Time for a mother movie review! Ths time it's a Hong Kong action film titled "White Snow 2: Drug Lords" starring Andy Lau.
What does a Hong Kong action film have to do with the Philippines you ask? Because DFA Secretary Teddyboy Locsin has tweeted to the whole world that this movie is a vindication of Duterte's war on drugs and that Duterte is the movie's SUPERHERO icon for the fight against drugs.
Is this true? Does the hero of the movie "White Snow 2" dedicate himself to Duterte's war against drugs? Does he really donate tens of millions of dollars to Duterte's war on drugs? There is only one way to find out and that is to watch the movie.
"White Snow 2" is a tale of two friends, Tin and Dizang, who drift apart. Tin leaves his drug and gangster lifestyle to become an obscenely wealthy broker. Dizang works his way up the chain and becomes a big time drug dealer. Both are number one in their respective trades.
Tin's past comes back to haunt him as receives a letter from an ex-girlfreind who is dying of terminal cancer in the Philippines. She tells him she was pregnant with their son Danny before she left him and that know he is a drug addict and she wants Tin to look after him. Feeling the burden of this knowledge he immediately books a flight to the Philippines.
Tin is so wealthy he is able to bribe the PNP to take him to a drug den where his son lives.
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| Wow so much danger that they actually pull into a drug area in a limo! |
"Where there are drugs, there's gonna be danger," says the PNP officer to Tin. Amazingly enough these officers, with no gear or masks like in On the President's Men, bust into the drug den and shout, "Where's Danny!" An incredible rooftop chase follows. Danny slips and dies.
In the next scene we see Tin at a drug rehab centre for youth. Along the way the man in charge leading him around says:
Drug is a very big problem in the Philippines. Our President claims that 75% of crimes are drug related.
Tin is shown a large cell where people are writhing on the ground as they experience the pain of withdrawal.
At the end of Tin's tour of this rehab centre he gives his tour guide a check of an undetermined amount as a donation. How do I know that he is giving a donation to a drug rehab centre? Because at 22:36 we see him leave the building and it clearly says Drug Addict Centre on the big sign out front. Also later on in the film at the 1 hour and 4 minute mark we learn this fact explicitly.
Next we see Tin sitting in his hotel room watching TV. He is listening to somebody on TV talk about his war on drugs.
"You can hit 7 or maybe 10 and yet the people are wallowing in agony and suffering. My war against drugs will not stop until the end of my term. Until the last pusher, or drug lord, are killed. You know what? For those who are listening simultaneously, the bad people, just stop if you are doing bad things. I will not let you succeed."
Ok there is a Philippine flag standing next to the podium so I guess this is supposed to be the President of the Philippines.
Looks more like Moe from the Three Stooges than Duterte!
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| Oh a wise guy eh!? |
Tin is very inspired by this speech. The camera pans on his face as he watches and we can see his thoughts working. What will he do? Without giving too much away Tin goes back to Hong Kong and starts killing drug lords!
But note that. He starts killing DRUG LORDS! At 1 hour and 10 minutes Tin is confronted by the media and he says:
"I sympathise with drug addicts. The problem with drugs is not their fault. The root problem is the drug lords. Without drug lords there'll be no drug problem."
Everyone shouts, "What can we do!?"
Tin says:
"I hereby announce I'll pay a $100M bounty if anyone can kill the biggest drug lord."
At the end of the film a police officer and Tin have the following exchange:
Tin: The law can't punish him. Let me kill him.
Officer: That's enough. You can't kill all the drug lords in the world. Leave him to me.
Tin: I don't care! I'll kill as many as I can!
The movie concludes with Tin dead in his pursuit of killing Hong Kong's biggest drug dealer which just happens to be his old partner in crime Dizang.
So was Teddyboy right? Was this movie a vindication of Duterte's war on drugs? Is Duterte the superhero icon of the film? The answer is a big NO!!!
First of all Teddyboy can't even get the plot right as Tin does not go to the Philippines AFTER his son dies but in order to find his son who is living in the Philippines as a drug addict. Second of all Tin does not donate tens of millions to Duterte's war on drugs. He makes out a check of unspecified amount to a drug rehab centre! That is because in Hong Kong Tin is involved in funding many anti-drug programs.
The speech of the fictional Philippine president appears to be copied from a speech Duterte gave in Singapore in December 2016. Watch the video here.
My campaign against drug will not stop until the, until the end of my term. That will be six years from now. Until the last pusher and the last drug lord are...
https://pcoo.gov.ph/dec-16-2016-speech-of-president-rodrigo-duterte-during-the-meeting-with-the-filipino-community-in-singapore-the-max-pavilion-and-hall-9/
After the word "are" Duterte then drags his finger across his neck and makes a noise like he is cutting off someone's head. The fictional president in this movie makes the same gesture. But take note again in this fictional speech the president says he will go after pushers and drug lords. This is what Tin does. He kills drug lords. He sympathises with addicts. The real president of the Philippines, Duterte, has no sympathy for addicts.
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| https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/30/rodrigo-duterte-vows-to-kill-3-million-drug-addicts-and-likens-himself-to-hitler |
“Hitler massacred three million Jews ... there’s three million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them.”
Tin does not go after addicts. He only goes after drug lords. He sympathises with addicts. He funds programs to help them. That is the complete opposite of the real Duterte. It is only after his son dies and he hears the speech of President Moe Howard that Tin decides violence might be the best way to solve the problem.
Tin's attempt to put into practice the fictional Philippine President's kill all the drug lords rhetoric ends with his own death!
There are two morals to this movie. The first is that you cannot get rid of your past. The second is violence is not the answer. Killing everyone will not solve the drug problem even if those you kill are all drug lords. You live by the gun, you die by the gun. A basic Christian principle from the lips of Jesus in Matthew 26:52. Violence is not the answer to the drug war. "White Snow 2" is a stunning rebuke to Duterte's war on drugs! Duterte is no superhero icon. He is a warning sign to those who think violence can solve anything.
The message and the moral of "White Snow 2" are the exact opposite of what Teddyboy would have you believe. Why does he constantly lie?
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