Hip-hop, drugs, violence, and martial law are the themes that prevail in this distinctly Filipino stitching of City of God, Finding Forrester, and Hamilton. Despite being three heterogeneous storylines, fragments of those stories jive into a musical that is both timely and entertaining.

Respeto begins with blossoming ambition, continues with breakneck rap verses embellished with witty banter, only to end in despondency. It is a successive mingling of hope and despair, it is quality ale with a bitterly strong aftertaste, making the palate yearn for its flavor, only to be surprised with its tangy revenge. Yet I still continued watching, I am tired of the hero’s journey, I hanker for precise metaphors and commentaries of our damned society.

As for the visual aesthetics of the film, the cinematography is a vision that encapsulates the sweltering heat of Pandacan with a surreal mix of warm colors. The subtle imagery ranges from the bicycles that resemble an impoverish version of Harley Davidson big bikes, to the secondhand bookstore, and hangouts at the cemetery. These are allegorical to the culture of pauperism typical to Metro Manila slums, possible soundtrack would be Sia belting her hit song, I don’t need dollar bills to have fun tonight, I love cheap thrills!

The sound editing provides an idiosyncratic appeal to the ears. It captures what hip-hop is about, just as Lin-Manuel Miranda said “Rap is at the bottom, the music of ambition, the soundtrack of defiance, whether the force that must be defied is poverty, cops, racism, rival rappers, or all of above.” This is what Respeto willfully declares. There is a poetry in rap that is shrouded by profanity, thumping rhythms, and scantily clad women in music videos.

The film unravels the superficial cloak of mainstream hip-hop by the juxtaposition of Filipino poetry with hip-hop verses. This disentanglement illuminates that importance of poetry as commentary to our lives. It coincides with Mary Oliver as she declares “Poetry is a river; many voices travel in it; poem after poem along in the exciting crests and falls of the river waves.” The film jumps into that metaphorical river and swims upstream, fighting against the current of prejudice against Filipino hip-hop culture, and leaving the audience with a developed admiration for the genre.

Watch it on Netflix here!