November 23, 2022
Lieutenant Hermes Papauran (John Lloyd Cruz) was recognized as the best police investigator in the country. He also shared his knowledge and skills as a professor in the police academy. However, he was no saint. He supposedly beat up his wife, and anyone else who dared to go against him. After he saw the Pieta EJK photo in the newspaper, it triggered an itchy psoriasis to develop on his face, which later spread all over his body.
A convict named Supremo "Primo" Macabantay (Ronnie Lazaro) was just released after a 10 year incarceration. He had apparently found God in prison, so he went around baptizing random people in his God's name. However despite this new-found faith, he was also out for revenge for the policeman who investigated his case and found the evidence which sent him to prison -- Lt. Hermes Papauran.
At 187 minutes, this was a relatively short Lav Diaz film. The main plot was actually quite simple and straightforward when compared to his other more complex opuses. There were basically only two main characters here, Hermes and Primo, who have a clear history of conflict in the past and were headed for a final showdown. But of course, Diaz would give them their own idiosyncratic individual stories.
Hermes' photojournalist friend Raffy Lerma (DMs Boongaling) gave us an idea of who Hermes' (and Lav Diaz's) politics. They believed how fascists rule by instilling fear among the people, which was the way of cowards -- a direct criticism of the previous regime and its reign of terror. Hermes' scenes with his elder sister Nerissa (Sharmaine Centenera-Buencamino) gave us a view of Hermes as a person outside the police force.
Like all previous Lav Diaz, there were some scenes which boggle the viewer. There was a scene of a shirtless Ronnie Lazaro daddy-dancing by himself for a full five minutes, with some lewd interludes in between. Much later, we would also see a shirtless John Lloyd Cruz (with some pretty convincing psoriasis body make-up) do his own five minute solo crazy dancing on the street. What were these scenes for and why did they take so much time?
There was also a very strange scene of Primo's encounter with a prostitute named Ricarda Lim (Ronaliza Jinatalan) whom he brought to his hotel to convert her. His attempt to baptize her in a basin of water went awry in a most unconvincing way which was comical, unsure if this was deliberate or inadvertent. The subsequent scenes followed Primo's attempt to improbably cover up the snafu, but this whole episode was never brought up again.
A most striking scene was the final confrontation scene of Hermes and Primo at the pier, expertly composed, lit and shot by cinematographer Larry Manda. Only the sea wall and the two characters were visible in stark contrast against a pitch black background. However, it suddenly shifted to a scene on the same pier with the same two characters (seemingly blocked differently) shot in the natural light of dawn -- a very awkward transition.
Aside from Diaz's pointed statement against EJK and the president behind it, the intrinsic message of this whole film for me was the sad state of corruption in the police force. Even the outstanding policemen, like Hermes (and yes, even Primo), could eventually go bad given the warped system they worked in. As symbolized by Hermes' friend's reaction to his psoriasis, people regard all policemen with fear even when they approach to help them. 6/10.
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