Picture and Best Director at Sinag Maynila 2017, and was the lone Philippine entry to the Asian Future Section of the Tokyo International Film Festival last October.

As our reality turns more violent, movies like "Smaller and Smaller Circles" and "Tu Pug Imatuy" help mirror issues and questions we need to ask about our humanity. “We are powerless when we wait for other people to act on our behalf,” writes the author Batacan in her novel. It’s a reminder for us to act.

*****

Schedules:

"Tu Pug Imatuy" - December 6, 7 p.m. and Dec. 9, 6 p.m. at Gaisano Mall of Davao Cinema 6.

"Smaller and Smaller Circles" in theatres starting Dec. 6.

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph