A patriotic Filipino song plays in the background, while you see shots of rubbish piling up in murky waters, and other scenes from the slum where Maximo, his father and 2 brothers live. We see Maximo, a 12-year-old tranvestite.
The movie centers around Maximo's crush on Victor, a policeman who once saved him from some ruffians in the street. 'Maxi' pursues Victor relentlessly, visiting him even in the police station, sometimes bringing him lunch. We've all been there as children; its more humorous when you're on the other side of the affections. What do you do when a 12-year-old has a crush on you? Victor regards this all with some amusement, is affectionate towards the boy, but only as an elder brother is. The movie was extremely tasteful in that regard, handling the very raw emotions of a pre-teen gay boy amazingly well.
Also, the movie handles homosexuality rather differently. Everyone in the slums are amazingly liberal in their attitudes towards a bunch of tranvestites running around, and homosexuality is apparently not a problem. In the words of Aureaeus Solito, the director's words:
"I always thought that I wanted to make a film where the gay character was happy for being who he is, accepted for who he is, and his being gay is just incidental or just part of the main theme of the film."
It also explores many other aspects of Manila life as well, and it starts with an upbeat tone, with scenes of family life, a fashion parade with his other pre-teen gay friends, and happy moments between Maxi and Victor. Nonetheless, it soon takes a turn for a more serious turn, and a lot of difficult issues are explored here, especially those revolving around poverty and crime. Maxi's father is a petty theft and when Victor asks Maxi what his father does for a living, Maxi is torn between his crush and his sense of solidarity with his family.
Overall, I'd say this is an excellent movie, with snippets of the painful, unavoidable decisions that people have to make in their lives. The denouement was painful to watch, but nonetheless, empowering.
