User Reviews

In a movie that's just 10 days to make and with just roughly $7,000 budget, one would think there's not much to anticipate. But with creativity and an inventive idea, this movie takes micro financed film-making to the next level. Only Blair Witch Project (1999) thus far, pulled off a feat to beat under similar circumstances. With the advent of digital technology, film-making becomes more and more accessible even to dropouts Ian Gamazon and Neill dela Llana. A perfect blueprint to filmmaker hopefuls who haven't the means but the idea, "Cavite" is bold, cunning and still thrills.

A movie that will keep foreign tourists off Cavite or worse, the Philippines as a whole, "Cavite" is more than just a political thriller exposing as well the dreadful scenario in the outskirts of Metro Manila, which can also be the case in most parts of the country, projecting an image ten times worthy of what Claire Danes had to say about Manila. Though some shocking claims in the movie about the country are exaggerated and inaccurate, disturbing scenes captured reveal realities that can never be denied exist. Either Filipinos are unaware of all these or apathetic already.

Adam (Gamazon) is working at a San Diego Harbor as a Security Guard, which allows plenty of time for him to play video games and watch his belly balloon. His mother calls from the Philippines informing him his father has been killed in a bus bombing. His girlfriend in the meantime has decided to have an abortion informing him eventually. His spirits dampened, Adam takes on a flight to the Philippines via Taipei. Deciding to attend his father's funeral, Adam arrives at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport now waiting to be picked up when a cell phone rings, which he promptly realizes to be inside his backpack enveloped along with some pictures of his mother and sister who an Abu Sayyaf member on the other line says have been kidnapped by their group. Now Adam is coerced to follow his instructions or his family will be killed.

Riding a jeepney as instructed, Adam is led down the streets of Cavite City. He is introduced to the populated city slums where the toilet is just mostly anywhere, solid wastes float alongside children swimming on swamps, children ready to sell themselves for prostitution abound, and extreme poverty is sweeping. On foot traversing the lengths of the sunny city, Adam is tested in ways both silly and horrendous as to how far he can go to save his family. He later finds out the whole misfortune is to a certain extent linked to a vendetta for an act his father committed years back. In the end, Adam is made to do something he'll never forget.

The movie illustrates how severe extremist rebels can be and how far they can go just to see their plans carried out. But more than that, the movie both rationalizes and criticizes terrorism in the country. The decades old rationale communicated to support terrorism is that Mindanao belongs to Muslims and people like the terrorist caller are doing everything just to get it back to them even if it means Jihad. A lapsed Muslim himself, Adam counters with an interesting definition of Jihad: "I struggle everyday of my life to better myself. That's Jihad, not the way you do it." The filmmakers maintain some interest with the terrorist caller detailing accounts of the many atrocities to the Muslim people in Mindanao to further the rationalization of terrorism. Not really taking sides, the movie in the end shows Adam's girlfriend Dana (Dominique Gonzalez) explaining why she had to abort the baby: "…I panicked when I found out I was pregnant. You know, I'm ashamed for saying this and I'm even ashamed for thinking this, but I can't have a baby that's Muslim. I never thought I'd have to say that but I can't help the way I feel…" Unpolished, the film is no way perfect. The terrorist caller has a number of minor Tagalog grammar lapses, not to mention his accent not distinctly native, thus a bit unpersuasive to those who really speak the language. The yellow subtitles (English translations of the terrorist caller's lines) show a few errors. One is on a line in a Parokya ni Edgar song Mr. Suave, which says: "…habulin ng babae…" Translation shows: "I chase all the ladies." But all these are barely discernible to foreign viewers and can even be dismissed if one thinks about what this movie has accomplished.

Though already seen in various horror films, its edgy camera-work with no known focus is fitting, thus notable, enhancing the distress suggested by the situation. And though with the script still a bit amateurish, Gamazon somehow scores an almost convincing portrayal. Add to that the raw third world setting, which compliments the dread, presented in depressingly and dismally expository way. Above all, the message is channeled tactfully, thus swaying, going far beyond the bounds of being preachy.

"Cavite" may not be a favorite of everyone, but it's an affirmation that one doesn't need to have millions of dollars to create suspense. And it sure has actuated someone into becoming a fan. That happens to be me. (toyski.com)

The concept for "Cavite" is not exactly new, as the storyline has been worked up before in at least one recent mainstream Hollywood movie.

The concept is simple and exciting: an adult man who is from the Philippines has been living and working in the U.S. He gets a call to inform him that he's needed, urgently, at home. On the way out of town he's beset by an emotional crisis with his Stateside girlfriend, which he tries to resolve from a telephone in the airport.

