How The Movie 'Kubrador' Was Written
This write-up of Kubrador from China's business publication The Standard, gives more insights and details on how jueteng really operates in the country, which includes quotes from the screenwriter Ralston Jover. From the perspective of craft, the article also gives us an idea of how a screenwriter researches his material and transforms it into a creative work. For example,
For his research, Jover accompanied the bet collector as she went about her daily business. She's also the village gossipmonger, so she knows everyone's story, he says. Each day, the collector visits her regulars, who bet anywhere from one peso to 2,000 pesos. These regulars usually bet on the same pair of numbers everyday, because they know that by doing so they will hit the jackpot eventually. The worst thing that can happen is that they fail to place a bet on the day their numbers are drawn. It's really all about chance. They're not betting their life savings because they haven't got life savings. The casual bettor is not counting on jueteng to change his life. If he wins, he wins; if he doesn't, he can try again.
"The rules of jueteng change from place to place," Jover notes. Some collectors accept bets through cellphone text messages. Some draws are held in moving vans. In some places, no draws are held and the combination that garners the least amount in bets is the winner, or the operator decides on the winning pair of numbers. "The masses don't view jueteng as evil. Their awareness of the system is only up to the level of kabo or supervisor, the person the collector reports to. They are not aware that they're being exploited."
As you can see, there are details which really did not make their way into the movie, and one can only imagine how much more powerful the movie could have been if they did. Indeed, oftentimes, art can only attempt to approximate life.
