this is... actually not a bad poster

If you've read this blog in any meaningful capacity you'd know that the vast majority of pro-EJK films are badly made pieces of shit. This time however, we have someone different at the helm: multi-hyphenate Palanca award winner Njel de Mesa, co-writer of films such as Respeto (!!). Aside from preferring to use the title "Direq" (yes, that is a thing) he also has two giant pieces of tape on his face like he's covering up third and fourth face nipples. I guess given MTRCB standards this is acceptable.





in the future he's going to use DIREQCHKHCKHKKHCHKHC

And the result? Well of course it's trash, but besides that.. you guessed it, it's still pretty much a film written with the logic and reasoning of an angry six year old. (Apologies to all the six year old children I know.) At a whopping two hours and thirty three minutes, it is an absolute slog to go through. It is, however, a nice glimpse into the complicated mental gymnastics performed by these people - gymnastics so convoluted Nadia Comaneci looks like the QWOP guy in comparison. It made me wonder if someone can retroactively take back a Palanca award. It made me thank all the deities Treb Monteras changed Respeto into what it eventually became, otherwise the film might have made Ang Guro Kong Di Marunong Magbasa and Requited look like Citizen fucking Kane.





What happens when a semi-competent person tries to make propaganda? Let us begin a journey into the insanity that is KontrAdiksyon.





Chapter 1. A Home Invasion





Jake Cuenca, an otherwise decent actor who keeps getting drafted into terrible films, plays Alexis. Thankfully, he doesn't jack off into a rock here. He is a staunch supporter of human rights, and the movie begins with some sort of press conference with him saying something to that effect. The film treats his speech like a spongebob meme, because fuck human rights.





All is well and good. Alexis goes home to his hot wife and two kids (one of whom is dressed like an angel, which in Palanca-award winning playwright terminology means... *ruffles through pages* EPIC FORESHADOWING.)





Suddenly, his front door is blown open by what looks like explosive charges. At once, I thought these couldn't be drug addicts, because these people should have the mental coordination needed to plant explosive charges properly. But since this movie makes little actual sense, of course they are.





In walks a gang of thugs in masks making cartoonishly stupid poses. To further push the point, they do drugs on the dining table, just to emphasize that yes, they do drugs.





So they do the Michael Haneke Funny Games thing, but like if Funny Games was directed by Dinky Doo. Hot wife gets raped, with implication the kid's also getting some premature D. Head gang member (who curiously doesn't do any drugs) gives Alexis a gun, daring him to shoot, then unbuttons his leather jacket because it's hot and there are no electric fans anywhere... revealing that he too, wears a *gasp* anti EJK t-shirt! Now if this were a stupid film, Alexis probably wouldn't have the guts to shoot because the lead gang member is an ally and he "sHoulD reSpeCt hUmAn RigHts." of course he doesn't do that because...





oh wait, he does that. He hesitates shooting because he respects human rights or something.





sigh let me repeat this for the people in the back





YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DEFEND YOURSELF





THIS ISN'T ABOUT PROTECTING VIOLENT CRIMINALS FROM _ANY_ REPERCUSSIONS



VIOLENT CRIMINALS DESERVE TO BE PUNISHED/INCARCERATED



VIOLENT DRUG ADDICTS DESERVE TO BE PUNISHED/INCARCERATED





of course the film/filmmakers are morons, so this goes over their heads. All that duct tape must be sucking out important nutrients for the brain. Instead, as if to mock the critics, his wife cries out "pAaNo nA AnG AdBoKaSiYa mO?" while she is raped.





The official mascot of KontrAdiksyon

Fear is a giant factor in the mentality that goes behind these things. The middle class fear of a home invasion, the fear that makes one lock the doors when an insane-looking or dirty person walks by the car. Can you blame people for losing their mental capacity because of that fear? I don't know. Ask spongebob.





II. DIRE((KAYAKO NOISES)) NJEL DE MESA





Meanwhile a call center agent (Kris Bernal) sidelines as a pusher. She brings over some drugs to a hotel party where everyone's in their underwear for some reason. One of the partygoers (the woman who got the drugs in the first place) overdoses. This is important later, but for the meantime, boobies.





Alexis wakes up in a pool of blood. He's naked in the bathroom. Unlike in Nuwebe, he thankfully doesn't jack off in the shower. Directors need to stop telling Jake Cuenca to jack off in random places, for fuck's sake.