Right there I knew I was in trouble. The audio recording in this movie, at least as presented on DVD, is spotted with incomprehensible moments. The "trouble with his girl" sub-text is an important one, or it would not have been included in this briskly paced, and well-photographed story. It reoccurs at the end of the movie but only as an afterthought. There's a scene with the girlfriend talking, being very cold and cruel, and the main character is a wearing a mask of disgust because he is so emotionally spent. He cannot tell her what has happened to him, and she's an airhead, practically speaking.

The main character is Adam, and a stranger on a cell phone is his Nemesis, his constant antagonist.

Adam is a Muslim man in his mid-30s. The Philippines are overwhelmingly Christian and mostly Roman Catholic, but the substantial Muslim minority there has been raising hell on Mindanao ( and on other islands ), for a century or more. Recently, post-9/11, both domestic anti-terrorist units and U.S. forces have been employed against these Muslim guerrillas and many of them were killed.

So, after flying across the Pacific, stopping over in Taipei and then landing in the Philippines, Adam is perplexed when his mother does not meet him at the airport. He soon learns that she cannot because she has been kidnapped by Muslim fanatics. They are threatening to kill her and Adam's sister if he does not cooperate fully.

At first he thinks that all they really want is money, because they use him to loot a savings account left behind by his father -- one that holds $ 75,000, a most princely sum -- but eventually he figures out that they want him to be a mule for a terrorist bomb attack.

More than half of the film is presented in moving sequences: he's riding in a Jeepney, on a bus, walking, running, taking a tricycle cab and walking some more. The nasty, bitchy fellow on the other end of the cell phone ( that was cleverly inserted into his luggage just before he left the airport on arrival ), alternately harangues him about being a good Muslim and then threatens to murder his mother.

The good Muslim is extorting the slacker Muslim into delivering a bomb ... into a Christian church ... by threatening his family. The poor sap has no choice but to comply.

The film's author and leading man showed great courage in even wanting to tackle this thorny subject. There are some clever moments in "Cavite". It could have been one of the truly great low-budget independents -- think "Mariachi," here -- if the hectic pace of the film had been reduced at certain points, to allow the viewer to see the size of the dilemma and the pain it causes Adam, and to see him feeling strange in the poverty-stricken neighborhoods of Cavite.

Most of the time the cell phone tormentor is speaking Tagalog, or a mixture of Tagalog and English, and the subtitles for that seem to fly by ... meaning, once again, that it is impossible to grasp the size of the problem facing Adam ... because we know after the first four times that the caller says he is going to kill the mother and the sister that this is a bad hombre.

Truly, I hate to discourage a young independent from using his many talents and gifts, and there is evidence of them in "Cavite." But then again, I took the time to screen this film on DVD twice, because I wanted to be sure that it wasn't just the herky-jerky camera work which was upsetting me. "Cavite" invites and involves, but it doesn't deliver 'the goods,' at the end, which is really a false ending and then the viewer is forced to endure a flat-out dead end.

I think it was Chekov who once wrote, "a gun hung on the wall in Act One must be fired by Act Three". This is the advice the makers of "Cavite" should have heard before they labored so lovingly on it.

Great effort and great ideas cannot succeed unless the film has a plot which illustrates the conflict, gives it context, and a resolution. It's only human nature to want an interesting story to have an interesting and meaningful ending. "Cavite" fails in that regard and so all the double-quick camera work and the hectic, panicky pace, goes for naught.

One can only hope the principals of this picture will learn something from this, and do two things with their next film -- slow it down to a brisk walk, so that the plot can develop, and hire an actor who can express nuances, and something emotional, besides disgust.

Is this the most widely theatrically distributed Filipino film in the history of cinema in the U.S. I believe so.

This film will be an inspiration to independent filmmakers, showing what you can do with a gripping story, great originality, great field locations, a decent digital cam, no special effects, and (almost) no money, and (almost) no crew.

The shaky camera was annoying because it was prominent for the ENTIRE film, except the final scene, where we are back in the States. I was shooting documentary footage for several weeks last October in the Philippines, and this is what your footage looks like when you are shooting from a moving jeepney. I can't stand my footage shot this way and it will end up on the cutting room floor. Here is a whole film shot this way, and it is a bit much. Many independent films have selective scenes shot this way and there is a point to them. I can only figure that they were in too much of a hurry to use a tripod, because the constant blur does't add anything to the dramatic impact of the film after the first few minutes. Too much "AUTHENTICITY" Mahhhhnnnn.

