Feature – Philippines / UK Première

Showing @ Filmhouse 2, Fri 22 Jun @ 22.10 & Filmhouse 3, Sat 23 Jun @ 19.00

Khavn de la Cruz / Philippines/Germany / 2010 / 75 min

If you lived in the East, would you be angry at the West? Economic sanctions, agricultural embargos and military interference have continued to cause unrest over the decades. In the Philippines, add to this a poverty line which separates almost 50% of the nation’s populous; fury and grief would surely dominate.

Based on the novel by Norman Wilwayco, prolific political filmmaker Khavn de la Cruz harnesses this rage and mixes it with an ironic comic ferociousness, erupting at the thought of ‘aristo-rat’ perspectives of the poor in Philippine society and reeling against the empty pity sent across the continents from the western world. In a sort of tribalised glam-punk style, the director introduces us to characters from those who enjoy sadistic sexual encounters with geese to ones who molest children. This, he’s arguing, is how the poor are portrayed: as demons, wildlings within their own society, incapable of civility and devoid of morality. While perhaps a little excessive to get his point across, de la Cruz uses direct address to censure anglophone charity and splashes vibrant colours to paint a grotesque, carnivalesque picture of the Philippine capital. Though the seriousness of this film is masked behind farcical and surreal song and dance routines, it’s as strong a message as any on the constructed economic chasm which separates rich and poor.