A tragic, compelling slow burn

METRO MANILA FILM FESTIVAL 2025

- By Bronté H. Lacsamana Reporter

THIS HISTORICAL crime thriller revisits the sepia tones of a romanticized golden age in Philippine history with an all-star cast — and arrives at a powerfully bleak conclusion.

The picture of the late 1960s and early ’70s that we see in Manila’s Finest is what we get after Piolo Pascual’s protagonist, Capt. Homer Magtibay, peels away layers of grime and dust accumulated from years of secrecy and neglect. Ultimately, it traces the tragic downfall of those at the heart of a flawed system.

Manila’s Finest centers on Magtibay’s struggle to uphold the integrity of police work amid rapidly changing times, along with his colleagues Lt. Billy Ojeda (played by Enrique Gil), Officer Liwanag (Joey Marquez), and Officer Meneses (Romnick Sarmenta). The film opens with the four of them patrolling the streets of Manila in a squad car, listening to news of Gloria Diaz winning the Miss Universe pageant and the success of the moon landing over the car radio.

Tensions rise when they pick up a teenager coming home late from doing a school project. Though the four treat the boy well, they encounter a squad car driving in the opposite direction manned by PC MetroCom officers, which they remark would have spelled trouble for the kid.