It’s told with stark realism in an edgy and almost procedural documentary-like manner, filmed in the mean streets of Quiapo and punctuated by comic relief provided by John Lapus as the gullible victim of a budol-budol gang who took his wallet. But in the end, it’s actually a horror story. It leaves us with a terrifying thought that the people who are tasked to protect us are actually predators without any conscience or remorse. With more careful scripting, this could have been a classic. We really wish they made the character of the thief better defined and more sympathetic so that viewers will somehow side with him.
The film is pretty well acted: Nico Antonio as the cellfone thief who certainly gets more than what he bargained for, Bangs Garcia as his victim who wants to get her stolen cellfone back as it has a sex video showing her and her lover in bed, Nor Domingo and Jake Macapagal as the two cops who chase and arrest Nico, and most of all, Art Acuna, who gives a very powerful portrayal of the diabolical precinct chief . Art is good because he never goes over the top. He won best supporting actor awards last year for “Nino”. It’d again be virtually impossible for him to be ignored by award-giving bodies for his solid performance here.
We asked the film’s producer, Atty. Joji Alonzo, how does she think cops would react to the way police corruption is exposed in the film. “I hosted the TV show ‘Police Hour’ for ten years at lahat ng positive stories about cops, I featured in it to show that there are cops who really do good,” she says. “Marami naman talagang matino. But let’s face it, now, you read the papers, and you see cops being involved in crimes themselves. We can no longer tell our children to go seek the help of a cop when they’re in trouble. It’s not our fault na ganyan ang perception ngayon sa mga pulis. Kasalanan nila yan. ‘Posas’ is based on research, not on fiction. There’s an actual case sa Supreme Court similar to it. I consulted a police general about the story and there’s nothing fake in the movie. It happened talaga. The PNP is asking for support from the media for them to have a better image. If the PNP would complain about our movie, then I’d tell them na linisin muna nila ang organization nila before we can support them.”
