ML (film)

Last updated

ML
ML film poster.jpg
Directed byBenedict Mique Jr. [1]
Written byBenedict Mique Jr.
Produced byRoselle Lorenzo, Benedict Mique Jr.
Starring
CinematographyAnne Monzon
Edited byMikael Pestano
Music byPearlsha Abubakar-Quebral
Distributed by Solar Pictures
Release date
Running time
90 minutes [4]
CountryPhilippines
LanguageFilipino

ML is a 2018 Philippine independent psychological horror film written and directed by Benedict Mique Jr., starring Eddie Garcia as a retired METROCOM Colonel suffering from Alzheimer's disease, leading him to believe that he is still living in the days of Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship. [1] [2] He mistakes a visiting student, played by Tony Labrusca, as a dissident resisting Martial Law, and captures and tortures him, just as he did back in the 1970s. [3] [2] The film was released on August 3, 2018, at the 14th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. [1]

Contents

Along with Kip Oebanda's Liway , it is one of two Cinemalaya 2018 films featuring social commentary about the martial law, continuing the tradition of 2017's Respeto in light of the 2016 burial of Ferdinand Marcos and the rise of his children Bongbong and Imee Marcos in Philippine politics. [1] [5]

Plot

Carlo, a Marcos loyalist, interviews retired METROCOM Colonel Jose Z. Dela Cruz at his home about his experience and service under the Marcos regime during the martial law days for a school assignment. Unbeknownst to Carlo, the Colonel is delusional and psychopathic, believing that he is still an active-duty soldier in the dictatorship.

As Carlo starts interviewing the Colonel, he strikes Carlo unconscious. When Carlo wakes up, he finds himself strapped on a chair in the basement. Confused of what was happening, he demands to be cut loose by the Colonel but is only answered with physical battery. He is later tortured in numerous ways by the Colonel while asking him questions about his supposed links with a dissident movement. His best friend Jace and girlfriend Pat are later lured into the same basement through deceiving text messages. All three of them are tortured in front of each other. Both Carlo and Jace are beaten-up and electrocuted. Jace is water-boarded and later murdered by Russian roulette. Pat is stripped naked, tied up, burned with cigarettes on her private parts and sexually violated with a bottle.

Jace's corpse is dumped on a pavement and framed as a drug dealer in President Duterte's drug war. Carlo and Pat manage to escape the basement but are met at the doorstep by the Colonel, who is about to kill them before being distracted by a call, upon which the couple escape. They report their case to the police but the Colonel cleans his house of evidence, ensuring his acquittal. Hungry for justice, Carlo goes back to the Colonel's home one night to kill him, only to find that he has already died in his sleep. The Colonel is buried with honors at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Cemetery of Heroes) as Carlo is asked regarding his assignment.

Cast

See also

Related Research Articles

Rolex 12 is the collective name of twelve of the closest and most powerful advisers of President Ferdinand Marcos during the martial law years in the Philippines from 1972 to 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Garcia</span> Filipino actor, television personality, film director and producer (1929–2019)

Eduardo Verchez Garcia, colloquially known as Manoy, was a Filipino actor, television personality, film director and producer. Widely regarded as the "greatest Filipino actor of all-time", Garcia appeared in nearly 700 film and television roles. Garcia had the highest number of appearances in Philippine films.

Michael Allen Eusebio, better known by his stage name Ketchup Eusebio, is a Filipino actor.

<i>Sana Dati</i> 2013 Philippine romantic drama film

Sana Dati is a 2013 Philippine romantic drama film written, directed, edited, and scored by Jerrold Tarog. The film stars Lovi Poe and Paulo Avelino. It is the final installment to Tarog's Camera trilogy which include Confessional (2007) and The Blood Trail (2009).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irma Adlawan</span> Filipino actress

Irma Santonil Adlawan is a Filipino stage, television and film actress. She is dubbed as the “Queen of Independent Cinema” for her acting prowess and exceptional contribution to the Philippine film industry.

Pisay is a 2007 Filipino drama film directed by Auraeus Solito, written by Henry Grajeda and starring Gammy Lopez, Annicka Dolonius, Carl John Barrameda, and Elijah Castillo. The film, set in the 1980s, is centred upon a young student, from 1982 as a freshman and ending in 1986. The background is the last years of Martial Law in the Philippines where the Marcos dictatorship was at its peak.

The 13th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival was held from August 4–13, 2017 in Metro Manila, Philippines. A total of nine full-length features and twelve short films competed. The festival was opened by Mikhail Red's Birdshot and was closed by Adolfo Alix, Jr.'s Pastor.

<i>Respeto</i> 2017 Philippine independent film

Respeto (Respect) is a 2017 Philippine drama independent film starring Filipino hip hop artist Abra, and directed by Alberto "Treb" Monteras II. It was co-written by Monteras and screenwriter Njel de Mesa, who drew inspiration from the works of veteran poets such as Vim Nadera and National Artists Bienvenido Lumbera and Virgilio Almario.

