The draconian drug policies of President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines look positively devastating from the remove of the United States. “Watch List,” a new movie directed by the American Ben Rekhi, gives viewers a close-up look at these policies in the form of a fictional thriller. It’s grim stuff.
Maria (Alessandra de Rossi, excellent) and Arturo (Jess Mendoza) are a couple with three children, living in a claustrophobic Manila slum. One hot afternoon, cops turn it upside down seeking pretty much anyone who’s ever used narcotics. Arturo protests but goes along, and despite not having used drugs in years, Maria lets herself be rounded up as well. Soon they’re with a crowd doing a “recovery dance” under the aegis of Project Tokhang, an ostensible community rehabilitation center.
The program looks cheesy, but under the kitsch, there’s rot. Arturo is soon killed in an alley. “I’m a Pusher, Don’t Be Like Me,” a cardboard sign next to his corpse reads. Now Maria is a single mom with no income. She’s drawn into the web of a seemingly sympathetic cop named Ventura (Jake Macapagal). He says he can maybe get her removed from a “drug watch” list that is, for all intents and purposes, a warrant for execution.
A skeevy tough guy named Alvin (Arthur Acuña) trains Maria to kill. Trying to protect her children, she exposes them to the nearly unthinkable. “Watch List” is not overly distinguished in certain respects — it’s yet another picture in which the lines, “You want my advice? Let it go,” are uttered. But it has a sturdy, vivid construction, and is a convincing demonstration of the venality that’s central to the thinking of hardly squeaky-clean antidrug zealots.
Watch List
Not rated. In Tagalog, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes. Watch through virtual cinemas.
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August 20, 2020 at 06:00PM
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‘Watch List’ Review: A Mother Is Forced to Fight in Duterte’s Drug War - The New York Times
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