UPSIZE PH | Is ‘Green Bones’ About Redemption Or Punishment?

There are many ways to look at the Metro Manila Film Festival Best Pictures winner “Green Bones.” It can be a movie about redemption or love for family. It can be a movie about hope and survival.

For me, though, “Green Bones” is the story of how one person realizes that there is no black or white when it comes to being good or evil. The world is simply filled with people who make mistakes and do good deeds. This is something every person will learn as they grow older. Sometimes, the lessons will be learned with so much pain.

When I first heard the title “Green Bones,” I knew it was about good and evil. As they say, when a corpse is found to have green in their bones, it means they, as a living human being, did a lot of good.

In “Green Bones,” Ruru Madrid plays an idealistic rookie prison guard named Xavier Gonzaga. He is an emotionally wounded man haunted by the death of his older sister. He is assigned to San Fabian, a prison colony.

There, he meets Dominic Zamora, who is known as “Dom Saltik.” This man, who cannot speak, was convicted of killing his sister and niece, whose body has yet to be found. In Dom Zamora, Gonzaga sees the person who murdered his sister. He also sees the other convicts as evil people.

Without spoiling anything, the end is, in my opinion, satisfying. Dom got what he wished for. Zamora got his enlightenment.

The screenplay by Ricky Lee and Anj Atienza was superb as it gave the audience two different stories of one narrative. One story is how most of us would look at a narrative and the other story is how the person involved looks at it and why he did what he did. I love how Lee and Atienza unfolded the story in a way that we aren’t used to.

The question is: Did the movie and actors deserve all the awards they got?

The answer is a simple yes. Sienna Stevens isn’t just a cute and adorable child. She is also an excellent actress. Ruru Madrid has really matured as an actor who deserves his award as Best Supporting Actor. Some will argue that his role wasn’t a support for the lead but it is. Gonzaga was a crucial character in the movie and the ending is largely part of a series of events that he started.

But it was Dennis Trillo’s acting that held the movie together. I know Filipinos always commend the “mata mata” method of acting but in “Green Bones,” Trillo’s eyes did not betray his emotions and this was important in how the story was told. It is easy to show feelings and emotions with your eyes but it is difficult to not show how you feel but still tell the audience you’re not okay.

Director Zig Dulay and Director of Photography Neil Daza brought the audience to San Fabian, which seemed too beautiful to be a penal colony.

The movie, while it is one of the best Filipino movies in recent history, had some lapses. One, how did the neighbor of Dom’s sister get into their house after the incident when the neighborhood didn’t seem like the type where people just casually enter other people’s homes? Another thing that I wished the story dwelt on was the back story of Caloy? Was he a corrupt police officer? Was he a drug lord? Why did Joanna fall in love with him?

But despite these questions, there is no doubt that “Green Bones” is a wonderful movie that will touch your heart. It is a Zig Dulay masterclass on how to make your audience cry without resorting to overly dramatic scenes. Dulay, as a director, has a way of helping his actors convey their emotions. The movie also tells you why Ricky Lee is a National Artist. The fact that Lee worked on this film is an endorsement for me.