Kubrador

Every year, during the first ten days in February, Geneva holds the so called Black Movie Festival (http://www.blackmovie.ch/fr/index.php). This year, two films from the Philippines were selected for screening. I went to watch Kubrador which tells of the life of Amy played by Gina Pareno. The character Amy is an epitome of a jueteng kubrador: a life of constant struggle not to be caught by the police, over and above the need to earn as much commission from both the bettors and the operators. The movie showcase also a cross section of life in the big city, with all the mix of people, their own daily struggle of living, their dreams, hopes, frustrations, losses, death. Gina Pareno's acting is excellent: it is a soul baring itself not because she wants it but the reality sorrounding her existence does not give her other options. If life is a struggle for survival, then Kubrador showed it in its rawest: people living for the moment, dreams of tomorrow and a better hope too distant from the present lives they're living.