When The Waves Are Gone

Known for his incisive looks into the issues being faced in the Philippines, Lav Diaz has delivered one of his most thrilling dramas with this study of two policemen. Lieutenant Hermes is renowned as the nation’s best detective. Ex-sergeant Macabantay was Hermes’s mentor and superior until Hermes had him jailed for corruption ten years ago. Now released from prison and fuelled by a religious fervour that manifests in performing bizarre baptisms on strangers, Macabantay is determined to hunt and kill his former protégé. Diaz’s essay on life and death during the Duterte presidency is superbly filmed in 16mm monochrome but there is nothing black and white about this complex and compelling drama.