'Green Bones': 100 minutes of kindness
Told in one hour and 40 minutes, Green Bones is gospel truth on why it is important to be kind. It is about the re-evaluation of the human spirit that’s known darkness and the capacity of the soul to rectify mistakes. The film is a master class about finding both the lamb and the beast in one’s humanity and choosing willfully which one to nurture.
Green Bones, produced by powerhouse GMA Pictures, is a prison story with a heart. It’s both dark and soulful, gritty and grateful. These are the same characteristics found in the life of a criminal named Dom Zamora (Dennis Trillo), who was accused of killing his own sister. It could have been a twin murder case lodged against him had the dead body of the young, mute daughter of Dom’s sister, whose disappearance is also blamed on Dom, been found.
The plot is confounded by the presence of a prison officer named Xavier Gonzaga (Ruru Madrid), an intelligent cop who grieves over the murder of his own sister. Xavier, because of his prejudice against murderers, opposes the imminent release of Dom. The almost silent tug-o-war between them becomes gripping and apparent, boiling at the seams, providing a visual interlude of good and evil.
At some point, the conflict between Dom and Xavier is akin to the eagle-eye vigilance of Javert on Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. But the plot provides a more harrowing reality than the tension between Dom and Xavier as Green Bones, adjudged the best film at the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2024, also exposes greed and corruption in the penitentiary and the flaws of the country’s justice system.
Zig Dulay, the award-winning director of the film, bookended the film with the plain and simple rule of filmmaking: clarity. With undivided focus from start to finish, Dulay made sure the film was clear about the dignity of humanity; that even the hardened criminals had done some good deeds at some point in life. (Green bones, as the film explained, are sometimes found in the ashes of cremated remains. Finding green bones means the deceased had done good deeds while he or she was still alive.)
Dulay, who also helmed the MMFF 2023 best film Firefly, is a master storyteller. He attacked the morality and politics of Green Bones with the lens of his soul. He showed compassion, kindness, and mercy in one frame and juxtaposed them with avarice, cruelty, and vengeance in another. The yin and yang of life were present in tone and texture of the film. Dulay had a tight grip on the material and sincerely essayed that when kindness is reared and watered. In his skillful hands, the filmmaker showed that even the most sordid experiences bloom to become delightful life lessons. Green Bones is an unforgettable opus.
National Artist Ricky Lee and award-winning writer Anj Atienza penned Green Bones with a heart that looks straight in the eye: What is kindness? Why is it important to be kind? Why do we need to believe that kindness is its own merit, its own answer to many a yearning? Are second chances acts of kindness? The screenplay is not only creative; it’s also fluid because the lines go straight to the viewers’ sensibilities. How Lee and Atienza, who won awards for her Firefly script, patiently fleshed out the characters of Dom Zamora and Xavier Gonzaga proved of their mastery of the psyche of the human spirit.
Dennis Trillo and Ruru Madrid are a brilliant display of acting talent. Trillo explodes in his silent disposition. How he can use just his gaze— without words—to illustrate surrender and submission, defiance and dedication is a trait of an actor who knows his skills to the hilt. Madrid dazzles, too, in his every scene. How he essays the good and evil in him is breathtaking. (Trillo and Madrid both won the MMFF best actor and best supporting actor plums, respectively.)
Worthy of praises, too, is the rest of the casting ensemble. Iza Calzado had a brief exposure but the brevity of her role was packed with brightness. Ditto with child performer Sienna Stevens (who won the MMFF best child performer)—so young, so talented. And every time Alessandra de Rossi graced the screen, her restrained luminosity as an actor gave brilliance to the scene. Veteran actors Ronnie Lazaro and Michael de Mesa were at their usual best. Victor Neri and Wendell Ramos oozed with silent evil in them—magnifique!
And the cinematography—brilliantly executed! Each frame was like an art piece, an art feast. Always, always, the cinematography is an independent storyteller of the film. Neil Daza scored high on the score sheets of the judges that made him the festival’s best cinematographer. Daza’s camera angles were not only technical work but they were also instrumental in conveying the mood and atmosphere of Green Bones. It was a visual composition that established how good is good, and how evil is evil. Daza captured the emotional landscape of the film—that kindness is important and has a lasting value even if polished in 100 minutes.
Kindness is also subversive because it allows the soul to rebel against darkness. It repels the idea that a soul cannot change for the better. In the same vein, Green Bones is subversive in its successful attempt to transform a simple story of human error into a complex dissertation of the spirit’s nature of generosity—no matter the veneer of desperation and desolation. In the process, the film deeply moves the soul to act defiantly to court or to court back the kindness that is inherent in it.
In a world that constantly faces the challenges of being upright, because it is perceived by some that it is so much easier to put one over the other, that it is so much easier to sow evil, Green Bones comes along to sweep the many doubts that a hardened heart can change. All it takes is a seed of kindness that is allowed to germinate and become a tree of hope. Soon it bears fruits: kindness, optimism, courage, truth.
Kindness will always bear fruit. Green Bones puts premium on this claim, like it’s manna from heaven. The fruits of kindness bear this simple truth: to live a decent life because it is the birthright of every human being to have dignity. When dignity is stolen from a man, he is faced with either feeding and raising the lamb or beast in him. With truth comes justice, even if this justice has the pacing of fairness experienced in Leo Tolstoy’s God Sees the Truth, but Waits, which the narrative of Green Bones mirrors in some respect.
Green Bones is a cinematic treasure, a gem that is indicative of a good deed. It is a noteworthy gift to Philippine cinema.
