Audience Member
A very refreshing change from the usual shallow drivel output by the (usually terrible) Filipino film industry.
A dark and honest look at the harsh life led by the majority of Filipinos, an uncaring society that turns a blind eye and a deaf ear to the suffering of the poor.
The best Filipino film i have seen since "Magnifico" (and "cavite", but that one is not strictly Filipino).
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/26/23
Full Review
Audience Member
It is a detrimental utterly disturbing drama about different people in a particular place. "Rotonda" is a 2006 Filipino neorealist film about life, death, sex, and relationship directed by Ron Bryant.
The film starts showing Rotonda by night. Pictures shown are the typical margins of streets in Manila; a lot of faces, lights, vehicles, reds, yellows. A picture of dingy paradise. A huge road for people who seek peace amidst troubles. A voiceover by character Abel (Mark Gil) can be heard from the background together with a Chinese-like string arrangement. His voice was agonizing with some kind of hatred and distrust with the world. With disturbed tone of imaginable outrage he uttered these words:
"Rebolusyon. Ang buhay ay walang katapousang rebolusyon. Ang lumilisan ngayon, maya-maya'y nagbabalik din. Ang pumapanaw, isinisilang din muli. Sa ibang anyo. Ang may hawak ng baril ngayon, siya naman isasandal sa pader bukas. Paulit ulit lang ang kasaysayan. Paikot-ikot lang tayo."
In the background we clearly see a girl dancing in a dark lighted room of a bar. Her name is Racquel, a woman of twenties who prostitutes herself for the sake of supplying financial aid to both her and her sister Maan (Stephanie Young). Racquel's drama was exposed when she unexpectedly told her story; how she got raped by her relatives and how she got into the filthy business of prostitution. A lot of drama she exploited to the audience, but those words were uttered by bold and highly-spirited heart.
Maan, who by then seemed in a shock, was confronted by Racquel. Maan was raped by her sister's live-in partner Dima who from the first appearance registered no good characteristic.
This film has established so many villains, not much of good characters, and minimal twists that excite audience. The turning points are highlighted carefully but i think the technical part of this film is not that good to supply the needed elements for scenes. For example, remember the scene where Mark Gil had failure to committing suicide because the ceiling where he was supposed to be hanging himself went off? He was choking to near death with blood on his forehead. That was supposedly a powerful scene because that was the turning point of his realizations for the next scenes, but that did not work out fine for me. I dislike the idea of the scoring. Although it was intended to be like mysteriously apprehended, there was no point of feeling or sensing as implied.
The most interesting story in the film is that of Abel's and Racquel's. Abel was an ageing journalist who by no means of destroying his career became alcoholic. This gave him lots of depression due to frustration. The other characters are just put to have a good flow of the storyline.
<img src="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm180/rayld/rotonda.jpg" width="300">
Probably the most symbolic part in the film is the flow of a one-thousand peso bill from a character's hand to another character's hand. The one-thousand peso bill was first introduced as Abel's payment to Racquel after the service. Abel put a hole on the one-thousand peso bill using the tip of his cigarette. When he put that, I first thought that it was weird. But through years of experience in observing cinema, I knew that there is something with what he did.
<img src="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm180/rayld/rotonda5.jpg" width="300">
Casting-wise, I like to commend on main character actors Mark Gil and Meryl Soriano. I was deeply touched by Meryl Soriano's boldness and fight for survival. Her love for her little sister proved her kindness and soft-heartedness. When she was chasing and fighting Dima because of learning that her sister was pimped to a number of men, she has that rage of killing him; armed with a kitchen knife and the fury of having revenge. Mark Gil is a perfect fit for the role. His composed aura disguises the hidden indignation for the world and life.
Celso Ad. Castillo was Col. De Dios, an ill-tempered crippled choleric father who listens to oldies. he has a son Chito (Epi Quizon) who was getting tired of his father's abusiveness. Their relationship was getting worse as the gap between them was increasing. One great moment in this film is when Chito confronted his father; he was full of understandable pain as his suffering binds his anger with fear. Another important character in the film is SPO2 Froilan "Floyd" Ramirez, a police officer known for his rudeness and abusiveness. Actor Emilio Garcia who played this role is somewhat forgettable. Worse is his last scene in which blood was gushing on his tummy as bullet accidentally hit him in a gunfight with Dima. It was hell funny as he was shouting: "Dalhin n'yo ko sa hospital." Nobody helped him because either people were scared of him or that they were angry at him. The acting I did not like and also the idea of putting the same background sound that did not elevated the horror.
First two thirds of the film is great, exhibiting the true cinematic ability of the director. The colors are fantastically flattered by low lighting background. it is filled with melodramas and favorable technicality. It has very detailed approach to shots and the screenplay is made sarcastic; full of poetry. The remaining part was some kind of a mess.
The visual style is like David Lynch's, especially the room shots in which Celso Ad. Castillo was listening to music on his long playing records; the blues and reds remind me of the 1986 film "Blue Velvet" and "Lost Highway" as well. Rotonda also reminds me of Mike de Leon's 1982 film "Batch '81" because Mark Gil's character there (Sid Lucero) was somewhat similar to Abel's because of composure and strong commitment to what he likes doing.
This film is about Philippines. Rotonda is the synecdoche of a land full of wrath and injustice. This film is full of negativity. A satire, an allegory of a native land. The summary of the whole film is in the sense of what Abel said in his last words:
"Dito sa Rotonda, sa dambuhalang gilingan ng laman at buto, ng utak at bugso, pare-pareho lang tayo, naghahanap ng katubusan, nagbabayad ng kasalanan."
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
Full Review
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