Cavite

A feature shot with guts and, in the most literal sense, in a guerrilla style, that shows more of the Filipino slums than many a documentary. The action is set, as the title indicates, in Cavite, a coastal town just under Manila. The underbelly of Cavite, you could say, is not only decor, but also protagonist. The human protagonist, Adam, is also not only a protagonist; he is also omnipresent. From the moment when this Americanised Filipino arrives at the airport and starts a desperate journey through the town he doesn’t know, until the surprising denouement, he is followed by the camera as if it were a heat-seeking missile. Cavite is a town in a country from which he is alienated and barely speaks the language. He doesn’t have any time to acclimate. He has hardly arrived before he is phoned on his mobile by someone he doesn’t know. His mother and his nine-year-old sister have apparently seen kidnapped. Then he is sent by the unknown person to all the nooks and crannies of Cavite. The kidnappers seem to belong to the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic guerrilla group that undertakes terrorist operations from the southern Filipino islands and is specialised in very lugubrious kidnappings.There is a lot of topicality and realism in this film. The makers set about their task undaunted. They entered districts that no outsiders ever visit and even if they are penniless American-Filipino film makers, it’s not easy to be as penniless as the inhabitants of the Cavite slums. And you’re kidnapped in no time.