The Best Movies About Illegal Police Raids

One proof that independent cinema is superior to mainstream television is their contrasting approaches to the issue of police raids on gay establishments.

TV news exposés have brainwashed generations into believing the police are the heroes, with images of them bravely ransacking gay bars, clubs, moviehouses, and bathhouses, pointing their heavy artilllery on unarmed persons. The other heroes are the mediamen, charging side by side with the cops, pointing their accusatory cameras at the defenseless, and reporting gallantly with flowery language that namedrops God and Morality.

How many of us used to believe (or still do) that gay establishments and gay patrons never should have been placed on this earth in the first place? Watching quasi-investigative shows like Imbestigador and XXX, how many of us ask questions about true legality, TV ratings, human rights -- and never get an answer?

Right now is a precarious time. It's Raid Season. Some say it's part of local and national police's attempts to rebuild their image after the embarassment at Luneta Grandstand -- sort of like a man who loses at a cock derby, so to reclaim his dominance, must go home and beat up his wife. Others say the police extortions are rampant once again because Christmas Season is around the bend; Money is of great need to government workers at this time every year. Last week, a movie theater in Manila got invaded. This week, a bathhouse in Pasay was looted, detaining 105 civilians, confiscating their cash and celphones.

When TV reports, we're quick to blame the gay establishments, their employ, and their owners. Or we say the gay customers deserve it. TV never mentions the truth about being gay in the Philippines: It's not illegal. They also leave out the roots of raids: Other establishments that pay the police to destroy the competition; TV news departments that need a ratings boost, so they co-opt the police to stage a new sensation; and most importantly, corrupt police thugs acting as robbers. Whose side is TV on? Beat reporters depend on their police sources for access, to make their job easier. The same can be said for police beat reporters of broadsheets and tabloids. How else will they get their news?

The beauty of movies is they don't depend on the police. At their best, they report the truth.

In the past, films like Sibak: Midnight Dancers depict police raids with little or no critique of it: It's part of life; It happens; We move on. We're blessed to be living in ever-enlightening times. Last year (2009), two movies offered important lessons. Now is a good time to revisit them.



Ang Laro Ng Buhay Ni Juan. In the friendly atmosphere of a gay club, the staff and patrons offer tip money to performer Juan, to help him for his trip home. When policemen raid the club, Juan naively pleads for mercy but not for his rights. When his money is taken away from him, we feel the blow of the robbery, and the loss of dignity.












Big Night. Cleverly deceiving us into thinking the villain must be the hot-tempered gun-toting manager of the girlie bar (not gay), the film shakes us at the last minute when the guns that are fired come from outside, the law enforcers. The tragedy drops the question: Who (or what) is the real enemy?










What does it say that both daring films are "indies"? Produced outside the narrow limitations of mainstream, indies are usually way ahead of studio fare in the integrity of ideas precisely because of their independent nature -- the higher power they answer to is seldom big money. As such, they're usually portends of new world orders. Just think of the anti-martial law films that were produced during martial law, before the larger middle class finally signed on. We're experiencing major injustices today in increasing levels of shamelessness, and a few good films are pointing it out for us. Maybe we're headed for positive change. Watch, listen, get angry, get involved, demand a better world.

Related Link:
"Know Your Rights: What the Police Can Or Cannot Do" at Discreet Manila

Should U.P. Ban "Gay Porno"?

In a recent article, veteran journalist Mario Bautista calls for a prohibition of what he calls "gay porno" from screening at the University of the Philippines Film Institute. UP -- along with the Cultural Center of the Philippines -- remains the last public venue for films deemed unfit for viewing by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board. When the MTRCB gives a film an "X" rating, it can't be shown anywhere -- except in UP or CCP. No one in government is supposed to have legal power to curtail freedom of expression, so every movie is allowed a place -- at the very least in a cultural or educational setting.

