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| Photo Credit: Cinemalaya |
Starring: Ruby Ruiz, Pryle Gura, Soliman Cruz
Ruby Ruiz is not a rookie when it comes to Cinemalaya, or indie films for that matter. But it's rare to see her leading a film, and in Iska, she doesn't only lead it, she carries it with all of her acting prowess. Needless to say, she's amazing.
Ruiz plays the titular role with a killer combination of humor and grit. Iska is a grandmother who works double-time to take her special grandson, left behind by her daughter, to a special needs orphanage. She lives with her husband, played effectively by Soliman Cruz, a driver who doesn't want to do anything with their grandson, and often rapes her whenever he wants. She shows more care for their dog, 'Doggy-dog' because of that. Together they live in the slums where neighbors fight vehemently and people gossip as their daily routine.
The film begins with a single-shot long-take of Iska and her grandson in a small room of her house where all the noise from the outside can be heard, as she tries to stop him from crying so she can go to work where she earns minimum wage. In this first shot, the film has already established Iska's warm love and patience for her grandson, while setting up the difficulty of Iska's condition.
On a positive note, Iska never seems to lose the tenacity to survive. Her love for her grandson and her dog fuels her to keep going despite the hardship she faces every day. She's also very charismatic, hardworking and friendly, and people love her for it. These qualities make her lovable, not just for the people around her but for the audience as well, and again Ruby Ruiz's acting helped a lot to make Iska compelling.
Credits to director Theodore Boborol and screenwriter Mary Rose Colindres for making this captivating despite its distressing subject. For every unfortunate event in the film, they make up for it with their witty script that includes UP culture, past Cinemalaya entries and other film references. Then again I'd go back to Ruby Ruiz and the rest of the cast who all made their characters as believable, and their condition as bearable as possible.
The film is truly engaging until the second half happened, where stakes become more serious and more complicated for Iska and her grandson. If not for that one scene, a personal favorite, where Ruby Ruiz starts counting 1 to 100 in the most compelling way, it would be just pure torture--which I think was intentional.
When the film took a turn, it just couldn't live up to its almost perfect first half. I'm not entirely sure if Iska should be tagged as based on a true story, but I'm pretty sure it was implied. My problem with that is the film slightly felt incomplete, especially with its sad ending. Unless that's the message Theodore Boborol wants to convey or highlight--that poverty is the devil no matter how good the intentions of the characters are. Throughout the film, we've rooted for Iska to overcome all the odds to provide a good life for her special grandchild, so the ending felt quite a bit like a betrayal. If the ending is based on Iska's real story, here's hoping that the real-life Iska and her grandson are currently doing just fine.
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