Ballots and Bullets (2010)

Ballots and Bullets follows a small group of Australians, Swedes and Filipinos from the "Compact International Election Observers" as they travel around the Philippines province of Neuva Ecija observing a compelling yet dangerous circus which is the May 2007 Philippines mid-term election. With energy and naivety, this small group soon discover that life in Philippines' politics is a dangerous place for anyone who gets involved. Politicians, journalists, union representatives, social workers, and even clergy - no one it seems is safe - not even foreign observers! Things start going terribly wrong for our small band of comrades when the violence, intimidation and fraud they came to survey reaches into the group itself. This highly energetic and tense documentary aims to open the eyes of the western world to the highly contradictory world of modern Philippines. Using the humour, spontaneity and friendship of the modern road trip genre, the viewer will join the group as they have afternoon tea with warlords, meet the dead mother of an incumbent mayor and be witness first-hand to the seizing of illegal fire arms and money for vote-buying. As the intensity rises, the group gets caught up in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with two local politicians who are not afraid to let their guns do the talking. With all the playfulness of Mike Moore and attentive insight and compassion for the Filipino struggle, Ballots and Bullets will be a documentary viewers will not soon forget.