For the past year, many X-rated films have enjoyed packed premiere screenings at UP -- sometimes a new movie every week. Today, filmmakers reserve slots at UP even before getting a rating, in anticipation of a hard time with the MTRCB. It's somewhat become standard practice, especially since it's also an effective promotional scheme in capturing a core audience. Most of these films eventually graduate to a more lenient rating of "R-18" after a cut or two, and go on to commercial runs in more accessible multiplexes. Not all of them are gay films. A few are straight. The X rating is mostly attributed to sexual content, even in films not particularly about sex. But it's the gay sex films that are presently getting the raised eyebrows, perhaps because they attract such an excitable crowd during these premieres, and perhaps because "gay" and "sex" are words that make certain sectors uncomfortable especially when put together. But much more likely, gay sex films have become targets because they have acquired a reputation for being bad. It's easy to discredit a terribly made film.

But thank goodness the UP Film Institute doesn't discriminate on values, whether moral, religious, or, more importantly, technical or artistic. It's ridiculous to ban a film based on quality or artistic merit. I sat through a terrible Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera romance last year, for example, but I'm not one to deny the one or two persons in the audience who may have found a morsel of delight in it. I wasn't exactly happy with at least half the gay films released last year either, but different people have different tastes. You have to weather the bad, because only in such a free environment can good films also thrive. They wallow in the same pond.

Filipino gay sex films are already on the fringes. This is evident because the major studios don't make them. It's almost exclusively the territory of the independents, with scrimped budgets to compensate for a significantly smaller market. Their commercial runs are very limited, in only a handful of theaters, and only in the major cities in the country. R-rated films aren't even shown in the country's largest cinema chain, SM Cinemas, following a company policy. (They only show PG or G.) X-rated films are even on the fringe of the fringe. Producers don't expect to cover their entire moviemaking cost with just one special screening in UP. Most people, even those interested to watch them, don't even brave the traffic and distance to UP in Quezon City. As it is, the setup for X-rated films is already unfriendly.

I've always had a problem with the flimsy standards and inconsistencies of the MTRCB in awarding ratings. It deserves a separate discussion, because that is not the issue here. The issue is not art or trash. It is not X or R. The issue is not exploitation of actors or unfit professional practices, though it deserves its own inquiry, of course. The issue is that in the event a film does get an X-rating, where will it go if UP chooses not to accept it? What certain people like Mario Bautista are asking for is beyond regulation, and it's not even simple censorship, it's banishment. It's throwing an entire work into limbo, never to be seen or heard from again. It's like cutting a person's tongue before people are allowed to hear what he has to say. Pity if those films turn out to be something you might actually find good, whatever your inclinations are. Supposing for a moment that government could banish content ever since the 1940's, our movies would still be unable to depict married couples in bed together (which was seen as lewd in those times), and homosexuality, even among clothed men, is a topic that would never see the light of day. Non-banishment guarantees that our culture moves forward with the times.

The most unfortunate thing that arises from this issue is the unmasking of some of our elders, like Mario Bautista, who wield phrases like "artistic freedom" yet still err on the side of banishment. If people like him won't champion expression, then who can we trust? If people in seats of government, some of whom are also artists, seek power to banish on the basis of taste, can we trust them to be the guardians of our culture? I'm also appalled that students and alumni of the University of the Philippines echo the same cries for banishment to keep their beloved alma mater "pure". I can't believe these are people who spent formative years in a diversified thinking environment. Right now, UPFI is still set for a premiere screening or two of possibly controversial material, which is the way it should be. If there's anything that needs to be changed around here, it's certain individuals' attitudes.

The Bakla Review is a homosexual, a supporter of Phiippine cinema, and an alumnus of the University of the Philippines.

Related Links:
"UP No Place For Gay Porno" By Mario Bautista
"Censors To Monitor UP Film Screenings" By Marichu Lambino
Readers Opinion at RDDantes
TBR Answers Your Burning Questions: The Rise of Gay Films