It looks like he's being framed for the crime, but the justice system in this movie is actually quite competent. He has a solid legal defense, and DNA evidence points to his innocence. Despite that, he ignores the lawyer and becomes a full fledged vigilante.





Alexis goes back to the scene of the crime and broods like a two-cent batman when one of his co workers at the anti-EJK advocacy group meets him. He tells him that they won't act on this because the police didn't kill this person. Alexis, not understanding how human rights groups actually work, gets angry. Yeah, because crimes like this are INVESTIGATED BY THE POLICE, you absolute bellend.





III. Direくくくく Njel de Mesa





Alexis walks into a classroom (?) where drug addiction is being taught as a chronic brain disease that irreversibly changes a person's life. This is a very generalized statement that seems to imply that rehabilitation is a waste of time. But whatever, right.





IV. Jesus take the bong





There's a church scene now. Lou Veloso is saying that killing is bad (generally true) because of the commandments but Elizabeth Oropesa goes total DDS mode, saying that the old testament has been superseded by the new testament's two great commandments, even quoting the first one: "love God with all your heart, etc etc."





This is evidence that the direQCHKCHtor that made this film didn't exactly read his bible because he kinda neglected to understand the second great commandment: "love thy neighbor as yourself." Maybe he was too busy choreographing dances to attend Sunday school.





So if we think killing our neighbor is okay, are we in the self hating business now? Do drug war supporters want to kill themselves or something?





Elizabeth Oropesa's character shyly raises her fist. Might as well've put that fist in her mouth.





V. real assholes wear pink





A guy wearing a pink bonnet kills a bunch of people in a drug lab while grooving to classical music. Because... REASONS???? (okay, maybe he was eliminating competition, but we don't know this... yet. This is straight out the Dinky Doo filmmaking playbook.)





I'm actually surprised he's the same size jacket as the guy he killed, cause that dead guy was kinda fat.





Meanwhile, Alexis becomes a PDEA asset. He's psychologically unstable, but PDEA director Katrina Halili gives him a pass, because we don't need stringent psychological standards for our law enforcement. We need a couple more vengeance obsessed psychopaths to protect us I guess.





Also, boobs.





The mastermind behind the whole thing (someone called "the President") is arranging a deal with a foreign guy, who is explicitly not Chinese , but a westerner. In the background, there's a zombie...? This will become relevant later.





VI. Jesus take the meth pipe too while you're at it





"Separation of church and state!" one pro-admin priest spouts as he defends extrajudicial killings, completely misunderstanding the term. He seems to think that "the church should keep out of the government's business" means "the church should turn a blind eye when thousands of people are being killed." Are these guys on drugs? Do you, DireQ, ever think about the words that are coming out of your screen play?





Do you think about what those words mean?





Do you think?





The film pushes for killings to happen, the subtext isn't that deep. Most of the addicts in this film are portrayed as either unpredictable insane people, or violent subhumans. Curiously there aren't a lot of poor addicts depicted in this film, as if the film is trying to evade that notion. Guess how many poor addicts are killed a day in this country. Not that they matter, right? Because according to this film, they aren't people.





Like any good propaganda piece the film deflects the blame onto drug people. OF COURSE it's the drug lords who do the vigilante killings in order to eliminate the competition.





VII. Left 4 Dead is a fun game but I don't have any teammates huhu





After having a dream where his dream wife berates him for having no spine and not killing her rapists because he's a "hUmAn rIgHtS AdVoCaTe", Alexis wakes up. Also, boobs.





Alexis visits an internet cafe, believed to be the base of a drug supplier. Beside him, kids are playing Left 4 Dead, which is actually a fun game. Too bad he didn't start a round, because I'd rather watch that instead.





Drug lady with shotgun-cane Odette Khan (okay, I admit that was kinda cool) says that the supply is going down, which is, I think, reflects the thinking behind this war. If no one does anything about demand, people are still going to find ways to drugs anyway . Alexis faces off against a duo wielding nailed bats and beats them up. Eventually he kills Odette Khan and her minion... right in front of Kris Bernal's character. Whoops.





He chases Kris Bernal down and stops her, and that is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.





pAaNo nA AnG AdBoKaSiYa mO?



VIII. Dire((white noise)) Njel de Mesa



