Watching this fine thriller in Tagalog language (from Philippines) revolving around the plight of the poor, living in pathetic conditions of filth, junk and water clogged slums, I just remembered a quote of mystic master OSHO about the rich. And he said,
If a rich person is not spiritual, then he is a FOOL.
The words strongly echoed in my mind, as I watched the poor husband and wife in the film, going through various hardships of life just to earn their minimum cost of living required to survive in a metro city. And it conversely reminded me of the comforts of life we are all living in just because of having born in a middle or higher class family only by luck, by chance or simply by HIS grace, without feeling any kind of gratitude towards the kind existence.
So as said by the mystic, even after realizing this gifted life, much better than many others in this world struggling to earn their daily living, if we still don’t become spiritual and start sharing our granted riches with the needy ones, then we certainly are a bunch of FOOLS undoubtedly, ignoring the divine grace.
Further, the well written script of METRO MANILA also made me conclude, that where the rich have that margin or scope to enjoy the luxury of being more inclined towards The GOD (due to their blessed abundance), there the poor always remains more close to ‘A Crime’ than to ‘The God’ due to his given conditions.
The film’s story progression clearly proves the point when the main protagonist & his wife step on to all wrong paths of life in order to make some money, looking at their innocent kid daughter constantly complaining of a tooth ache (in need to be taken to a dentist). But their chosen questionable paths lead them towards a disastrous tragic end, unexpectedly.
An appreciable project focusing on this ‘unavoidable money obsession in the poor’, METRO MANILA has a brilliant climax and comes out as an impressive mix of a drama-heist thriller mainly due to its outstanding cinematography, fabulous background score and thoughtful direction creating a highly realistic ambience of the metro city. However due to an avoidable or coward move of the husband related with his wife’s choice of profession and the long descriptive first half, METRO MANILA just falls short of becoming a masterpiece film, as per my personal opinion. Yet it certainly deserves to be seen for its excellent execution and the superb final moments for sure.
Interestingly in India, Fox Star Studios and Vishesh Films are jointly coming up with an official remake of this international award winning film receiving critical acclaim at various festivals. And having a fabulous team of director Hansal Mehta and actor Rajkumar Rao, who won National Awards for Best Director and Best Actor respectively for the year 2013, it will really be exciting to see how they adapt the film for our Indian audience with their own additional makeovers or new insertions.
Nevertheless I am sure that the Hindi version called CITYLIGHTS will appeal to all the Indian viewers too, since the burning problem of poverty & unemployment does exist in our developing country widely, even after 67 years of independence………….unfortunately. But before that, do try to watch this worth praising original METRO MANILA as a must and feel the gratitude towards the existence for granting us this decent blessed life as the chosen ones.
HIS BLESSINGS
Tags :
METRO MANILA (2013 - Philippines) and the mystic master OSHOs quote on the rich, Articles on Cinema By Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com, Articles on Music, Poetry and Life by Bobby Sing, Inspired Films, CITYLIGHTS the Indinan version of METRO MANILA, Films based on plight of the poor.