Without the terrorism aspect, this is like a travelogue of the Philippines, unfortunately in the case of the squatter areas. I stayed in a barrio outside of Manila with poor people and it was more like the 'hood back in the States, with water rationing and no hot water, but a pile of garbage was not holding up the walls of the home where I stayed, something I noticed in the squatter areas near the Manila Airport. But EVERYWHERE you go in the Philippines, you will travel by tricycles(motorbikes/motorcycles with side cars), jeepneys, and no air con buses. Everywhere you go, if you are male, you will be invited to cockfights held in arenas the size of huge high school gymnasiums as found Stateside. Everywhere you go, there will be vendors wanting to sell you eggs with warm chickens inside waiting to have their heads bit off.

I traveled extensively several hours to the North of Manila on Luzon Island, in areas of astonishing scenic beauty, not seen in the film. The terrorists/Muslim extremists are holed up in known spots to the South of Manila. Be careful if you go to those areas. In your first day in the Philippines you will effortlessly be able to experience all of the above, except you will not be dealing with kidnappers.

The Philippines is a fantastic place to make a film. I will be back.

It didn't get off to a very good start with the impossible-to-see nearly black and bouncing shot of someone making their way through the dark streets of Manila, onto a Jeepney, followed by something, then cut to San Diego and our main character. We'll only find out later that it was our hero's father on a forced suicide bombing mission to save his family.

Back in San Diego Adam gets two calls, one from his mother telling him to fly back to the Philippines, though again the reason isn't given that he is called back to attend his father's funeral, so we have no way of connecting the previous scene with these new characters? The second is from his presumedly white American girlfriend telling him she is going to get an abortion because he's such a loser with his crummy night security job, that she can't have a baby with him.

Then he's off to Manila, via Taipei, just like my first visit to the Philippines, though luckily I didn't have the additional addiction to cigarettes to deal with on my 24 hours of flying, waiting, and changing planes, just SARS and a sore ass. He seems to have mastered the telephone system around the world though, while I was never able to use any phone in the Philippines, my calling card from AT&T completely useless.

While he's sitting around the airport and calling his mom over and over we're left to guess that's he's never actually been to the Philippines before and doesn't even have enough sense to get a taxi and go to where they live or are staying. So we never know why he was raised in the US, while his mom, sister and previously his dad are all in the PH.

From there we begin the "story" when he hears a ringing and à la The Matrix he finds a mysterious cell phone in a "Manila" envelope in his carry on bag, and on the other end, instead of "Morpheus," though suspiciously with the same ability to see everything Adam is doing, everywhere, and directs him similarly to the office scene in The Matrix, is a horrible Muslim extremist kidnapper from Mindanao, who's holding his mom and sister at rape and knife point if Adam doesn't do exactly as he's told. Which includes leaving his larger suitcase behind.

Out on the streets Adam is introduced to the horrors of Manila, from children with no pants, to shanty towns, to burning fields of garbage, to people wading through polluted water. All of these scenes are obviously the actor and a cameraman walking around Manila while everyone is looking simply because they have a camera. But they make it seem as if they're all looking at Adam suspiciously, giving him the stink eye maybe, which isn't how the PH is at all, even for a tall white guy.

After the wandering Adam gets into the action when he witnesses the murder of a "faggot" by a couple of thugs hired by the kidnapper, being forced to eat balut to distract him while his carry-on bag is stolen by a little kid, and finally he is told what exactly he has to do to get his family back: go to the bank and take out his Dad's $75K in reward money for ratting out the terrorists to the Army. He does this easily and at the cock fighting arena exchanges the money for his carry-on bag, which is now considerably heavier.

The second part of his mission now becomes clear: he has to bomb a church full of people, but not suicide, he gets to walk away. Still he ponders the decision for a minute. Here's where most people will get confused by this movie but not I, and I will tell you: Adam doesn't go through with it out of selfishness. He doesn't chose the lives of the few he knows over the lives of many strangers, he decides to bomb those people because, as a Muslim himself he has been conditioned by his religious upbringing and egged on by the reminders from the kidnapper of the violence done to Muslims in the Philippines, he is easily convinced that it is the right thing to do! His conception of "jihad" is too slow and too hard, and he's already shown he's a loser with a crappy job.

We never hear the bomb go off, never see him reunite with his family, and end with his ex-girlfriend telling him how she could never raise a kid to be a Muslim, further justification for everything he did. If the whole world's against you, why not bomb some kids? Many people are unsure if this message is eye-opening or we just watched an Islamic propaganda film? I'll assume the former until assured of the later.

The major problem with this movie is any ignorant people watching this will assume that all these people in Manila are Muslims, when they're most certainly not, but instead are all Catholics, the effective state religion. The kidnapper's a Muslim, the main character is a Muslim, his thugs must be Muslim, the kid he hired to steal the guy's bag must be Muslim. No and no to the last two.

