I did not know who Mayor Antonio Halili was before I watched this movie. I just recalled his name as a mayor from Batangas who was shot dead during their flag ceremony at their city hall last year. It was remarkable that it had not even been a year after his assassination, and now there is a film about the life of this local politician.
On July 1, 2018, Mayor Antonio Halili (John Estrada) was being interviewed at his house by journalist and filmmaker Caesar Soriano and his staff for a film about his life.
They first talked about his early teens (Noel Comia, Jr.), growing up in San Antonio, Nueva Ecija with his parents (Mon Confiado and Yayo Aguila). Then they covered his college days (Martin Escudero) in San Juan de Letran, showing his ineptness in courting his one big love Gina (Kate Alejandrino), who later became his wife. It was emphasized that since a young age, young Thony had been willing to engage in fistfights in order to help people in need.
Thony and Gina (Ara Mina) had three children. He started from the bottom doing odd jobs, until he became a successful businessman. Because of his local popularity in Tanauan, Batangas, in 1992, he was convinced to run for city councilor, which he won. In 2013, he ran for Mayor and won. Since then, Mayor Thony launched a local war on drugs in his city. He gained nationwide attention when he began to parade arrested drug pushers in city streets.
In 2015, Mayor Thony began to experience what he felt was harassment because he shifted political loyalties. His city's anti-crime unit was dissolved by the DILG, accused of being his private army. In 2017, his name was included in President Rodrigo Duterte's narco-list, despite his ardent crusade against drugs. It was emphasized that Mayor Thony's conscience was clear and he fearlessly continued to do his job despite the persecution.
On July 2, 2018, the morning after Soriano's interview, Mayor Halili was shot down by a sniper while he attended the flag ceremony in his new city hall.
Director Caesar Soriano's timing for his interview was truly uncanny. He gained the biographical information from the Mayor himself. He had actual photos, videos and news broadcasts documenting the Mayor's personal and political career. There was footage of the actual assassination, as well as his funeral. Soriano was able to get the real Mayor Antonio Halili to personally speak about his fears regarding his political persecution on camera. With all this compelling material at hand, Soriano simply had to do this film.
The whole film was a straightforward episodic recreation of events as narrated by John Estrada as Mayor Thony as interviewed by Soriano. Production values and acting performances were basic, ranging from serviceable to lazy. The storytelling was erratic, at times slow, at times corny, a lot of times given to sentimentality. To amp the drama, Soriano included scenes of an ominous nightmare Gina had, scenes showing Halili shooting automatic weapons during a drug raid, and scenes of Halili and wife on a beach at sunset. As expected, Soriano showcased Halili as the perfect father of his family, as well as of Tanauan. 4/10.
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