Manila NoirManila Noir

Manila's a city of survivors, schemers and dreamers... A city of extremes. Where the rich live in posh enclaves, guarded by men with guns. Where the poor improvise homes out of wood, tin and cardboard and live by their wits. Where five-star hotels and luxury malls selling Prada and Louis Vuitton coexist with the toxic garbage dumps and sprawling "informal settlements" (a.k.a. squatter settlements), where relgious zea coexists with superstition, where "hospitality" might be another word for prostitution, where sports and shwo business can be the first step to politics, where politics can be synonymous with nepotism, cronyism, and corruption, where violence is nothing out of the ordinary, and pretty much anything can be had for a price--if you have the money and/or connections, that is...