Finally, the point of the story showing how poor the Filipinos are is lost in the confusion. They're not saying there are Muslim extremists because the people are poor, they're trying to say, "Look how poor the Filipinos are!" And in addition, "Hello, there are a few cells of Muslim terrorists from Mindanao plotting in Manila." The scene with the kid sharing his McDonald's with his grandma is the former point.

I saw Cavite recently here in L.A., in the only theater it is being released, the Nuart at West LA. I've been hearing the buzz on this film so it was curiosity that drove me from Long Beach to L.A to watch it. OK, as a prospective filmmaker, I laud and commend the efforts of the filmmaker for just doing the film. With very limited budget, equipment and actors, they were able to pull it through despite the meager means they have. I can understand the sloppy camera work and even the not-so-great acting of the actor/director, but it makes me uncomfortable not to mention that the filmmakers left some important detail in the movie - logic. First, Cavite is, a conservative estimate, 40 miles from Quiapo church in Manila. In the Philippines, were traffic is part of the daily commute, we measure the distance between two locations not by miles but by travel time. And Cavite is more or less a 2 hr drive from Manila. How the hell did Adam get back in forth from Cavite to Quiapo and vice versa in such quick time? And using public transport no less? And how did his cellphone battery last that long? I mean, they should've considered people who are familiar with the location that are going to see this movie. Its like insulting them, I should know, I grew up in Quiapo. Anyways, like I said, I still admire them for their mere guts in doing this film. And please stop using scenes of poverty as a depiction of the Philippines! Scenes like these get manipulated so much in movies like these.

This could have been a very good film, but it wasn't. Although the plot wasn't very plausible, it was complex, fairly original, and provided suspense. The scenes of urban Manila/Cavite, the abject poverty, the sense of seeing life as it really is for the masses in the urban Philippines, made the film a proponent of sorts for the poor and unprivileged, this was powerful. However, virtually everything of value in this film was obviated by very, very sloppy hand-held camera work. The hand held cameras, while ostensibly adding to the authenticity of the film, were operated so sloppily that viewers experienced discomfort or outright nausea. This was absolutely unnecessary and significantly detracted from both the plot and the quality of the film. Many viewers exited the theater in the early minutes of the film.

I just return from watching this movie at SXSW Festival here in Austin and I just gotta say that this is a perfect example of what you can accomplish just by having a good idea and lots of creativity to take it to the next level.

Besides from being filmed entirely in digital video, the camera work (no steady-cam, just primitive hand-held) allows you to experience the whole movie in a way that you almost feel part of it. It's like you're the one controlling the main character.

To summarize the story, I can tell you that Adam (who lives in San Diego) is not having the best time of his life. His girlfriend is breaking up with him while his father dies back home in Philippines. So he go back there but realizes that the situation has been terribly complicated. His mother and sister has been kidnapped so now, Adam is forced to face the reality that he choose to forget: the hard reality of his poverty stricken nation.

Will he risk everything to save the lives of his remaining family? For every fellow aspiring filmmaker, this is the kind of movie that should inspire you to pursue your dream. If you don't find it that great at all, at least you'll feel inspire to go out and start shooting.

The DVD box made it look like a watchable flick, but it was terribly misleading. It was a piece of crap. We get to watch some dope get led around by the nose for an hour or so by some terrorist wannabe on a cellphone. They want his money, they want him to blow up a building, and they will cut off pieces of his mother and sister to make it happen. The guy is told to close his bank account and give the bad guys the money. They couldn't get into the bank to film, so we get to watch a little kid eating a happy meal. How creative. The explosion at the church/mosque/whatever was equally impressive. Fast forward though a few phone calls and long walks and we get to the end. Same kid, same happy meal, sharing with grandma. How sweet. They couldn't bother to have an explosion sound effect and shake the camera a little? Then he goes home, talks to his cheating girlfriend, and curls up in bed crying....the end. What a waste of time. I got it as a freebie from Blockbuster, and I still feel cheated.

This film, with a shoestring budget and a few cast members, unexpectedly satisfied my longing for brilliant Filipino film-making. Although, at times the movie was annoying, all the minor slights were forgiven in the end. I can't help but cringe on the voice over that they used for the terrorist and the shaky camera handling which almost induced vertigo among the viewers. Certain parts of the dialogue were unnecessary and were probably added to the film just to trigger shock from the audience. Nevertheless, the movie's sum is definitely greater than its parts. The depiction of the slums, streets and people of the Philippines was very realistic. The scenes were so vivid that the audience would actually feel like being transported to where the shots were taken. Cinematography and editing were fantastic - I like how the same frames, i.e. face of the lead actor, were illustrated from various angles. Very cutting-edge for novice film makers! The plot they tried to tackle was very touchy, but they delivered it in a straight-forward, in your face manner. Overall, this is a film that I would recommend for anyone who enjoys watching Filipino films! Good Job on this one!