'Citizen Jake' is a long-overdue wake-up call

For far too long, the fate of the Philippines has been in the hands of monsters.

And it seems that for an equally long time, we’ve been more than eager to put monster after monster in the driver’s seat.

It comes in various forms, monstrosity. And it's not always in shapes and sizes that we fear: from blood-stained dictatorship, to underhanded corruption, to incredible stupidity, to remarkable ineptitude, to unbridled bloodlust and the complete disintegration of our morals. 

In some occasions, the monsters are the people we love.

Familial love makes us turn a blind eye to the little injustices that our loved ones perpetrate, here and there. When we are in the position to do so, we let our titos and titas, even our kumpares and amigas off the hook. They are, after all, family.

It is the same struggle faced by Atom Araullo’s character in "Citizen Jake", the highly anticipated film from critically acclaimed director Mike de Leon. 

With a story built around four and a half decades of Philippine history, "Citizen Jake" is a wake-up call and an eye-opener.

Atom plays Jake, a journalist who also happens to be the scion of a powerful political figure. Jake is forced to deal with simultaneous, seemingly unrelated horrors in his personal and professional life — horrors that become increasingly, uncomfortably connected as he inches closer and closer to the truth.

Watch "Citizen Jake", not only because of the buzz surrounding it, or because the finished product merits every single positive thing that has yet been said about it.

Watch it not because of the stellar acting, or the compelling and suspenseful narrative, or the masterful techniques employed by a filmmaker who has not lost his touch after almost two decades.

Watch it not to see your favorite veteran actors in what may be their most socially significant roles in recent years, nor for the novelty of seeing a real-life journalist operating in the world of a fictional one.

Watch it because it consciously rises above popular Filipino cinema. Watch it because of its stand against corruption and greed, both on a national scale and in Filipino cinema’s own backyard.

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Watch it, because it presents the multiple ills that plague this country in a manner that the average Filipino viewer can relate to. Watch it because it delivers incisive social commentary that burns with steady, quiet rage.

Watch it because it will assault your senses with the truth — or smash it over your head, no matter how much you refuse to recognize it. Watch it because it will offend the right people, and anger the wrong ones.

Watch it, because it’s time to wake up. Because, in our own ways, we are all Jake, and we’ve been lied to long enough. — LA, GMA News

‘Citizen Jake’ will publicly premiere on Tuesday, March 13, at Cine Adarna, UP Diliman.