Birdshot is a film about corruption, innocence, violence, and growing up. Often seen as a coming-of-age film, Birdshot follows a young girl called Maya who is taught how to use a gun by her father. She then takes the gun out into the forest to practice shooting and shoots an innocent eagle.
Killing an eagle is a crime in the Philippines, leading to an investigation into who shot the creature. Maya's loss of innocence is paralleled with the loss of the eagle's life, which represents her introduction into the adult world. In a similar sense, Domingo also loses his innocence in this film, entering the world of corruption as a newly-recruited cop.
This film has been praised for its beautiful imagery and cinematography, contrasting the beauty of the natural world with the corruption, brutality, bleakness, and violence of humanity. There are frequent splashes of red in the film, a key indicator of corruption and a loss of innocence of some of the characters.
