08/01/18

Kevin Ray C. Espinosa

AB PolSci II-A
English 103 Advanced Grammar

Spirits of the Forest

Maya is the daughter of Diego who is currently the caretaker of a farm near the animal sanctuary,
who is entering womanhood, and who is also curious about the world in the city. Her father
Diego, teaches her how to shoot in order for her to take care of herself. But Maya wanted to be
like her beautiful late mother, instead of what her father wants her to be. Diego told Maya not to
go beyond the border that separates the farm and the animal sanctuary. But she deliberately
ignores what her father told her and went to the animal sanctuary and shot a Philippine Eagle,
without knowing that is was critically endangered. It was then that problems began to surface in
their lives.
The man taking care of the animals in the sanctuary reported to the police about the missing
Philippine eagle and about the tracks the poacher left behind. Two policemen Domingo and
Mendoza were assigned to investigate the illegal poaching, leaving their previous case about the
abandoned bus and the missing passengers behind. Domingo the newly assigned to be the partner
of Mendoza the captain of their precinct was eager to continue the investigation about the
missing passengers, despite the chief telling him to lay off of the case. Later that evening,
Domingo received a picture from a woman who is asking him to look for the missing passengers,
Domingo still looked into the missing passengers’ case.
That night her grandmother visited them and told her about the full moon. She says that when
there is a full moon, the spirits come out of the forest and lets you feel their presence for the
duration of the full moon.
Domingo and Mendoza continued their investigation about the illegal poaching and stumbled
upon an empty shotgun shell. They followed the tracks and wind up on a broken fence which led
them to the house where Maya and his father resided. There, they went and asked Maya and his
father questions concerning the illegal poaching which happened near their home.
It was then when everything went from white to black. That night Domingo went home and got a
grave threat for his family, which resulted in him changing his views about being self-righteous.
They forcefully arrested Diego that morning and proceeded to torture him. While her father was
being tortured she began to feel the presence of the spirits of the woods while she was trekking
the sanctuary.
Dawn breaks and Diego and his co-inmates managed to escape prison. All of them were shot
down but Diego evaded the cops and rushed to his home. There he met his daughter and then the
cops arrived. He hit Maya in the head then gunshots followed. When Maya regained her
consciousness she saw her father dead and Mendoza while, Domingo was badly injured. She
spared the life of Domingo. Domingo flees the scene as Maya wanders off the sanctuary looking
for the spirit she saw. There she discovered a mass graveyard, not knowing that it was the
passengers of the missing bus.
It was also interesting to see how these two individuals, Maya and Domingo, reacted to the
situations that were presented to them in the film; and how they also paralleled each other with
the themes of violence, corruption, and the loss of innocence.
Maya’s ending is very much open for interpretation, but I do believe that Maya ended up
retreating into the forest, and probably lived off of nature just like her father taught her to do. It
was also interesting that a figure dressed in red was always there, watching her, as if the spirits of
the forest, or the spirits of the dead farmers, were watching over her and protecting her.
Domingo on the other hand, went from idealistic cop who wanted to seek justice for these
missing and innocent farmers, to quickly becoming a corrupt cop who was willing to do anything
to get the job done for his superiors, after succumbing to paranoia as his wife and his baby were
threatened.

Birdshot is a scenic film that juxtaposes the beauty of life with harsh reality or corruption and
violence. It may also seem as what had happen to the farmers of the Hacienda de Luisita
massacre. Police corruption was on its peak on the past as people were afraid to get killed or get
a death threat. People fighting for their rights and ownership often end up dead or missing just
because some powerful people have the power over the police and over them to take everything
from them. The society always wants fairness and equality, but always fail to attain it. Corrupt
officials and rich individuals will always get what they want on the past, while the weak and the
poor will always be abused, ignored and taken for granted.