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Lamb of God<\/strong> (<\/strong>Kordero sa Dyos<\/strong>)<\/strong><\/p>\n 105 mins, Philippines, 2012<\/em><\/p>\n Filipino with English subtitles<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Almost immediately we see Divino\u2019s self-image: a naked young man in a lush tropical Eden with a serpent\u2014The Serpent\u2014draped around his neck like the Ancient Mariner\u2019s albatross. Dad\u2019s gleeful high-pitched cackle rings out. Two winged angels, one in black and one in white, can only watch as Dad leaves the bedroom zipping up, tucking away for now his fearsome macho weapon, barking, \u201cCook my food!\u201d Mum the junkie viciously chops up an aubergine, though ever after the only thing we see her serve up is instant noodle. Divino\u2019s life of lovelessness and sin is flashing before his eyes; visions of purity embodied by the church. Meanwhile his supermacho tyrant dad is forcing him to dress in drag, and that\u2019s just Act 1.<\/p>\n The Bible\u2019s God magnanimously settled, at the last minute, for the blood of a lamb instead of the head of Abraham\u2019s son. Like its title, \u2018Lamb of God<\/em>\u2019 is a hard-core sob story: how can a soul stay pure in such a cesspit? Cebu the city of the south whirls around its disco-lit epicenter, a fountain to a prominent citizen, like a cauldron being stirred. Glimpses of the real in snatched street footage: a man in a wheelchair trying to cross a murderous street; a skinny mad man staggering through the crowd with exposed crotch above his low-rise jeans who attracts no second glance; these leave no doubt that the lamb being led to slaughter is director Keith Deligero\u2019s homeland of the Philippines.<\/p>\n Divino\u2019s virginal girlfriend Jenny is one fire escape from hell. He coerces her into a sterile room at the Hope short-time Hotel on her dime but they\u2019re both too terrified to do anything. Walking her home past the gauntlet of Dad\u2019s nasty trio of macho drunks, they leer at her. Over whiskey at their little table in the lane, they boast of their sexual prowess with whores of different races which they\u2019d sampled when they worked abroad. This indeed is a wilful dive into the cesspit. Their tall tales grow coarser and more hysterical, soon tinged with fear, of death and insignificance, whichever is more compelling. But Death ignores these oppressors and sends some rich kids in a car to abduct, gang-rape, torture and kill Jenny, dumping her remains in tall grass by the road like used tissue.<\/p>\n I\u2019m unrepentant about giving all this way because so far this is the overture. The story truly begins when he hits rock-bottom, in prison for patricide. Yes, we see the YouTube sensation dancing prisoners of the Philippines. But that\u2019s in the exercise yard in sunshine. In the warden\u2019s room, Divino is turned into a painted trollop and history repeats itself. \u201cDid you wash?\u201d asks his protector the warden, the \u2018Mayor\u2019 of the jail, \u201cYou stank yesterday.\u201d In place of the black and white angels, the prison has Hitler-moustached Oca in the mafia corner while \u2018Commander Brando\u2019, a reformed rapist turned preacher, tries to save souls. By turns each prisoner becomes oppressor and victim, saviour and corruptor; all suffering humans. Not even the church can deliver, through its human priest, salvation.<\/p>\n The \u201cPriest is hungry\u201d litany, chanted Gregorian style, is a funny yet haunting invocation of Divino\u2019s disillusionment; a mantra for these grimy contemporary times, when all is fake except the pain:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWhat a bad trip \/ I don\u2019t understand\/ I want to eat! \/ I cannot swallow.\u201d<\/p>\n (repeat all 4 lines)<\/p>\n \u201cI want to sleep. \/ I cannot sleep..\u201d \u2013as with longing for something true he gazes upon the cross.<\/p>\n In an orgy of sin, Divino dresses up in priestly vestments, eats all the consecrated host and drains the bottle of blessed wine, takes all the coins from the church that saved him from prison to pay for a night with two \u2018clean\u2019 whores, finally losing his hetero virginity, and all else, in this exorcism of sex and death.\u00a0 It\u2019s a \u2018Breaking the Waves\u2019 kind of redemption; taking on the burden of the world\u2019s most vicious sins in one wilful act of surrender. (Alice Skinhead<\/em>)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Director, Screenwriter, DP, Editor: Keith Deligero<\/strong> Lamb of God (Kordero sa Dyos) 105 mins, Philippines, 2012 Filipino with English subtitles Almost immediately we see Divino\u2019s self-image: a naked young man in a lush tropical Eden with a serpent\u2014The Serpent\u2014draped around his neck like the Ancient Mariner\u2019s albatross. Dad\u2019s gleeful high-pitched cackle rings out. Two winged angels, one in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2609"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2805,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609\/revisions\/2805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinemaoasis.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>Story: Danilo Nino Calalang<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Cinematography: Lawrence Ang, Darcy Arguedo, Idden de los Reyes, Albert Jurcales<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Production Design: Keith Deligero, Remton Siego, Zuasola <\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Music & Sound Design: Beejay Esber, Chuck Fournier, Bombo Pluto Ova<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Producer: Lawrence Ang<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Cast: Jandro Asuncion, Donna Gimeno, Aya Ng<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"