The first time I saw Ato M. Bautista's film, I was easily mesmerized by it's gloss and the slickness of the direction. I sang praises for the not only film, but also the filmmaker, and I even to likened it to Meirelles' City of God. I was so taken by it's freshness that I got carried away. So when a special press screening was announced, I made my way to Mowelfund in order to see it beyond the surface and to dig deeper in to the film.
Apparently, Sa Aking Pagkakagising Mula sa Kamulatan was "snubbed" by the jury of Cinemalaya because of, I assume, the explicitness of the material and the profanity. When that happened, the filmmakers decided to strike it out on their own and was able to raise around 300k to jumpstart the production. The film basically tells the story of a small barangay and how, through a series of events, the lives of certain residents--trouble making bums who do nothing but drink, a gay parlorista, a boy and his sexually curious girlfriend, her hardworking father and a crooked police chief--cross paths. It explores sex, violence, oppression, despair, and attempts to expose the reality of life in the streets. Ato does this, I think, fairly competently although there were those who felt that the characters weren't fleshed out that well, and that he failed to show what pushed them into violence. This is where I disagree because save for perhaps one character, the snatcher, one can easily see, though subtly, the events in their past that drove them to their present situation. Another glaring observation raised by others is the profanity laiden dialogue that they found to be too excessive. Again, I disagree. While I must admit that I had a predominantly middle class upbringing, I have seen and heard how streetkids and street urchins curse and they do blurt out the P and G words as if it's very much a normal part of their vocabulary. But then again, I might be wrong.
One thing that the filmmaker attempted to do but failed to achieve was to effectively capture the grit of the streets of Manila. While the darkness is there, it is a tad too clean. I was expecting to see more dirt, more garbage, and perhaps some urine and dog s**t strewn around. It sure didn't look, feel, nor smell like the dark, forbidding streets and alleways I've been to. Nor was it anyway like Brocka's Maynila sa Kuko ng Liwanag. However, his slick camera work and his edgy style pretty much makes up for this small shortcoming. And the movie is well cast and the performances are ok all around.
I suspect, like I mentioned before, that Ato Bautista must've been watching Fernando Meirelles' City of God which gave him and his co-scriptwriter inspiration for this film. Although one can easily see the influence, he manages to inject his own style and the result is a respectable piece of work. The future for him surely looks bright.
Postcript: As of presstime, Tony Gloria of Unitel has already bought the DVD rights to the film.
