JAGUAR

Poldo, a poor man, becomes a security guard in a posh apartment house to help his family. Trouble ensues after he saves resident Sonny from a corrupt nightclub owner's attack. The grateful resident offers Poldo a job as his bodyguard. Unbeknownst to Poldo, his new employer publishes porno magazines and is just as corrupt as his attacker. He soon discovers that the men were fighting over Cristy, a woman whom Poldo is now supposed to protect. Poldo and Cristy feel a sexual attraction and act upon it. Not long after that, a gang war erupts into violence, and Poldo kills a man. Later his boss offers to save him and his family in exchange for his silence.
I like to think of Jaguar as the long, slow process of awakening for the naive and the illiterate - the lowly common people. In the begining, Poldo Miranda has this mentality of a dog. You pat him on his head and he wags his tail. Poldo follows orders and later is surprised to find himself a criminal. Then he begins to act. He is like Julio in Manila: In the Claws of Light. He begins as an observer but ends up as a participant. Once he understands his situation, he makes a move, no matter how hopeless it is. In Manila, Julio Madiago murders the Chinese who has wronged his sweetheart. In Jaguar, Poldo almost kills Sonny hadn't the police intervened. People say that there was no fight in Jaguar. I beg to disagree. In the end he has fully realized the stupidity of his servitude. The ending is the beginning. Now he is a man. (Lino Brocka)