Ma’ Rosa
Directed by Brilliante Mendoza
Philippines | 2016 | Fiction | 110 min | Tagalog w/English subtitles
Film Source: First Run Features
Sponsored by Esperanza Restaurante
Ma’ Rosa premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival just nine days after the election of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whose nicknames include “The Punisher” and “Duterte Harry.” The timing was prescient. The protagonists of Brillante Mendoza’s neorealist drama are the same type of low-level dealers who became targets in Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, while the film’s portrayal of police officers on the take provides a glimpse of the broader governmental corruption and corresponding social discontent that contributed to Duterte’s victory at the polls. Shot with handheld cameras on the streets of Manila, Ma’ Rosa is anchored by the performance of Jaclyn Jose (who won Best Actress at Cannes) as the stoic matriarch who will go to any length to keep her family afloat. ~LB
