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Saturday, September 15, 2012

Brillante Mendoza’s ‘Captive’

By MA. ISABEL ONGPIN

Finally I saw a Brillante Mendoza movie, “Captive” now showing in Metro Manila theaters.

“Captive” is the story of the Dos Palmas kidnap for ransom crime that brought the Abu Sayaff further notoriety. It ended after more than a year with the death of one of the foreign hostages in the attack and rescue operation by Philippine Marines.

The film is, on the one hand, about an aggrieved minority in the southern Philippines that conducts a rebellion under what they purport to be Islamic tenets using the same kidnap for ransom activities that have been part and parcel of the Sulu archipelago history for centuries.

On the other hand, there is the Philippine military that has to confront them in varied levels of behavior and competence. The soldiers are brave and die. Some of the officers are less than ideal and live to enjoy the loathsome fruits of their corruption. The leadership on both sides of the conflict is questionable and the results of their efforts equally so.

Meanwhile it is the ordinary population in the territory that suffers in the crossfire.

Teachers and nurses, children and their parents bear the brunt of the lawlessness that infects the terrain of rebellion, crimes and human rights violations.

Mendoza depicts the whole enchilada. He does not flinch from showing the good and bad individuals in the spectrum of characters that populate the scenario in Mindanao. His choice of actors, the level of their work, the quality of the script and the choice of accompanying music elevates the film to one of serious appraisal of what ails the society.

Moreover, his scenes are skillfully constructed and developed, the photography is stunning and the characters and storyline are as true to life as the event was. This is fact that is stranger than fiction.

For example, the first scene of the raid on Dos Palmas is economically but comprehensively shown. It is dramatic not melodramatic, lightning fast but whole in details of the action and in the emotions it arouses. No unnecessary noise or explosives just purposeful menace, clipped dialogue, silence. This is a crime story, with unrelenting momentum from the arrival by sea in the dead of night, the herding of the hostages, the casual but outright thievery as the raiders help themselves to the valuables, the accompanying chilling cruelty to those in the way and considered useless to them like the resort personnel,. Death is a constant accessory, considered necessary or accidental but always present, and administered as a matter of course as long as it accomplishes the mission.

The interaction between hostages and gunmen with the use of broken English phrases in a dialogue using angry commands for obedience, or labored explanations for justifying their actions by the kidnappers is authentic, brilliant. The fear, the uncertainty, the helplessness and finally, the hopelessness of the hostages come through. While the violence and brusqueness and the overall dominance of the kidnappers ascends. The action is catalyzed by these developments. This is what happened. It has happened centuries before and there is every possibility that it will happen again.

The film is a journey of predators and prey in an environment that has bred both. There is the injustice, the poverty, the utter neglect of Mindanao for a significant part of its population as well as the incomparable beauty of its surroundings that attracts the foreigners whether Filipinos or non-Filipinos to it. Be it the overwhelming sea under boundless skies, the achingly beautiful play of light and water as well as the sheltering jungle of trees, ferns, running streams, even the sudden burst of tropical rain, there is always the lingering sense of alienation or isolation in the natives who feel the distance from the modern universe, the day-to-day government in a far off capital. There is too in their own environment the failure of its local leadership to carry a just vision of how to govern, to possess the larger and more ideal vision that would uplift their own. Why is there no attempt to interact in peace with the rest of the country for the sake of improving lives and creating a future in their own world. Instead traditional violence, cultivated resentment, unmitigated hatred takes over and brings with it the hunger, the scarcity, the brutalization and the enduring hardship of existence for the general population. Feudalism still lives and dominates, the poor are marginalized by their own leaders. Hence the appeal to rebellion and violence that brings on warlike leadership and the traditional way of carrying on by kidnapping, lawlessness. It is the vicious circle of generations and decades of lost time.

This is a movie that studies the factors that bring about the crime. It is depicts a society in turmoil as it tries to right itself by violence and fanaticism. It is the wrong path and is obviously not working but they seem to see no other choice.

Mendoza’s movie is evenhanded and almost documentary. Both sides have their moments of good and evil. The film never lags, from scenery to characterization, from action to emotion. It gives food for thought, something to seriously reflect on. Clearly, Mendoza is a director that has gone far and will go much farther.

miongpin@yahoo.com

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