COMPOUND (Cinemalaya 2006)

I am no film critic,i admit..but i can say that i know a good movie when i saw
one.
last sunday,after a 9 hour shift from work a colleage asked if i wanted to join
them,they're going to watch Cinemanila at CCP.since ive been dying to see Donsol
since i found out that it stars Angel Aquino,i agreed to meet them.Only to find
out that Donsol had its last showing yesterday,saturday.and we also found out
that today is their awards night,too bad.had we found out that its the
Cinemanila's awards night,we should have worn gowns.hahahaha!
we settled on watching Short B,a compilation of 5 short films.while waiting on
the line,we overheard this old guy talking on the phone...
"oo,i have tickets na.we're going to watch Compound,i heard its good"
then my colleages and i smiled,understood na yun,we'll watch Compound instead.
while waiting for the film,we were walking around the CCP trying to find any
poster or synopsis about the movie.we couldn't find any.then i finally gathered
enough courage to ask one of the receptionist.viola!the reason why Compound dont
have any poster is because its an exhibit film from last year.
im not sure how many awards it got from 2005 Cinemalaya,but according to her the
film had some international recognition.So i guess we made the right choice.
before the film starts,a guy went on front and made some introductions about the
film.
the film is more or less 2 hours.but i have to give credit to the
creator/director,coz for the whole 2 hours i didn't find any boring and
dragging scene in the film.every character in the film is well established and
well played especially John Arcilla and Romina (forgot the name of the girl who
played the role). every scene is equally significant as the other.
i also like the transition of every scene,from the Compound itself to the life
of Jay (bisexual man who's trying to get some space from his wife and lover).
but what really amaze me is the twisted ending.just when you thought you had the
director,thinking that the film is,after all predictable,you're wrong!its an
open ended film according to the director.you may choose between the two endings
in the movie.
1.the main character died with his daughter inside the room
2.the terrorist hallucinations of the main character is true and everyone in the
movie was captured by the terrorist and died.they were sold to the terrorist by
the maid,Romina.

***although the terrorist theory was not established,i personally bought that
idea.i think i just like the twist and the "schindler's list" like idea of
it.it was presented in a very drastic way,and i felt the pain and desperation of
the characters,especially Romina.
another thumbs up in the movie is the musical score,thanks to the voices/music
of Bob Aves and Grace Nono.Im not familar with their music but i know for a fact
that their music fits the movie perfectly well.
all in all i liked it,even though it hurts to say that i had a hard time
understanding most part of it.hehehe!
Congratulations to Direk Will Fredo (Close kami?hahaha!) for making a classic