dante mendoza won best director for his film kinatay at the 2009 cannes film festival. kinatay (butchered) is a movie about police brutality, corruption and torture. roger ebert deemed it unwatchable. i for one would love to watch the film although i don't think it would be shown soon to a theater/cinema near me. hey, it's not every year a filipino wins a trophy at such prestigious event.
roger ebert, although well known, is not the only film critic in the world. every person has a different take on things, even with those schooled in the art of film criticism. we are always guided by our biases. a colleague for instance is a fan of world cinema -- italian, french, hongkong martial arts. some people carry some gripes against hollywood. for me, it's hollywood or judy ann santos. i used to watch korean films but the suicide of choi jin sil has slowed down my interest. if i have the time, i would try to play a few japanese dvd's from our shelf. what's scarier than the ring?
truth be told, the study of filth, squalor, violence, rotten corpses, corruption beyond repair are what attract festival circuit committees and not the ai-ai blockbusters the pinoys embrace with such fervor. i cannot watch the masterpiece insiang without flinching. the slums are not that picturesque. poverty is a colorful plot for movies but in reality, the lack of running water is not at all poetic and romantic.
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