Delikado

From the frontlines of a man-made ecological disaster, this thriller-esque documentary cuts like a chainsaw at the heart of the Philippines’ fight for its environmental life.

The Philippine island of Palawan is a natural wonder. But this idyll has become a tourism mecca and a hub for illegal logging and fishing, degrading its status as the country’s final ecological frontier. Bobby Chen, “Tata” Balladeres and Nieves Rosento are three environmental crusaders who put their lives on the line to do battle not just with chainsaws, but with the dangerous political machinations of a then-president accused of crimes against humanity.

First-time director Karl Malakunas’s background in investigative journalism is on strong display in Delikado, a film that follows in the tradition of enviro-docs that put the audience in the front seat of a propulsive fight for survival. A years-in-the-making exposé capturing the way that natural wonders can be warped into ideological battlefields, this Sydney Sustainable Future Award–winning documentary is incisive, eye-opening and as beautifully shot as the land its subjects are attempting to protect.