The dictatorship of Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos in the 1970s and 1980s is historically remembered for its record of human rights abuses, particularly targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship. Based on the documentation of Amnesty International, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, and similar human rights monitoring entities, historians believe that the Marcos dictatorship was marked by 3,257 known extrajudicial killings, 35,000 documented tortures, 77 'disappeared', and 70,000 incarcerations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1971</span>

The Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1971 was called to change the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines. The delegates were elected on November 10, 1970, and the convention itself was convened on June 1, 1971. It was marked by controversies, including efforts to uphold term limits for incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos, and a bribery scandal in which 14 people, including First Lady Imelda Marcos, were accused of bribing delegates to favor the Marcoses.

<i>Liway</i> 2018 Filipino film

Liway is a 2018 Filipino independent film about the experiences of Dakip, a young boy growing up in a prison as the son of anti-Marcos dissident Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, better known as Commander Liway and referred to in the film by the vernacular endearment "Day", during the waning days of the Marcos dictatorship. The film was written and directed by Kip Oebanda based on true events, with Glaiza de Castro playing the film's major lead.

The 14thCinemalaya Independent Film Festival was held from August 3–12, 2018 in Metro Manila, Philippines. A total of ten full-length features and ten short films competed. The festival was opened by Erik Matti's BuyBust and was closed by Peng Fei Song's The Taste of Rice Flower.

Unless the Water is Safer than the Land, whose Filipino language title, Musmos na Sumibol sa Gubat ng Digma actually literally means "A Child Who Sprung out of Forest of War", is a 2018 Philippine independent film directed by Iar Lionel Arondaing.

TheEDDYS or The Entertainment Editors' Choice is an annual film event in the Philippines that honors craftsmen, actors, writers, directors, workers, and producers in the Philippine film industry.

The following is a list of events affecting Philippine television in 1979. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel launches, closures and rebrandings, as well as information about controversies and carriage disputes.

Arrest: Pat. Rizal Alih – Zamboanga Massacre is a 1989 Filipino action film directed by comic book writer Carlo J. Caparas and written by Caparas and Tony Mortel. It stars Ramon Revilla as the titular patrolman, alongside Vilma Santos, Eddie Garcia, Marianne Dela Riva, Paquito Diaz, Raoul Aragonn, Baldo Marro, Charlie Davao, and Rosemarie Gil. Based on the Camp Cawa-Cawa siege in January 1989, the film was written and shot within the span of two months, receiving criticism from the chief of the Civil Relations Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines who faulted it as "premature" and potentially inappropriate. Zamboanga Massacre was released by The Golden Lions Productions on March 8, 1989. Caparas considers Zamboanga Massacre to be among the films of which he is the proudest.

Historical distortion regarding Ferdinand Marcos is a political phenomenon in the Philippines. Ferdinand Marcos was the country's president between 1965 and 1986. Distortion, falsification, or whitewashing of the historical record regarding this period, sometimes referred to using the phrases "historical denialism", "historical negationism", or "historical revisionism" as a euphemism for negationism, is an academically documented phenomenon linked to the return of Marcos' immediate family and political allies to government positions, as well as the hero's burial of Marcos himself in 2016. It continues Marcos' own efforts to create a cult of personality for himself, which in itself involved various forms of historical distortion.

<i>Katips</i> 2021 Filipino period musical drama

Katips, also known as Katips: The Movie, is a 2021 Filipino period musical drama film written and directed by Vincent M. Tañada. Based on Tañada's 2016 stage musical of the same name, it is about a group of student activists from the Katipunan area of Quezon City who struggle to protest the imposition of nationwide martial law in the 1970s. The film stars Jerome Ponce, Vince Tañada, Mon Confiado, Sachzna Laparan and Nicole Laurel Asensio, alongside an ensemble cast that includes Dexter Doria, Lou Veloso, Johnrey Rivas, Adelle Ibarrientos and Joshua Bulot.

Juan B. Escandor, also known as Johnny, was a Filipino cancer specialist, radiologist, and later a rural doctor. During the period of Martial Law in the Philippines, Escandor went underground and joined the New People's Army. Known for his social work, his torture and death at the hands of METROCOM forces remain one of the most prominent examples of human rights abuses of the Marcos dictatorship.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Alejo, Aubrey (July 6, 2018). "5 Most Exciting Reasons To Watch Cinemalaya 2018". Meg.
  2. 1 2 3 Abanilla, Clarizel (July 25, 2018). "Eddie Garcia on 'ML,' his 3rd Cinemalaya starring film". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  3. 1 2 "WATCH: Tony Labrusca is tortured in new film about martial law". ABS-CBN News. July 13, 2018. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  4. ↑ "ML: Cinemalaya". Cinemalaya. 2018.
  5. ↑ Babiera, Lester G. (July 9, 2018). "2018 Cinemalaya tackles travails of aging and horrors of martial law" . Retrieved July 31, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.