Reality of "Jay"

(submitted as a requirement for my Catholic Journalism subject wherein Phil. Daily Inquirer Arts and Books editor Joselito Zulueta was my professor)

HOW REAL is reality television?

Taking a risk in exposing what the camera lens intentionally did not capture, the 2008 award-winning Filipino independent movie “Jay” reveals the authenticity of reality television shows which records life as it supposedly happens.

Under the direction of Francis Xavier Pasion, the movie kicked off with a narration, in a documentary format, of how Flor, Jay’s mother, wakes up in the morning of Ash Wednesday with a bird as an omen in her window. In the afternoon, she was ambushed by a crew from a television program and was asked by these people to bring them to her home where she learned from a news break that her son, Jay, was murdered the night before. The documentary then followed the grief of Jay’s family and colleagues during the wake. It also showed the hunt for justice by investigating the motives of the crime and catching the man who murdered Jay.

After the documentary, viewers might be confused as the rest of the movie goes back to the scenes that were on the documentary and the focus shifts into how it was made rather than explain the story of Jay. Then it will become apparent, at least to people who have discerning abilities, that the heinous crime done to Jay was not the tale of the tape of the movie but rather more of someone who goes by the same name. As a broadcast journalist working for a reality program, Jay Santiago (Baron Geisler) is the one who calls the shots – literally – in the documentary.

As the film’s strongest character, Jay’s role in the movie is more than a broadcast journalist who conducts interviews and writes a story about it but more importantly, he acts as the puppeteer of this fragment of live tragedy. He sets the stage as shown by how he wants the scenes to be filmed, controls the characters by telling the mourning family members how to act and directs the situation as seen by how he makes things happen such as asking for a news break in the afternoon so that he can capture in a dramatic fashion the family’s discovery of their kin’s death.

This untimely death of Jay and the agony it caused to the victim’s loved ones are aspects of human life that the journalist Jay’s show conveys to their viewers. Yet at the process of filming the program, everyone, Jay’s mother included, is more focused on what will look good on camera and what will benefit the show rather than mourning for the dead or even Jay himself. The humanity of the show that was supposed to touch the hearts of viewers was in fact, in itself a show.

When a rolling film is involved, mixed with the sorrow of having lost a loved one and the pity for those the deceased had left behind are the benefits the parties involved can get out of the story. Flor wondered if she can get money out of being featured, she acted out the scene when she supposedly saw the corpse of her son for the first time. On the other hand, the journalist Jay didn’t care if was violating the privacy of others whether it was letting the family have a moment alone upon hearing the news of the crime or leaving out the secrets of the deceased’s ex-lover (Coco Martin). To him, nothing is private.

Both Jays turn out to be gay and aside from sharing names, they also share the same love interest for the man played by Coco Martin. But the gay love triangle plot was not developed in the film.

Looking at the bigger picture, Jay demonstrated how much power the media, as gatekeepers of information, has on a story. He showed how he can twirl the story in his fingers. Such a strong persona demands a strong actor. Thankfully, Baron Geisler gave justice to the character. In fact, he portrayed Jay so well that he won the Best Performance for a Male Actor in the Cinemalaya 2008.

In the same year, the movie has also won the Best Picture in the Cinemalaya and was shown in several international independent film festivals after.

And with the observations stated above, it was not hard to see why film critics love “Jay.” The movie exposed the reality of reality TV, a territory where no rolling camera has ever dared to brave before.