Whistleblower begins with a disclaimer that the events within the film are fictional. It isn't hard to see from where the film is drawing inspiration, though, in telling the story of a massive scam that involves the formation of dummy NGOs to launder pork barrel money for a Cadre of corrupt politicians. The movie begins with Journalist Teresa (Angelica Panganiban) tagging along on a police raid. Expecting nothing more than a mild domestic disturbance, they instead find accountant Zeny Roblado (Nora Aunor), who is apparently being kept captive by her boss. After her rescue, Zeny agrees to testify against her boss, Lorna Valera (Cherry Pie Picache), the mastermind of the aforementioned pork barrel scheme.
The movie ends up splitting its attention between various concerns. It follows Zeny in the present as she deals with her new role as whistleblower. It also keeps cutting to the past, showing how she became part of this whole thing. It follows Teresa as she tries to find the truth behind everything, depicting her struggle to deal with a media that doesn't seem particularly interested in getting to the truth. For a while, it also follows Lorna, telling the story of how she became the queen of this scheme, and the growing tumult in her family.
The movie takes a fairly compelling position on the matter. It finds more nuance to the scandal than most people found in its real life basis. Lorna Valera, though presented as despicable, is also shown to be victim in some ways, just as incapable of escaping the larger situation as anyone else. The movie suggests that there are bigger fish to fry, that the roots of the scandal have yet to really be explored. There are other real villains that happily hide in the shadows while the spotlight is on a person who is essentially middle management.
But the film's position doesn't really make for much of a story. The film insists on being fiction, but it doesn't really use that fact to its advantage. It takes too broad a view of this particular problem, the movie hardly ever getting a chance to drill down on any of its elements. All of these characters are fascinating in theory, but the movie's fractured narrative approach leaves them all underdeveloped. The story struggles to build momentum for most of its runtime, the plot running slowly as the movie shifts it's attention between its various concerns.
It might have benefited from some focus. There is a lot more story to tell here; each of these characters offering plenty of narrative hooks that could make for powerful dramatic cinema. As it stands, the film feels incomplete, ending just as things get really interesting. It gets so caught up in depicting details of the scam and the mechanics of being a whistleblower that the characters end up suffering. They emerged undercooked, in spite of the excellent talent bringing them to the screen. Nora Aunor is an actress without peer, and she manages to get a lot out of this complicated role. But even she is hampered by the character's sudden shifts. Cherry Pie Picache and Angelica Panganiban handle both handle roles that just aren't as meaty as they could be.
Whistleblower does have a lot of interesting things to say, but it feels like the same points could have been made in a documentary studying the events from which the movie it based. As a piece of fiction, the movie feels lacking, the story denied the focus and the narrative gumption to get to a satisfying dramatic resolution. Still, there is some merit in telling the story as it is, the movie arriving at morally complex junctions as it attempts to find sympathy for even those who have willfully taken part in something terrible. The movie gets somewhat sophisticated as it points an accusatory finger beyond the pawns of this national Ponzi Scheme.
My Rating:
