Balota, is a movie that is streaming this week and it is not a simple dish. It is a satire, critique and a clapback and a dunk on the faces of the movie’s audience.
During the 2007 elections, a former sexy star and a land-grabbing tycoon are in a tight race for mayor. Emmy, a strict yet popular teacher in a small town, is assigned to the Board of Election Inspectors for her local precinct. When violence erupts, she runs into the forest with a ballot box containing the last copy of the election results. Armed only with her resourcefulness, courage, and wit, she tries to outmaneuver the goons who want the elections to fail. Her loved ones and community are caught in the crossfire as she pays an increasingly steep price for defending the democratic process.
Teacher Emmy is played by Marian Rivera and the movie was not cheesy nor glamourous, it was downright ugly, real and as the PhilStar Headline said hitting the right spots. Written and Directed by Kip Obeanda, Balota rakes 135 million in the Box Office.
What can be seen in the movie that resonates big in us, the audience. It was to me a reminder that the people can get victory on a society that tramples decency and righteousness. That the corrupt can be held accountable and be put to jail. And that, it shoves away the notion that the good finishes last and the bad wins in the world of Philippine politics. The movie also showcases a teacher who is sure of her conviction and that when offered a big amount of money, the teacher can stand tall against the enticing offer and reveals a stronger and decent teacher that cannot be bought, that will never sell-out her principles, no matter what.
This maybe a sure fiction based on real stories but as a former Board of Election Inspectors in those times of 2007, I am aware of the hard work and travails of teachers who used that rusty ballot yellow boxes we call Balota.
From the get-go, we were shown that Balota brewed a concoction that would unravel a jolt to the usual political dynasty, vote buying realities of our electoral system, it reeks of gutter stink that the characters call as Baklang Kanal. The same description fits our elections, its gutter level stinky and gutter level dirty.
Teacher Emmy showed that we can resist and at times refuse the imburnal waters, we have been drinking for a long, long while.!
