Movies

All too often, budding filmmakers who undertake this particular kind of film end up making themselves look bad- as filmmakers. (Even seasoned professionals are fully capable of biting off more than they can chew, sometimes.) Rarely do beginners risk adding insult to injury by putting themselves at risk in front of- as well as behind- the camera. It's been done, of course (and will no doubt be done again... and again and again...), but it's seldom been done as well as it has here. CAVITE, while technically not a one-man show, is just about as close as one can get these days- and it's an impressive piece of work. Minimalist movie-making at its best. Even seasoned professionals could learn something from this one.

The directors should be commended for doing this film with such scanty resources. A camera, a couple of airline tickets, and one of the directors as actor. Unfortunately, the result shows. The camera is excessively shaky, to the point where a freeze frame is needed so we can read a road sign. The shakiness wore me down. The story is far-fetched. The improbable omnipresent, all-knowing terrorist leader eventually becomes tedious. The sound design used in the middle of the film is obnoxiously loud and abrasive. The only worthy content is the travelogue, an inside view of life in a poor neighborhood in the Philippines.

Writing, directing, and starring in this independent film, Neill Dela Llana and Ian Gamazon are definitely two people to watch.This is an exciting movie about an American who is brought back to the Philippines to do something for terrorist in order that he might save his mother and sister. The pace is face as we wait to see what he will be required to do.The film is not just about terrorism, but also blends in the grinding poverty in the Phillipines, where Adam (Gamazon) is introduced to the underside of this society children sell their bodies for prostitution, and the odor of a polluted swamp forces him to cover his nose; and the government's campaign against Muslims. It is more than a thriller. It is also an education to those who don't often focus on the plight of others in the world.