April 19, 2025
Reverend Sam (David Licauco) was the new deacon assigned to the parish church of Santo Kristo. Before he was welcomed by parish priest Father Danny (Joel Torre) and his all-around assistant Pester (David Shouder), Sam already witnessed a husband and wife, philanderer Kanor (Jun Sabayton) and gossip Olive (Chariz Solomon) having a violent quarrel on the steps of the church. Sam immediately felt that there was something wrong with his parish.
Sam visited the main street called Sinners' Alley. He met the corrupt Mayor Damonyo and his scammer twin (Betong Sumaya), prostitutes (Liezel Lopez, Jade Tecson), pimps (David "Abdul" Domanais, Christian "Marsy" Kimp-Atip), thieves (Buboy Villar, Jay Ortega), drug addicts (Yian Gabriel), rival gang leaders (Shernan Gaite, Jerome "Batmanunulat" Esguerra), underworld kingpin Boss Luis (Soliman Cruz), and "town mistress" Mila (Sanya Lopez).
The film was shot in picturesque Ilocos Sur, with the stately Sta. Maria Church and historic Calle Crisologo prominently featured. The title refers to an organization formed by Rev Sam aiming to reform the wayward residents of Santo Kristo. He would help each one by diverting his talent into something good. His mantra (repeated over and over in the film) was: "As long as there is faith, there is hope. As long as one believes, he can start again."
Being mainly a comedy, director and co-writer Benedict Mique kept things light, idealistic and optimistically positive. After the Boy Nakaw example, you can somehow foresee already what will happen to the lives of the others, based on their abilities. Of course, that these hard-core decadents could totally reform themselves seemingly overnight demanded a lot of suspension of disbelief. But given the film's overall Lenten theme, we could grant them that.
There were a couple of more serious situations that challenged Rev Sam (and David Licauco as an actor) the most. One involved Boss Luis and a pistol, and another involved Mila and a decision (I wish we could've heard Sam's side first though). While almost everyone else around him was over-the-top, Licauco played Sam calmly and restrained (even in the rapping and dancing scenes, hehe), in line with Sam's nobility of intention. 6/10
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