Rookie police officer Manigan (Anne Curtis) is out to prove herself in a new squad after her last team were killed in an operation botched by other corrupt cops. When her new squad is sent into a poor barrio to capture a major drug dealer, Manigan and her comrades find themselves ambushed.
As they attempt to flee the barrio, the cops find themselves on the run from both the drug dealers and ordinary people enraged by the carnage the cops and drug dealers have unleashed on their community.
Made and released in the context of the Durterte administration's ongoing drug war, BuyBust is constantly emphasising the ways in which the actions of the protagonist and her colleagues impact the community.
Because of the film's set-up, my expectation was that the barrio would be presented as a unique maze for action to take place ala The Raid, Dredd and any 'Die Hard on a Something' movie - an obstacle for the characters to circumvent. It would also be filled with bad guys who our heroes would have to kill.
BuyBest is a far more intelligent and cynical film than that preconception - the barrio is not just an environment for set pieces. This is a community where people live. And this sense of a living, breathing community does not fade as soon as the action starts.
Even to an outsider, it is hard not to see what is going on here. During an early sequence - a particularly brutal interrogation of a suspect - there is a moment where the camera lingers on an image of Durterte on a wall behind the policeman running the interrogation. The juxtaposition is fleeting but important - this is a scene built on a familiar cliche: the police officer going above and beyond to beat the truth out of a suspect.
Once the film moves into the barrio, the filmmakers continue to smash the action movie cliches against the real-world context of the drug war.
While occasionally exhilarating and visceral, the violence in BuyBust is never entirely escapist - there is also an extra touch of context that constantly reminds you that these cops are not good guys, and their actions - while 'cool' in isolation - are causing pain and death to people who are just trying to defend their homes. Throughout the movie, the action is bracketed or interrupted by moments that add layers to the extras and 'red shirts'. People scream, children hide and react to the deaths of their friends/loved ones.
The effect is almost akin to Paul Verhoeven's work, however the critique here is stripped of satiric intent. There is nothing funny about the execution here (no pun intended). While the gangsters resemble cliches (including an eccentric 'final boss'), the movie's intent is to marry the emotional focus of a 'men-on-a-mission-gone-wrong' movie to the broader social context of its environment.
We are introduced to our lead, Nina Manigan (Anna Curtis) on a training exercise with her new squad. She has a chip on her shoulder - her squamates distrust her and she feels a need to prove herself. By the time she manages to get out of the barrio, that quest feels almost beside the point - everyone she wanted to prove herself to is dead, including the people who betrayed her in the past.
And the residents of the barrio - who have also been victims of her actions (however in-advertently) just want her to leave.
While she ends the movie having eradicated the people who betrayed her (and set up her character journey), she does this alone. Her actions will not be validated by her colleagues (all dead) or the people (the drug war is bigger than a few corrupt cops).
As the camera pulls away from our anti-heroine into an overhead shot of the barrio, her action hero narrative becomes inseparable from the broader context. She might have killed some bad people - but the situation is bigger than her actions.
BuyBust is such a fascinating viewing experience, because it is trying to reach two very different aims: On the one hand it wants to be an exhilarating action movie, and a savage critique of the kind of vigilante practices that the drug war has enabled.
Definitely worth checking out.
Because of the film's set-up, my expectation was that the barrio would be presented as a unique maze for action to take place ala The Raid, Dredd and any 'Die Hard on a Something' movie - an obstacle for the characters to circumvent. It would also be filled with bad guys who our heroes would have to kill.
BuyBest is a far more intelligent and cynical film than that preconception - the barrio is not just an environment for set pieces. This is a community where people live. And this sense of a living, breathing community does not fade as soon as the action starts.
Even to an outsider, it is hard not to see what is going on here. During an early sequence - a particularly brutal interrogation of a suspect - there is a moment where the camera lingers on an image of Durterte on a wall behind the policeman running the interrogation. The juxtaposition is fleeting but important - this is a scene built on a familiar cliche: the police officer going above and beyond to beat the truth out of a suspect.
Once the film moves into the barrio, the filmmakers continue to smash the action movie cliches against the real-world context of the drug war.
The effect is almost akin to Paul Verhoeven's work, however the critique here is stripped of satiric intent. There is nothing funny about the execution here (no pun intended). While the gangsters resemble cliches (including an eccentric 'final boss'), the movie's intent is to marry the emotional focus of a 'men-on-a-mission-gone-wrong' movie to the broader social context of its environment.
We are introduced to our lead, Nina Manigan (Anna Curtis) on a training exercise with her new squad. She has a chip on her shoulder - her squamates distrust her and she feels a need to prove herself. By the time she manages to get out of the barrio, that quest feels almost beside the point - everyone she wanted to prove herself to is dead, including the people who betrayed her in the past.
And the residents of the barrio - who have also been victims of her actions (however in-advertently) just want her to leave.
While she ends the movie having eradicated the people who betrayed her (and set up her character journey), she does this alone. Her actions will not be validated by her colleagues (all dead) or the people (the drug war is bigger than a few corrupt cops).
As the camera pulls away from our anti-heroine into an overhead shot of the barrio, her action hero narrative becomes inseparable from the broader context. She might have killed some bad people - but the situation is bigger than her actions.
BuyBust is such a fascinating viewing experience, because it is trying to reach two very different aims: On the one hand it wants to be an exhilarating action movie, and a savage critique of the kind of vigilante practices that the drug war has enabled.
Definitely worth checking out.
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