Metro Manila (film)

Metro Manila is a 2013 British crime drama film directed by Sean Ellis, set in the Philippines and with dialogue mainly in Tagalog. Ellis also co-produced and co-wrote the film. The film was selected as the British entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.

Plot
Oscar Ramirez, a rice farmer from Banaue, Ifugao Province, relocates to Metro Manila with his family in hopes of obtaining a higher quality of life after his rice crops are no longer profitable. While searching for a job, Oscar is offered a low-cost room to rent. However, it is revealed to be a scam as the next day his family is evicted by the police from the apartment building for squatting. The family move into a vacant shanty house in the slums of Tondo, which is rife with criminal activity, while Oscar secures a job as a security officer for Manila Armored Couriers after the other guards discover his military background.

On Oscar's first day and night at work with his partner, Ong, the two exchange stories; Ong lost his previous partner during a failed robbery six months prior, Oscar once worked in a silk factory with Alfred Santos, who was forced into armed robbery on a passenger airline, after losing his father and his family's silk factory to a rival company, to which he felt responsible for failing to stand up with his colleague, who ultimately perished after jumping off the plane.

Concerned about Oscar residing in Tondo, Ong offers Oscar a spare apartment unit in Makati for his family to live in. Meanwhile, Mai lands a job as a bar hostess at a nightclub in Makati. While undergoing the mandatory physical checkup, she is revealed to be pregnant. When she fails to make her drink quota and her pregnancy becomes more evident, her boss proposes to have nine-year-old Angel work for special clients.

During a routine job, after delivering their handouts to a rapper who happens to be a drug dealer, the duo have a tense discussion about corruption. When Ong pulls over ostensibly for a toilet break, Oscar suddenly sees a black Honda Civic, who had been stalking them on the first day, pull over with a group of men heading toward Ong's direction. Concerned, he exits the armoured van and follows the gang on foot to save Ong, only to discover that they are in cahoots with Ong.

Ong reveals to Oscar that he took one of the security boxes with him after the failed robbery, and he is plotting with the gang to have the box opened by staging a robbery and having himself "debriefed" in the company's processing centre while Oscar makes an imprint of the key in another room, to which he would use to unlock the box himself. He also blackmails Oscar into participating, threatening to frame him as the man who hid the security box in the apartment under their own name. The plan went wrong as Ong realizes that the man in front of him is not part of the gang but the man who escaped when his former partner was killed; the man promptly kills Ong and Oscar is then given the grievous task of "postman", having to deliver Ong's personal effects and severance pay to his wife, Dora.

Upon learning that Ong's wife is aware of the security box, Oscar races back home and finds it under the floor. He and Mai face the dilemma of what to do with the box as she tells him it was a mistake for them to move to the city. One night, after a delivery job, Oscar sneaks into the processing centre and takes an imprint of the key while stealing another one; he was quickly caught on security camera and is shot and killed. Misled by the different key Oscar stole, the company rushes armed men to the address of the drug dealer client while JJ, Oscar's new partner, becomes the "postman" to deliver Oscar's personal effects to Mai. She notices a locket that Oscar had stolen from a shop earlier that morning; upon opening it, she discovers a clay imprint of the key to the security box. After getting the key duplicated, she leaves the city with her children by bus, with a rucksack full of money that sits between her feet.

Production
Director Sean Ellis took inspiration from his first trip to the Philippines when he witnessed two armoured truck drivers arguing with each other.

The film was shot on location in the Philippines in 2011 with a Filipino cast and crew members. The script was written in English, but Ellis encouraged the cast to interpret their lines in Filipino. Ellis used a Canon EOS 5D DSLR camera to capture the footage.

The story of Alfred Santos is based on the Philippine Airlines Flight 812 hijacking on 25 May 2000.

Release
Metro Manila had its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival on 20 January 2013. In the UK, it was released on 20 September 2013, while it had its Philippine premiere on 9 October 2013.

The film was re-released with special screenings to raise money for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda that had hit the Philippines and killed close to 6000 people. Ellis said: "The people of the Philippines were tremendously supportive during the making of Metro Manila, and it's only right that we should now use the film to raise money to help the victims of this terrible disaster."

Critical reception
Rotten Tomatoes lists an approval rating of 94% based on 33 reviews. The consensus reads "Infusing thriller tropes with a searing glimpse of modern-day corruption, Metro Manila is just as gripping as any action blockbuster ⁠— and twice as thought-provoking."

After winning the Film Critic Award at the 2013 Filmfest Hamburg, the jury said of the film: "The themes of our times are what define this film: rural exodus and impoverishment, exploitation and poverty in the Moloch of overcrowded metropolises. Director Sean Ellis filmed this story in a language that is foreign to him - and yet still always manages to hit the right tone. He is emotional, yet never impassioned; poetic, yet never tawdry; raw without any hint of cynicism. A social drama that becomes a thriller, breathless and unstoppable. 'Metro Manila' deserves to be seen by many. This film belongs in the cinema. ..."

Acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar listed the film as one of his personal favorite films of 2013.

Accolades
At the 2013 British Independent Film Awards, Metro Manila was nominated in five categories and won awards for Achievement in Production, Best Director and Best British Independent Film.