The 2010 Filipino-American movie Amigo will play at the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium in Oakland on December 16. the first installment in the Filipino Marathon Film Series by the Filipino American Association of Pitsburgh. A 2011 A.V. Club review provides a summary:
Amigo, the latest from writer-director John Sayles (Lone Star, Matewan), takes place in 1900 during the American occupation of the Philippines, and it could almost be mistaken for a straight historical feature, if not for Sayles’ established political bent and the hard-bitten colonel played by Sayles favorite Chris Cooper. When Cooper puts a detachment of Americans in charge of a small Filipino baryo, he grumbles about his focus on “winning hearts and minds.” When he thinks a local has information he isn’t sharing, he subjects him to a waterboarding-like torture—then cheerfully proclaims it isn’t torture, since it doesn’t leave physical scars. Ultimately, Amigo is as much about Iraq and Afghanistan as it is about a century-old chapter of history—and it’s as much about human nature as it is about either era.The event starts at 6:00 pm in the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium in Oakland (map). Single tickets are $10 and proceeds benefit the Philippine Nationality Room fund.