Filipino director Joel C. Lamangan and writer Bonifacio Ilagan deserve a salute for the release of the film 'Dukot' (Desaparecidos) now being shown at Gaisano Mall of Davao Cinema 2. The film is a gripping depiction of the country's human rights situation amidst unabated enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings that has caught the attention of the international community. It is also a timely wake-up call as the world commemorates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10.
Played by lead actors Allen Dizon and Iza Calzado, 'Dukot' was initially given an X-rating by two of the three-member committee of the MTRCB. Only the lone woman member of the committee, Marra Lanot, gave an approval for its screening, the other two saying that the film is inciting to sedition. The initial X-rating was, however, challenged by director Lamangan, asking the MTRCB members to "identify one part of the movie that asks the people to rise up in arms." The film was later approved for screening with an R-18 rating and after a scene where President Arroyo's photograph appears was deleted.
As can be expected, though, not too many people knew of the film's screening and unlike highly advertised Hollywood films, it was not a blockbuster hit. But during the films screening at the 2009 Montreal World Film Festival, foreign viewers praised it as "powerful and compelling," and rightly so as 'Dukot' is the first full-length movie to expose human rights abuses in the Philippines since the Martial Law period.
Indeed it has been a very long time since the Philippine movie industry (if it still exists) has produced films of such caliber—something that which can be identified with the themes of Lino Brocka. Dukot is one bold and daring movie that challenges the Filipino community to developing arts and cultural expressions that depict social realities. The film may not earn even a tenth the Twilight Saga is making, but 'Dukot' is by far the most revealing, if not the exact picture, of the real conditions of the Philippine society.
Played by lead actors Allen Dizon and Iza Calzado, 'Dukot' was initially given an X-rating by two of the three-member committee of the MTRCB. Only the lone woman member of the committee, Marra Lanot, gave an approval for its screening, the other two saying that the film is inciting to sedition. The initial X-rating was, however, challenged by director Lamangan, asking the MTRCB members to "identify one part of the movie that asks the people to rise up in arms." The film was later approved for screening with an R-18 rating and after a scene where President Arroyo's photograph appears was deleted.
As can be expected, though, not too many people knew of the film's screening and unlike highly advertised Hollywood films, it was not a blockbuster hit. But during the films screening at the 2009 Montreal World Film Festival, foreign viewers praised it as "powerful and compelling," and rightly so as 'Dukot' is the first full-length movie to expose human rights abuses in the Philippines since the Martial Law period.
Indeed it has been a very long time since the Philippine movie industry (if it still exists) has produced films of such caliber—something that which can be identified with the themes of Lino Brocka. Dukot is one bold and daring movie that challenges the Filipino community to developing arts and cultural expressions that depict social realities. The film may not earn even a tenth the Twilight Saga is making, but 'Dukot' is by far the most revealing, if not the exact picture, of the real conditions of the Philippine society.
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