Give Up Tomorrow by Michael Collins

Premiere of  the 14th Documentary Festival held in Thessaloniki today, so I decided to pay a visit. The film I chose after serious consideration was "Give up Tomorrow" by Michael Collins, as mentioned above.

This documentary narrates the true story of a young Philippinese boy named Paco who, along with 6 other people, was wrongly accused of rape and murder thus being given the death penalty, A.K.A the "Capital punishment". According to the story, he was sentenced to life imprisonment due to two teenage girls' disappearance followed by the discovery of a dead body that could not be identified, not even by the parents of the girls. In spite of the testimonies of approximately 30 of his classmates about his whereabouts the night of the alleged murder, the Philippinese police arrested Pako after having led him to the police station under false pretenses.

Being a troublemaker himself, it was relatively easy to be tied to the crime as the police desperately needed a scapegoat because of the pressure put on them. Of significant importance was surely the immense influence exerted on the law enforcement and justice system by the victim's family, which led to a judge's suspicious "suicide" after condemning Paco to life imprisonment and not death (which was the initial request of the victim's family). 

After a long and exhausting period of continuous struggle of the members of his family and after the Supreme Court ruled against him twice, it took the United Nations intervention to examine Paco's case and demand that he be pardoned due to lack of evidence and multiple violations of his constitutional rights during the trial. The Philippinese president did eventually pardon him and arranged for his transfer to a Spanish prison.

To this day, 13 years later, Paco refuses to plead guilty even if this means that he is deprived the opportunity of walking the streets of Spain a free man. What he has to say is that he would very much rather be condemned to death once more than admit to a crime he never committed.

All in all, this documentary sets a bright example of how documentaries should be made. It is also exemplary of evidence, objectivity and cross examination, three key elements to a man's conviction yet missing in Paco's case.

It is a constant reminder of the fact that freedom is often taken for granted  by most people. And of course, of how easily innocence and human rights can be trampled  when dealing with biased authorities.

I highly suggest that everyone watch it. 

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