Jaguar (Lino Brocka, 1979)

If you'll be my bodyguard  

Jaguar has a tony reputation: directed by Lino Brocka, script by Jose 'Pete' Lacaba and Ricky Lee (loosely based on the true-life story "The Boy Who Wanted to Become Society," by Nick Joaquin), editing by Augusto Salvador, cinematography by Conrado 'Carding' Baltazar, it's the first Filipino film to compete in the Main Competition in the 1980 Cannes Film Festival.

That said the film doesn't come up as often in cinephile discussion as Brocka's Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng  Liwanag or Insiang, which shouldn't be a surprise. Maynila and Insiang were released on DVD, Blu-ray, and streaming; Jaguar is only available in crummier and crummier streaming copies, in the nether regions of the internet-- until recently, when the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), the Philippine Film Archive (PFA), and Cite de Memoire all collaborated on a restoration. The film premiered in last year's Lumiere Festival in Lyon France; with its star-studded screening last night opening the Sinag Manila Film Festival, Jaguar returns to Filipino audiences with a vengeance. 

Revisiting the film (using aforementioned crummy streaming venues, alas) after over forty years, I'd say a fair amount of the picture holds up well-- Joaquin's short true-crime tale deftly transposed from 'teen corrupted by gang-affiliated friends' to 'hired security Poldo Miranda (Philip Salvador) corrupted by friend/employer Sonny Gaston (Menggie Cobarrubias).' The gap between the two (from lower-class / middle-class to lower-class / upper-class) is visibly widened, the dynamic of employer/employee introduced; there's also the motif of the girl trophy Cristy Montes (Amy Austria) passed down from rich man to socially inept minion, a kind of bone thrown to pet dog. 

The initial three-fourths of the picture works best-- Salvador's wide-eyed Poldo coming to Sonny's rescue, Sonny showing his appreciation and taking Poldo under his wing. The different strata of society described, the eye for detail as we see how the lower class treat their own (they don't rat out their people; they help each other as much and sometimes beyond what they're able) as compared to the upper classes (poaching each other's girlfriends; indulging in random fights and drive-by shootings) is remarkable. Sonny's slippery attitude towards his pet Jaguar*-- at times affectionate, at times cruel, at times an uneasy mix of both-- is perhaps the film's most fascinating element. When Sonny suggests that Poldo dances with Cristy, there are undertones of fond condescension ('You've been a good dog here's something for you'), smug confidence ('I know you won't try anything because you wouldn't dare'), and not a little homoeroticism ('We share everything: clothes, guns, girls-- everything'). 

* (Easily the film's cleverest conceit, a slang where the last syllable of the Spanish word for security (guardia) is exchanged for its first ('jaguar'))

Cristy attempting to seduce Poldo could easily descend into softcore farce but Austria's intelligence and delicacy keeps it interesting: she starts by teasing ("Don't I interest you?"), moves on to reflective self pity ("I wanted to be a star; now I'm a prisoner. Complete with prison guard."), shades almost imperceptibly to a shared confidence ("(Sonny) lied to me") that still hasn't lost its sense of humor ("Wanna see the sex symbol of 1979? Free of charge!"). She sips from a glass feigning tipsiness, finally turning hostile ("Are you gay?"), demanding attention-- and more-- from Poldo. It's a fine scene, one Austria plays with ease, as if the layers of seduction and confession were no challenge at all-- the most challenging possible way to approach the material. 

Even better is when Poldo knocks on Sonny's door and Sonny-- who clearly regards Poldo as an untouchable hot potato-- tries to get rid of the latter as fast as possible. Austria has no dialogue here, nothing to work with save her eyes, but the way she looks from one to the other-- a mixture of unspoken horror and withering recognition-- fully tells her tale. 

Poldo is a thornier character to parse-- I'd like to have seen some of Sonny's corruption rub off on him but Poldo beyond one major lapse retains his purity almost up to the end, and one wonders if this was for the best. On one hand we lose the potential for more texture to his character,** on the other we lose the simple elegance of a fairy tale, which in many ways is what Jaguar is, a fairy tale: a lowborn Cinderella unexpectedly invited to the ball, and what happens when her (his) carriage turns back into a pumpkin. I tend to prefer the former (Poldo visibly corrupted), but see the appeal of the latter. 

**(One bit of business that does suggest Poldo's discomfort in his new role is also one of the film's finest throwaway details: when Poldo buys new shoes thanks to Sonny's money he runs his finger along the leather rim, suggesting the shoes are too tight.)

Finally the business of the gun-- when you're on the run for accidentally shooting and killing a man, what's the first thing you do with your weapon? If Poldo hangs on to his gift from Sonny, I'd like more preparation: a scene maybe where Poldo is shown about to toss the pistol and then having second thoughts, or at least a scene where Poldo practices with the weapon, showing some kind of attachment, a sense he's not a real jaguar-- has no sense of self-worth-- without it. Otherwise, the finale could (and should) unfold entirely without. 

On the other hand the finale, brought about by that pesky gun and shot by the legendary Carding Baltazar-- does have its merits. Baltazar is arguably Brocka's MVP, turning Manila into a gaudy playground, the slums into a simmering nightmare (I'd seen Sorcerer again only a week before and while Friedkin has the resources of a major Hollywood studio behind him to help stage his squalor, Brocka has only to visit the slums of Tondo, and the once infamous Smoky Mountain). The sight of Poldo running down the streets of Manila, or the sight of Poldo struggling to climb Smoky Mountain-- literally a mountain of garbage-- with the fires of damnation burning all around him***-- speaks volumes of how Brocka can throw logic out the window, indulge in sheer showmanship, and somehow make it at least visually work. 

*** (Mind you I saw this in fuzzy streaming video; imagine how it'd look restored on the big screen)

That's the film's dramatic high point, arguably not its climax. Brocka's last trick is to bring Sonny and Poldo-- who still hasn't cracked-- together one more time, outside Poldo's jail cell, where Sonny offers his former Jaguar a final deal. Editor Augusto Salvador pulls off an extraordinary feat of cutting, showing Poldo flicking his new cigarette lighter (a gift from Cristy) on and off, on and off, from different angles, inserting the faces of Sonny and Poldo at differing and ever-accelerating pace, suggesting Poldo's state of mind: simmering and just about to boil over. Obvious as hell metaphor but damn if you don't feel the urge to cheer Poldo on-- in these times, with the urge to kill or strangle or eat the rich stronger than ever,  Poldo may not be the smartest man on earth but he speaks to the suppressed anarchist in all of us.