KUBRADOR : MAKE YOUR BET ~ by: Uel Ceballos

The Pinoy Indie movie Kubrador was the embodiment of a crudely conspicuous film that was both courageous and shamelessly frank on its portrayal of the Jueteng issue in the country. Extremely firm on its conviction, Kubrador had brazenly explored the anomalies of those persons in rank positions who should be helping out to eradicate the illegal betting but were taking part instead in the entire scheme. 

The film covered all the aspects of the social and economic borders that were reached by this gambling activity. The movie showed as well the impoverished condition in the country that was pushing the majority of the poor to rely their luck on making a bet to the illegal number games while the rich people were even more lured to bet on the game for the promised of greater and quicker gain of riches.

Kubrador centered to the story of Amy, an old woman (Gina Pareño) who provided for her family from the small earnings that she was getting as bet collector. Her life was set in a monotonous reality – roaming around their place from early morn to late evening encouraging her neighbors to place their bet – until certain events came up (concerning her livelihood as bet collector and the unforeseen experiences which involved the mystical presence of her late son’s spirit) that eventually transformed her life.

The authority then had become stricter in their operation to get rid of the illegal number games due to the jueteng issue involved by the two consecutive Philippine presidents. The first one was on the year 2000, wherein President Estrada was impeached after being proven guilty of receiving millions on illegal pay offs. The next one was President Macapagal wherein there were allegations that her relatives were receiving payouts from the jueteng operators.

Kubrador had clearly depicted how the crippled society had fallen to the pit of Jueteng world just to survive their daily needs. The setting in the film was all too crystal-clear, showing the poverty-stricken squatter that actually defined the Philippine society in a larger picture. As Amy was shown walking around the area, all the details that characterized the destitute state of the poor were given away in this film – slum, unemployment, overpopulation, subsistence living, barely making ends meet – Kubrador had also shown here some ways of the Filipinos to escape poverty such as finding a foreigner husband and working overseas for a greater source of income.

But what really made this film aggressively daring was its presentation of the corrupted system which in one way or another had quite illustrated the involvement of political, military and police branches. The film had also showed the Church’s connection on this Jueteng matter though it was demonstrated here in a subdued manner.  

The effect of the film to me was quiet heartbreaking to the sense that it was trying to

impress the hopelessness of the Philippine system due to the despoiled persons who are in the positions. And what extremely highlighted to the movie were the sad facts that while the poor keep on struggling in their lives to the point that they are involving their selves to illegal jobs, the rich ones also keep on gaining benefits from the schemes where the poors were set in the frontiers like the pawns in a board game.  

Many subordinate issues also were presented in this film, all chained from the main header of the subject – poverty. I noticed that there were several times that Amy was shown buying a bottled mineral water from a sari-sari store and there was an instance where she expressed her dismay over the expensiveness of the distilled water. It dawned on me then how the poor are so deprived of clean water to drink, which in turn, causing them several water-related diseases and other sorts of malady.

However, the presence of unnatural element here had somehow balanced the movie between the desperate conditions and the optimism that each new day brings. The spirit of Amy’s late son Eric, was seen at numerous parts of the film watching and guarding his mother. There were highlighted parts that emphasized the significance of Eric’s spirit, subtly pacifying the mood and bringing lights not only to Amy and her family but to the audiences as well.

Technicality-wise, there were lacks of lighting in the movie which gave it the most appropriate effect – the dimness of setting and the rawness of shots were next to the perfect depiction of the lower class society. The texture was so perfect that its effects will really include and immerse you to the film’s setting and depressing situation.

For this Pinoy Indie that received numbers of awards and nominations from both local and abroad, I will give it a rate of 10 Espresso Shots!