Ginauhaw Ako! - A Wanted:Border film review

Wanted Border (2009) - Ray Gibraltar

It would be really difficult to like this film. In fact… I didnt like it… but with that being said… the film definitely succeeded!

Osang plays a pious 60-year-old Mama Saleng who owns an eatery that also doubles as a boarding house or vice versa (whichever works). Tormented as a child for being accused as “Aswang”, and after living in an environment infiltrated by violence, Mama Saleng reached a monstrous state where her hunger for flesh was appeased by those ill-fated souls that she butchered and served fresh in a bowl.

The entire film was in Hiligaynon and was shot where I spent my college years( Miag-ao, Iloilo). It was amusing to see a familiar place and to hear the dialect I grew up with on the big screen. I watched the film with a college buddy (Nikkei) who joined me in the guessing game of what-place-that-scene-was-shot. Well… aside from the interjected dark humor… that guessing game was the only fun part that Nikkei considered.

Let me warn you though, dont expect to see treats of hot glittering half-naked vampires or some scenes of mushy unrequited love… you’re in a wrong theater dear … New Moon is on Cinema 2,3,5,6 and 7.

One viewing is enough to see this film, but a lot of thoughts is needed to fully get through the deranged visuals and see the beauty behind the grit (it took me 3 days to get over it). Dont forget to apologize to your friend if you dragged one because the movie would surely not (sorry nik). Let me tell you first hand that it is not entertaining!! If you entered the theater to be entertained… Cinema 2,3,5,6 and 7 have a shirtless Taylor Lautner!

Rosanna Roces’ was at the top of her craft in portraying Mama Saleng. Her caliber as an actress has just been resurrected. Osang’s hiligaynon was acceptable. Nothing spectacular, just acceptable. Tetchie Agbayani’s hiligaynon in Yanggaw was more convincing. Ronnie Lazaro’s take on the dialect, on that same film was even more monumental. Nevertheless, Roces’ acting, as what I’ve said was commendable. Her eyes perfectly displayed this boredom towards violence. The way she sees violence as a cliché in her world embodies the atrocious monstrosity within her. Gibraltar asked Roces for “bad acting” and he did get what he asked for.

Scenes were presented in a non linear form. It’s a broken mirror and you need to make the pieces fit together. Dont wait for any act of cohesiveness at the end because there aint any. You have to do everything yourself. Bring the movie with you right after the credits roll, after you leave the theater, and right after you have assembled that mirror altogether, take a look and then you’ll see the truth.

The movie shows abundant verity about human nature. it tried to visualize how each of us is capable of being a monster and how every human hold this great streak of violence within himself. It might be sanity, culture, religion, or might be the law or whatever that keeps this monster from coming out. But what happens if that monster came out? How would you escape? What would you do if you can’t win that battle against yourself? Most importantly, what would you do if it’s too late?

The movie successfully showed how society could make a monster from an innocent being, the efforts of trying to win over your id and the glory of trying to escape evil at a time or age where you are in dire need of salvation. It showed how some of us chose blindness towards violence (stepdad raped her adopted daughter as mom helplessly watched while crying),how some people ignore (people enjoying Mama Saling’s soup unaware that they are eating human flesh), tolerate (movie features a scene that seem like Saleng’s conversation with God, suggesting that her barbaric acts are condoned and are needed for the greater good) and escape (obese girl running after seeing someone being butchered).

Mama Saleng, given her age, very well know that she would meet death anytime soon. She seeks salvation and even had herself crucified to wash her sins away. But those lost souls she butchered to satisfy her hunger as well as those of her patrons could never be returned.

This movie holds truth that is hard to accept. That goodness does exist, but there are times that we experience a lack of it…or at much cruel times… the absence of it.

2009 has been really tough for our country. We were devastated by how nature could be so beastly once it fights back against our savageness. We were shocked by how our Filipino brothers could kill without remorse and how lives are spared for something that has no equal worth. Osang has a point when she said that “tayo-tayo na mismo ang nagkakainan”.

I stand firm that I didnt like this movie… merely because I fear to accept how vicious men has become.

RATING : 4/5