Hello there! And welcome to the last week of Piling Obrang Video: BALIK7ANAW film review. Yes, it's the last week of free viewing, and at this moment, I will also give my top 3 choices that I hope will help you learn various lessons that you can carry for life. This week's first placer is Puti by Jerald Yucot followed by Labrador by Jay Francis Letrillard, and Barya by Yen Morata.
1.) Puti by Jerald Yucot
This documentary is really heartbreaking. Christopher, a 55-year old British national who came here to our country hoping to start a new life, ended up experiencing a series of unfortunate events in his life. First of all, I wanted to thank the team who worked on this documentary because of the help they gave to Christoper.
This is really an eye-opener or an epiphany to everyone that not all foreigners came here just for vacation or fun only. Not all of them are rich.
I'm not too fond of the scene (not literally) where I found out that Christopher's main reason he came here is that she wanted to start a new life with his Filipina girlfriend. Still, unfortunately, when he ran out of money, the girl left him. Basically, he doesn't have to buy food and pay for his rent, so he was kicked out and went to his embassy to ask for help. The embassy told him to wait for days, but unfortunately, days turn into months. He ended up sleeping on the streets near the embassy because he doesn't have money to get an apartment. This really happens nowadays, which is very sad. I also remember the year "2017" when the "gold-digger" Filipinas became the town's talk. I mean, this is not a new issue. However, this only shows that the problem got worsen and worsen as the years go by.
In the scene where everything went well, the British Embassy asked him if he's ready to go home; I was surprised by his answer. He said no because he wanted to see the documentation before he leaves the country. He also said that he loves all the Filipino people, especially those who helped him, and he wanted to go back here to pay back the kindness that he received from them.
I was frustrated when the ending scene says that Christopher was found dead at the embassy's guard barracks, unfortunately, while waiting for his trip back to his country. Plus, it was noted that the cause of death is still unknown. This makes me think if Christopher really died from his shoulder fracture, or was he killed? Though this documentary is heartbreaking, I believe that this is enough to realize how serious the "gold-digger" issues here in our country. I don't want to elucidate all the happenings in the film because it really is hurting me. But overall, I recommend this film to you guys; I hope you can watch this heart-warming documentary. Kudos to the team.
2.) Labrador by Jay Francis Letrillard
"Tells the never-ending cycle of Filipino Farmers of their struggle to achieve equal labor rights and land rights."
I love everything about this film; the symbols have a deep meaning. Especially that glittery honey-like liquid, I think that symbolizes money. Farmers are the essential workers in our country, yet they are the government's less priority.
The scene where the farmer is trying to catch the honey-like glittery liquid and squeezing it symbolizes that the money is not that profiteering. My mom owns a rice field, and my relatives are farmers, so I know how hard it is to earn an extra profit because taking care of rice fields costs you a lot. This film is an epiphany for the society that they are not the ones who only struggle in their everyday life, but the farmers also. It's a very short-film, though, but trust me; it's worth watching.
3.) Barya by Yen Morata
This short film is all about a give-and-take situation. A young boy was on his way home from selling goods. He rides a jeepney, and there he meets this grumpy old lady who covers her nose because the young boy smells. When the old lady was about to pay for her fare, she realized that she ran out of coins.
The young boy noticed that the old lady was in trouble. However, despite the old lady's grumpy attitude, he still helped her, paid her fare, and left the change to the old lady. There, she realized that she shouldn't have judged the young boy based on his appearance. I love this film so much, this is only a short film, but it carries a heavy lesson. It shows that we should never judge a person based on their appearance because the appearance doesn't show the true colors of a person.
Everyone must learn how to respect no matter who or where they came from. Also, no matter how religious you are, if you don't know how to respect a person, you are still not holy. Kindness is the most important thing that we all should have.
The four-week celebration organized by UP cinema will end this week. Still, the lessons that the short-films had given to us will surely be in our hearts forever. I hope such films will also be made in the future because these kinds of movies are what we all need.
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