On Manila Skies
By Fe P. Koons
When I first saw Manila Skies at the Los Angeles Pacific Asian American Film Festival, I knew this social realist film was going to be a hit. It was in 16 film festivals around the globe.
First of all, Raymond Red who is a UP Diliman fine arts graduate excels in the way that camera is handled. Red also has a bunch of actors who are usually great at doing support roles. To name a few, Ronnie Lazaro , John Arcilla and Nanding Josef. These character actors in Himpapawid have outstanding abilities who portrayed the roles given to them.
Manila Skies stands out as a film that portrays the extreme poverty in the Philippines. It really reminds me of "Kapit sa Patalim" starring Philip Salvador. We all know that way before Brillante Mendoza made a name for himself at the Cannes, it was Raymond Red who paved the way as the first Filipino who won at the Cannes with his short film Anino, with Ronnie Lazaro as the lead actor. Manila Skies is proof that Red is indeed an excellent filmmaker.
It is the cinematography and the colorful visuals in Manila Skies that makes us "fly". We see the depressed areas and how Raul gets entangled into the web of desperation. We get exposed to a cacophony of colors that will attract at the same time affect us with the strong reality that urban poverty is not good and something must be done about it. I disagree that it is a depressing film. It makes the audience think and move them out of their comfort zones. We cannot escape the reality that these are the hard times. We either soar like the eagle or dive from the skies!
Raymond Red who has been doing films since the 80s gives us the universal message --- man has the right to live. As Victor Hugo says in Les Miserables "agonizing for want of bread-- it is a soul which is dying of hunger for light." Manila Skies soar!
By Fe P. Koons
When I first saw Manila Skies at the Los Angeles Pacific Asian American Film Festival, I knew this social realist film was going to be a hit. It was in 16 film festivals around the globe.
First of all, Raymond Red who is a UP Diliman fine arts graduate excels in the way that camera is handled. Red also has a bunch of actors who are usually great at doing support roles. To name a few, Ronnie Lazaro , John Arcilla and Nanding Josef. These character actors in Himpapawid have outstanding abilities who portrayed the roles given to them.
Manila Skies stands out as a film that portrays the extreme poverty in the Philippines. It really reminds me of "Kapit sa Patalim" starring Philip Salvador. We all know that way before Brillante Mendoza made a name for himself at the Cannes, it was Raymond Red who paved the way as the first Filipino who won at the Cannes with his short film Anino, with Ronnie Lazaro as the lead actor. Manila Skies is proof that Red is indeed an excellent filmmaker.
It is the cinematography and the colorful visuals in Manila Skies that makes us "fly". We see the depressed areas and how Raul gets entangled into the web of desperation. We get exposed to a cacophony of colors that will attract at the same time affect us with the strong reality that urban poverty is not good and something must be done about it. I disagree that it is a depressing film. It makes the audience think and move them out of their comfort zones. We cannot escape the reality that these are the hard times. We either soar like the eagle or dive from the skies!
Raymond Red who has been doing films since the 80s gives us the universal message --- man has the right to live. As Victor Hugo says in Les Miserables "agonizing for want of bread-- it is a soul which is dying of hunger for light." Manila Skies soar!
