Film

Jaguar (1979)

Director: Lino Brocka

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Originally banned for export by the Marcos government, and only released after pressure from the Cannes Film Festival, where it was the first Filipino film to be shown in competition. Just as Manila: In the Claws of Darkness plundered melodrama, Jaguar plunders the American gangster movie (plus possibly blaxploitation pix such as Shaft) to express Brocka's rage about poverty and repression. Jaguar is slang for bodyguard, and the hero guards a smart apartment block, supports his family, and stays out of trouble. But when he intervenes in a fight, saving the life of a wealthy playboy and landowner, he gets hired as the man's personal guard and falls for his girlfriend. Gradually, in spite of himself, he is dragged down into crime, becoming a murderer and finally going berserk in jail. Despite budgetary limitations and some wooden acting, the passion of the picture comes across powerfully, as does its portrait of a society in which violence and resentment are endemic.

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