With the rise of indie cinema to a wide range of audience came a growing production of film noirs, teeming with artful portrayals of Pinoy realities especially those that ascribed corruption, and more often than not, resort to tragic endings.In his latest masterpiece Sapi (Possession) Brillante Mendoza was able to subtly infuse that concept of noir into the horror genre. Sapi was, indeed, brought up from his bloodline of works in which he, once again, molded a film with an unconventional stroke, not to mention that Sapi was his very first horror movie.It was not the horror type that the majority tended to expect. Yes, there were heart wrenching scenes, but Sapi, in the overall, did not entirely mean to scare for it was, perhaps, to showcase the horror that is looming within the media system.Plot and CharactersThe rivalry between the TV network stations, the Philippine Broadcasting Channel (PBC) and Sarimanok Broadcasting Network (SBN), was greatly established during the onset part of the movie when production crews from each channel foraged for actual possession scoops during a heavy downpour.The film allotted most of its time on the lives of Meryl (Meryll Soriano), Baron (Baron Geisler), and Dennis (Dennis Trillo).Meryll was the producer of the 'Sapi' episode in SBN. She tended to be desperate and risky, her qualities that would later on, bring about the change of the course of her life. Such qualities of hers manifested right at her first appearance in the movie when she told the driver to course flooded roads.Meryll was trapped between dilemmas: SBN Sapi episode ratings continued to fall; her superior set an impossible deadline for the actual possession footage; and there was nowhere to get such. Being empty handed and desperate for footage, she sought Baron's help.Baron was a camera person from PBC whose team had captured footage of the actual possession. He bribed someone inside to pilfer the footage and delivered it to his friend from SBN, Meryll. He was always available as he always had the tendency to be violent.Dennis was Meryll's anchor who had a very passive character. He would just obey to whatever he had been told to do, which made him very weak and vulnerable to abuse.The true horror 'possession' in the film had only just began after the airing of the stolen footage that had brought forth mishaps one after another: PBC filed a complaint against the network for stealing a footage property; Flor (Flor Salangga), the case subject in the demonic possession had ran amok and manifested possession once more, after seeing her uncensored video that had bluntly revealed her identity on air.MetaphorsThere were manifestations of snake, cockroach, dog and crocodile, which could, perhaps, represented the characters who ran the entire film. These metaphors were very much akin to the people who compose the media business.The snake that appeared at the first part of the movie was in the premises of SBN. It could suggest a foreshadowing that there would be someone in the firm who would be guilty of a 'snakeful' doing. As the movie unfolded, it was clearly revealed that the snake was Meryll, who, technically, was the topman of the pilfering job.On the other hand, Baron could be the cockroach. Being not such a great loss for the network company, he could be akin to a pest, which the company could easily get rid of anytime.Dennis, apparently, was the dog who would always obey and follow everything that was put down on him. The part when the dog was ran over by the SBN van could mean that Dennis would be dragged into the horror web nightmare of Meryll and Baron.The crocodile that appeared at the very end of the movie mirrored the media men in higher tenures who could be very greedy in pushing the ratings up. These crocodiles, according to the news, were known for their wickedness and residents were fearful of them.Reading between the linesThe lives of Meryll, Baron, and Dennis became distorted with which the manifestations were very similar to a demonic possession. They were under a terrifying nightmare of which was beyond superficiality.Barron was ousted from PBC and started to live in a dreamlike world where he could see himself living in violence with his life, ruined.On her own accord, Meryll resigned from work as her hallucinations became vivid. Dennis retained his job in SBN, allowing himself to be perverted by his gay superior as he had begun experiencing hallucinations as well. Besides of his kind demeanor, he had a sexual dark side which could possibly denote that such act happens in the media proper.During these times, the horror had also spread to their loved ones which further revealed to the audiences the main characters' personal lives.Meryll turned out to be a single parent of a daughter. The time when she saw blood coming out from her daughter, perhaps, indicated that in the parallel reality, once the dirty job of a media person is exposed, she would not only drag herself down but also the people whom she has close ties with.It was then revealed that Barron was a loving brother to a kid, who in the latter part of the movie, was killed by a mind-distorted Barron. Eventually, he committed suicide. These tragic events, perhaps, mirrored how a person could be devastated under such cruel system— how the higher ups just throw away and trample the little people after using them.Sapi, was indeed, a satirical movie that showed the horrors or 'politics' in the system of media- a media politics that is just as horrible with which some have no idea about.

A Brilliante Mendoza movie is an awaited event among Filipino cinephiles. After all, he is the only Filipino film director who had won a Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival. Admittedly though, his films (like "Serbis" or "Kinatay") are not really the easiest ones to understand or like for the casual movie fan. His last film "Thy Womb" (starring Ms. Nora Aunor) seems to bridge that gap, arty and award-winning, yet still relatively commercially appealing.It is interesting then to see this current film "Sapi" to see if he will create a film that will bring him into the mainstream consciousness. A good horror film is usually a crowd-pleaser. Unfortunately, it went the opposite way from that. In fact, even Mendoza's most ardent fans will most probably hate this one for various reasons.Meryll, an SBN producer and her reporter Dennis air a feature about a demonic possession. Problem is that this sensational footage had been surreptitiously bought from the rival PBC cameraman Baron. Aside from professional sanctions following this serious infraction, Meryll, Dennis and Baron all begin to be tormented by ghostly visions and events. Or do they?OK, we cannot expect the story of a Brilliante Mendoza film to be told plainly. Yet artistic it may be, the film still needs to tell its story. The main story about the stealing of footage is so unimaginatively told. There was absolutely no way Meryll et al. could have gotten away with it, and they do not even try. Also, how come so many scenes in this film happen without any seeming logical reason. What was the point of that whole scene in the carinderia? Just to have a Mercedes Cabral cameo? What was the point of showing Dennis cruising the street for a hooker? Because a Mendoza film is incomplete without a gratuitous sex scene? The last hour was a blur of terrible supernatural events which seem to be happening to the guilty trio. Yet in the next scenes, confusingly, as if nothing had happened at all, and everyone was A-OK. Here, Mendoza shows a considerably bigger and more horrifying creature coming out a vulva (shades of the controversial graphic birth scene in "Thy Womb"). But in the next scene, everything seemed business as usual, everything forgotten. Truth to tell, these "horror" scenes are not really scary at all, recurrent thunderbolts of lightning notwithstanding.So, it does not really succeed as a horror film. The social commentary parts about the media war, or even about the garbage and the flooding, were shallow at best. The artistic considerations are not really so admirable as well. The camera was very shaky (though thankfully not as dizzying as "Captive"). The colors were pale and washed out, since majority of the film occur in the rain or in the dark. The acting of the cast is compromised by the inexplicable things their characters were made to do. The editing is a jumbled mess of non-sequitur scenes.I guess there nothing really much that I liked about this film. But I will still look forward to the next Brillante Mendoza film though. 2/10.