MANILA, Philippines - World Champion, Victory.
For a developing nation such as ours, these titles and words can mean so much as we struggle for a sense of national pride. What director Gil Portes and his film Liars (a Cinemalaya entry in the Directors Showcase category) would have us examine closely, is at what price and cost are we ready to strive for and achieve the right to use those titles, call the word our own, if we truly deserve them even when they ring hollow. Based on true events that date back to 1992, Senedy Que’s screenplay about a Little League baseball team may take liberties with the names of the team, of individuals involved, and its resolution thereof; but the essence of what happened then, what repercussions live on to today, and how it raises questions about our sense of national character and integrity, remain potent and important questions.
Eloisa (Alessandra de Rossi) is a cub reporter during the time of the Estrada trial, and instead of being assigned to cover the political beat, she’s sent to write about a Smokey Mountain Little League baseball team that’s on the cusp of winning the National championship — which would lead to Asian Regionals in Taipei, and on to the USA for the Little League World Series. By coincidence, she spots and snaps a photo of the pitcher-catcher tandem of the team, Dante Quirino and Ato Macapagal. She even jokes with them, about how their surnames are both of ex-Presidents.
The falsifying of player lineups, the use of over-aged players, the negating of all sense of sportsmanship and fair play, and the back stories of these coaches and players who hail from a very economically depressed area become the grist of this compelling, highly charged and driven exposé of a film. And to their credit, Portes and Que are not trying to give us a sports scandal film. Rather, sports is a mere backdrop, for the more probing and telling questions the film wishes to raise. And there are no black and white answers to the questions; rather, we bear witness to the magnificent shades of grey that make for grim reality.
The acting of de Rossi, Cris Villanueva, Arnold Reyes, et al are commendable; but the real charm comes from the two neophyte child actors who play Dante and Ato. Yes, their acting may be rough around the edges, but it gives them a rawness that allows us to suspend disbelief, and believe these are really two boys from that 1992 team, comrades forced to face the ugly truth about ambition and the absence of values. The cinematography comes to shine during one telling moment as Eloisa confronts Dante in an abandoned baseball diamond while the team is celebrating its World Series victory elsewhere. Utilizing a 360-degree camera track, Portes does away with dialogue and gives a poignant, telling scene — after all, we know what transpired, what’s important is to know that Dante has finally found someone upon whom he can unload his sense of betrayal, his sadness and confusion.
It tells that this story revolves around a team of 12-year old boys, as it brings home how even at such a tender, formative year; the long arm of the unscrupulous and dishonorable can be inculcating life lessons to these impressionable children in the name of being magulang and strategic. I also loved how the film’s coda had Eloisa returning to the neighborhood and encountering grown-up Dante and Ato, so that hindsight also played a role in examining what really happens when such a scandal or exposé occurs. Portes admits that his film will not change the world, but it is a story that truly deserves to be told and watched.
(Liars will have its Cinemalaya premiere on July 27, 8:30 p.m. at the CCP.)