Topakk

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Miguel Vergara (Arjo Atayde) used to be part of an elite force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines but has since left the force after suffering from a horrendous loss of his entire battalion while hunting rebels in the dense forests of the south. Watching his best friend Leon (Enchong Dee) almost beheaded and dying in his arms with a lacerated throat, he tries to trace the whereabouts of the deceased’s family long after the tragic episode but they want nothing to do with him when he finally does, blaming him for their misfortune. Weng Diwata (Julia Montes) gets entangled in a web of local drug syndicates when her brother Bogs (Kokoy de Santos) gets in trouble for petty theft. Figuring in a clash between drug lords and police tasked with extrajudicial killings led by Romero (Sid Lucero), the siblings are the sole witnesses of the local government’s involvement and manage to flee to a nearby warehouse whose security personnel happens to be Miguel, who is suffering from PTSD.

When you book a ticket for Topakk online you will notice that cinemas are playing either one of two versions: one rated R-16; the other, R-18. The cinema nearest to me is playing the R-16 version which probably explains why the action scenes seem to have a semblance of fight choreography and gore but the editing is choppy as if they’re hesitating to show you all the blood and violence. I suppose the R-18 version holds nothing back, which is why I suggest you watch that version instead, given the choice. This R-16 version is already uncomfortably violent enough, so don’t get blue-balled with this one and go for the more violent R-18.

Topakk was already screened at several European film festivals in 2023, so why are they showing this only now to Filipino audiences? The action genre of Philippine cinema went extinct at the turn of the millennium, with most action stars of old transitioning to politicians as if that were part of their life cycle. Attempts at reviving the genre have been sporadic. A memorable one that came out in 2018 was Erik Matti’s BuyBust, establishing the new holy trinity of Philippine action flicks, namely: 1) violence; 2) gore; and 3) poverty porn. Topakk chose violence, not veering far from such model and ditching the storyline for blood and gore.

And so, what you get is a visceral experience that makes you flinch. When it comes to horror flicks, sometimes you just want to get scared with strategically placed jumpscares. When it comes to action, sometimes you just want to see characters who have given up on life and found a new calling in the form of bashing each other’s faces until kingdom come. That’s what Topakk is all about, even though we can argue that the socially relevant motivation behind this film is to give its audience a nasty but genuine glimpse of post traumatic stress disorder, which is no stranger to most soldiers who have been scarred for life in the battlefield.

In terms of acting, all three, namely Atayde, Montes, and Lucero have been nominated for acting awards at this year’s MMFF, winning none. The nominations are well-deserved considering the commitment they had to their respective roles. You just easily feel second hand pain from all the physical tribulations these characters have to go through. I guess only a real soldier who has suffered from PTSD can tell whether Atayde’s portrayal is legit, although it looked believable enough for me.

The only downside here is the title itself, which has always been one of the traditional ways of labeling mental illness in a stigmatized light. PTSD is a legitimate health issue and perpetuating such negative connotations does not really help in persuading those who are actually suffering from it in real life to seek professional help. It’s as if the message of the film is that the only recourse for dealing with PTSD is violence and nothing else, as if those who suffer from it were hopeless and doomed to begin with. If you watch this film with that in mind, then you wouldn’t really enjoy it. After all, this is an action flick, not a mental health advocacy.