A week prior to the opening of 42nd Metro Manila film Festival, I promised to blog all of the complete trailers but to no avail, I wasn’t able to do it due to Christmas preparations and last minute deadlines at work. Having said that, I even missed to know what ORO is all about.
Nevertheless, last December 25, I went back straight to Manila (Moviehouse to be specific) to catch a 7.50pm screening of ORO. ORO is produced by Feliz Film Productions and tackles about a story of small time miners being bullied by armed groups. The small community is led by a by a Baranggay Captain who promised to defend her constituents in all of her undertakings, including the fight for social injustice.
WATCH ORO’s TRAILER HERE:
What I liked about Yapan’s way of unraveling ORO’s plot is the effective way of making me comfortable with the status quo and suddenly insert that unbelievable conflict. I cried in the end. No shame.
I never doubted Irma Adlawan‘s excellence in acting. She is one of the underrated actresses that needs to be recognize. Her role in ORO is an attestation that there is indeed a different way of telling what the character is and that is her unique way of portraying.
I have heard that Nora Aunor is the original one chosen to play the character of the Baranggay Captain and later on replaced by Irma Adlawan and I AM SO GLAD THIS HAPPENED! Irma gave well enough justice to play the role. It is even possible that she will get the Best Actress award tomorrow night (December 29).
Joem Bascon and Mercedes Cabral on the other hand were effective in their respective characters. Their subtle yet powerful portrayals are some of the big help in character development in ORO. Sandino Martin also showed a distinct performance here. Him among Biboy Ramirez, Cedric Juan and Sue Prado ensured that the plot has a believable premise. They all did well.
What the movie doesn’t have much big stars, I’m glad ORO made it to MMFF to reach a bigger audience. It has a poor but forgivable musical scoring but nevertheless, a masterpiece.
Rod Magaru rates ORO: 8/10.