50' 2019 UK director: Alexander A. Mora cinematography: Alexander A. Mora editing: Michael Nollet production: National Geographic, Genius Loki Films, Violet Films
The brutal war on drugs that Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, has been waging since coming to power has already engulfed thousands of victims—mainly through the notorious death squads eliminating anyone on the streets of Manila suspected of associations with the drug underworld. As usual in such cases, the victims are primarily people from the lowest ring on the social ladder, and their ties to drugs are often purely hypothetical. Alexander A. Mora’s debut film gives us a look behind the scenes at the actions of murderers in the service of the authorities, but it also reveals the real heroes in this conflict: the intrepid photojournalists who pay tribute to the anonymous victims of the war that Duterte has declared on his own people. It is thanks to them, among others, that the scale of this slaughter has been kept in check—at least for now.
