Verdict review - empathy and urgency in convincing domestic abuse drama

Raymund Ribay Gutierrez's taut drama shows a Filipino legal system more concerned with expediency than justice as a woman takes her violent husband to court

Justice is not delayed but could still be denied in this arresting Filipino movie, which tracks a case of domestic abuse with such conviction, it is often easy to forget it's staged drama rather than documentary. The first half-hour is especially frantic and immersive as it begins with the assault in question. Hard-up Manila mother Joy (Max Eigenmann) is preparing supper for her young daughter, Angel, in their cramped, cluttered little apartment. Her husband Dante (Kristoffer King) returns home drunk. A violent argument quickly erupts, in which Joy is brutally beaten and Dante slashed on the arm with a knife. As the police and women's protection services intervene, we're pitched almost in real time through the Manila night: down streets, through homes, into and out of vehicles, through police stations and to a clinic, swept along by agile, up-close, handheld camerawork. Adding to the trauma, Joy and Dante are dealt with practically side by side throughout.