Tirador

Tirador is a good film in all aspects. The movie depicts the life of petty criminals and common folks in a colony in Manila who has immense faith in the local politicians. We see varied images of the colony from middle aged men, the youth and the teenage whose lives are intertwined with each other. What we see is not the jaded characters with exaggerated plot around them but realistic characters with ordinary problems surrounding them.

The film opens late into the night and a raid is ongoing in search of illegal products in the colony and sometimes we can only see through the light from the flashlight. The director has cleverly used this entire opening sequence to show the various kinds of people in the society and their lives. And what ensues in the film is about these people tackling the tensions and troubles in the colony.

Another thing I have to mention about this movie is the cinematography. Not even in a single shot is steady and that is not a bad thing. It suits the movie in all respective. It is as if we are glancing through the lives of these people in the colony. I think, that is brilliant way of communicating with the viewer. I have seen several movies shot in similar way but it suits this movie the most.

This film has all the merits of a pseudo-documentary with reality-show touch. All the main actors played their roles as real to the mundane realization of life in a slum area. The story plot, if there is really one in the classic sense of the word is an exposè of contrasts between different levels of corruption using survival as a backdrop.

I came out watching this film wondering if this kind of reality really exists, at least at the level that is being conveyed. I grew up in an upper middle-class part of Quezon City. The stark contrast of existence of the different societal levels leads me to think this movie only bolsters the ever widening disparity. In one scene were the father died, the son seemed stoic and unperturbed by what just ensued. This untroubled feeling is shared by the rest of the neighbors, and death is detached. Survival has become instinctually animal.

Tirador is a good film in all aspects. The movie depicts the life of petty criminals and common folks in a colony in Manila who has immense faith in the local politicians. We see varied images of the colony from middle aged men, the youth and the teenage whose lives are intertwined with each other. What we see is not the jaded characters with exaggerated plot around them but realistic characters with ordinary problems surrounding them.

The film opens late into the night and a raid is ongoing in search of illegal products in the colony and sometimes we can only see through the light from the flashlight. The director has cleverly used this entire opening sequence to show the various kinds of people in the society and their lives. And what ensues in the film is about these people tackling the tensions and troubles in the colony.

Another thing I have to mention about this movie is the cinematography. Not even in a single shot is steady and that is not a bad thing. It suits the movie in all respective. It is as if we are glancing through the lives of these people in the colony. I think, that is brilliant way of communicating with the viewer. I have seen several movies shot in similar way but it suits this movie the most.

Tirador is an interesting watch.

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