Clash DVD

clas2Two brothers are living the life of teens in the urban Philippines. Skipping school and fighting boredom are only the surface they scratch in order to live, love and fight for survival. Gang life, drugs and violence is often the route in and out of the world. A world that can’t be escaped and more so, you can be often forced into doing something for someone without anyway of saying no. They want to escape but in truth it often is harder to get out of the clutches of crime then it is to let it envelope you and do its bidding for it.

This film has floated around the art house and festival circuits for quite some time. It was hailed in its homeland and deservedly given a release internationally. It is a clever and compassionate study of how people live. How often the very urge to survive override the urge to learn. This creates generation after generation of gang fodder. Clash intelligently exposes this by simple camera work and great performances. It does this with an eye for the audiences emotive core and the cinema of kitchen sink / real / Veritie.  My only reservation in this sort of story is the underpinning of how people see the developed world. We know about the casual violence, gang warfare and of course the cycle of both. I am concerned that for many it will be seen as the proof of a ‘City of God’ in all realms foreign outside to our ‘white’/ western world. This is a little worrying but I could also say that crime films do pay….

clas1The disc is empty of any additional features and the film runs for a mere 60 minutes. It is still a very good film and worth a watch but I have warned you so don’t blame me I only work here…Often….

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