To officially open the
Cine Veritas Human Rights Festival advocating for human dignity and rights last
December 3, the indie film Tirador was screened for the first time in
the country at the University of the Philippines Film Institute. Directed by
Brillante "Dante" Mendoza, Tirador (international title: Slingshot)
takes a glimpse into the lives of small-time crooks
that operate in the Quiapo area of Manila during the Holy Week and during the
elections.
Starring Coco Martin and Kristofer King, Tirador's ensemble cast includes Jiro Manio, Nathan Lopez, Nico Taverna, Angela Ruiz, Harold Montano with the special participation of Julio Diaz, Simon Ibarra, and Jaclyn Jose. It was written by Ralston Joel Jover with Armando Lao as creative consultant.
Direk
Dante's sixth feature film is the Philippine entry for the Etoile
D'Or (Golden Star) award, the top prize of the 7th Marrakesh Film Festival in
Morocco. It is also nominated for the Jury Prize as well as the Best Actor and
Best Actress awards.
Tirador will compete with 13 other films from Algeria, Estonia,
China, the Czech Republic, Finland, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands,
Russia, Serbia, South Korea, and
the United States for the festival's Golden Star award.
The 7th Marrakesh Film Festival, which runs until December 15, will feature a
total of 110 films. The
president of the festival's jury will be Milos Forman, the Czech-born director
who has won Oscars for his films Amadeus and One Flew Over the
Cuckoo's Nest.
NON-LINEAR FILM. What's
ironic about Quiapo is that it is the location of the Basilica
Minore del Cristo Nazareno but it is also a hotspot for criminal activity.
Direk Dante illustrates this irony through his film Tirador, which is
named after the street slang for "thief."
Filipinos are known for being pious Catholics and thieves use this to their
advantage by working "overtime" during religious activities. In fact, one of
the highlights of the film is the sequence involving the Feast of the Black
Nazarene, which is celebrated on January 9. Thousands of devotees troop to
Quiapo to participate in the procession while carrying the life-sized,
dark-skinned statue of Jesus Christ. Catholics believe that if they touch the
statue or rub towels on the image, they will receive a miracle.
How does one go about
depicting the cruelty and harsh reality of life in Manila's squatters' areas? Tirador
opens with a scene that forces audiences to focus on the screen: it is the dead
of the night and a bright light moves in and out of the dark alleyways. A
police raid (called a "sona" by local residents) is occurring, and the audience
is made to feel like they are voyeurs as the camera moves quickly into the
squatters' area. There are curses being shouted, nervous exchange of
information, scantily dressed couples copulating (frontal nudity included), and
all the males are forced out of their homes so that the police can identify
those included in their most wanted list.
As
the film develops, the viewer realizes that the film is non-linear. Tirador depicts
the chaotic life of urban living—the constant shouting of squatter dwellers,
the din of street life, and the modus operandi of small-time crooks. The main
characters have their own problems to deal with: Coco's character has to raise
money to pay the owner of the pedicab that he is using; Kristofer's character
needs money to feed his child; Jiro's character is orphaned and is expected to
follow in the criminal footsteps of his father; and Nathan's character gets
caught while attempting to claim the bag of a student inside a mall.
Swindling,
stealing, drug use, vote buying, and various illegal activities are all shown
onscreen, leaving the viewer to understand things for himself and digest the
film with his own set of "street-smarts." Tirador is a film about the
very things we fear when we are out on the streets: drug pushing, thievery,
professional snatching, swindling, sex and prostitution, extortion, and
peddling of stolen goods.
Watching
Tirador is a painful eye-opener about
the lives of petty criminals. Life on the streets of urban Manila is captured
just the way it is. You can almost smell the sweat, feel the tension of being
bludgeoned by the police, hear the cussing of gangs, and feel an odd sense of
compassion for a woman who works hard at stealing to get herself a pair of
dentures. Her statement is as funny as it is ironic: "Pinaghirapan kong nakawin
‘yan."
The
camera movements are jerky and there are times when the outdoor scenes appear
too washed-out—especially the fight scene between Coco Martin and Julio
Diaz.
You won't look at Quiapo the same way again after seeing it through the film Tirador.
Produced by CenterStage Productions, Tirador is the official selection
to the Toronto International Film Festival, the PUSAN International Film Fest,
and the 58 Internationale Filmfestpiele Berlin.