Questions:

1. What social issues do the following episodes of the film present?

Expound each of the issues

a) Ang Liham ng Isang OFW

The episode “Ang Liham ng Isang OFW,” really intended to show what’s the

status of our OFW when their outside the country. It explains practically what an

OFW is and what makes them an OFW. In this episode the story runs like this.

There is a happy family, a mother who is a housewife, a father who has a stable

job, and their three children. One day, the father got fired from his job because

he cannot comply on his required quota. He went home upset and very

disappointed on what happened. He shares his feelings to her wife. This is where

the father’s weak point has seen. A father should be a strong foundation of his

family. He should be physically, mentally, and psychologically fit for him to be a

strong foundation of his family. He should have a strong will to accomplish things

and bring a great pride for the family. That’s why most of the family is suffering

on poverty because the foundation of their family is missing, or the essence of

being a foundation for the family is lost. This is one of the societal problems that

I have seen from this episode. The other one is lack of job on our country. If we

have enough jobs here in Philippines our fellow Filipinos should have not come to

other country to earn money for their family. We have no choice but to go

abroad, because of that the essence to be a complete family is kind of rare on

Filipino family today. The life of our OFW’s abroad is kind of lonely, sad because

they miss badly their family and they suffer homesick especially to those who

are new on the field. The sudden feelings of worrying on your family in the

Philippines are one of the feelings that they got used to it as time passes by. If

only we have enough jobs on the country, our OFW’s do not need to go abroad

and earn money. Then the essence of Filipino families will always be complete

and happy. There will be no news on the OFW victims of tortured in abroad. The

children will have a complete guidance from his/her parents that makes them to

have a noble character.

b) Ang Liham ng Isang Guro

The episode “Ang Liham ng Isang Guro,” shows on us the struggle on being a

teacher and a great pride of a teacher has. In the story a boy who came up from

the family of teachers, that wants to be a lawyer and not a teacher. His

grandmother took care of him because his parents unfortunately die on his

young age. On his young age he is aware on poverty they are suffering because

they only rely on the pension on his grandma. He thinks that he came up from

the family of teachers and they are professionals and why they are this poor, so

he arrived at the conclusion supporting the stereotype to all the teachers that

“Walang yumayaman sa pagiging guro.” This stereotype is one of the reasons

why we lack of teachers today. Through the job they have they still have low

salary and poor incentive through this they still have a great pride for each

them. They say that, to see their students learning is priceless and honor for

them. The status of our community is bad, we all suffering from poverty so for

the most people today it is better to earn money than to gain pride. I am not

saying that pride today is not that value anymore. I only want to say that

students will much take technical courses than BS Education because of the

stereotype on the field of the teachers.

c) Ang Liham ni Pekto

The episode “Ang Liham ni Pekto,” is a comedy and as well a love story. This

is love story of rich and poor that struggles because of social discrepancies.

Pekto is a fisherman on their barrio while Halina is from Manila and just having a

vacation on the barrio. Pekto was a barrio’s heartthrob having three suitors of

beautiful ladies. On the time of Pekto roaming the barrio he suddenly see a fat,

and white skin tone lady that strikes his heart and that is Halina. Love at first

they said and it is like they’ve been shot by the arrow of Cupid. Pekto courted

Halina knowing that they have a discrepancy on social status. The story

struggles because of the social discrepancies between rich and poor. Most of the

women today, they find partner “MMMM (Matandang Mayamang Mabilis

Mamatay)” or professional people who has a stable job that supports the saying

that “In loving use your head not heart” that affects the essence of true love.

Poverty really is a factor of discrepancies between rich and poor. Also it give a

stereotype for the poor that “Rich is always on top and poor is always below”

that results to political biases between poor and rich in terms of human rights.

Philippines itself also know that feeling, the feeling of being bully by the more

rich country and take your weak points as their advantage and make use of it to

increase their confidence and pride. Philippines and China, is one of the

examples of discrepancies between rich and poor.

2. What did you learn from each episode of the film? Relate your personal

experiences on the issues.

The film was an educational film for me. The writer intended to emphasize

the social problems that we encounter to give lessons for its audience especially

to the students who have watched the film.

In the episode “Ang Liham ng Isang OFW”, I’ve learned to respect them more

because I had already knew what the situation and sacrifices that they undergo

in order to earn for their family. I salute all of our OFW’s who always struggles

abroad in terms of physical, mental, and psychological. They will be appreciated

by our country for the hardships they’ve got for their family. I have also learned

to value my family the most next to God. I have also learned that in every failure

there is always a chance to stand up and start all over again, your family will

always be there for you and cheer you up in every problem that you have. In the

episode “Ang Liham ng Isang Guro,” what I’ve learned is to respect all of our

teachers all of the time, understand our teachers if he/she is kind of bad mood

because that’s because a manifestation of over fatigue. Always respect them by

means of having a greeting every time you see a teacher. Teachers will always

be a teacher. They will always be every student second parents so value them

and create a bond with them. Give gratitude to them by means visiting them on

their faculty and having small talk and that do a lot for them. I also learned that

you can learn to love things , like in the story being a teacher is not what he

wants but to become a lawyer but as time passes by as he forcibly take BS

Education, he learned to love teaching and pursue what his grandmother has

dream him for to be a good teacher of his generation. In the episode “Ang

Liham ni Pekto,” I have learned that opposite is not a hindrance on love whether

you are small and she is tall, when she is fat and you are slim, when she is rich

and you are poor these all a challenge but had never been a hindrance for the

two people who is in love. In true love physical traits is not that important, the

important is the feeling between you and your partner and how much can you

sacrifice to fight for your love and survive it. In finding your partner, use your

heart and not this mind and this is the true essence of true love. In this episode

also support the quote “Actions speak louder than words.” It shows that the

effort that matters and not the sweet words that you always throwing at her,

because of the effort of Pekto he overcome the discrepancy between rich and

poor and completely his love story that their end husband and wife.

3. Did this film change your personal views about any of the issues it tackled? If

so, what sequences of the film did you find most forceful? If not, what

sequences of the film did you consider were not and why?

This film changes several of my personal views on the issues it tackled. In

the episode “Ang Liham ng Isang OFW,” it changes my view to all of the fathers

out there. I realized that being a father is having a huge pride within it you

should carry it with confidence and a strong will to take your family to the top of

their dreams. Father will always be the foundation so take a good step to be a

responsible and great father for your family. In this episode, the wife became

OFW because of the weakness of his husband that got fired from his job. If the

father is a strong foundation, I think the wife will not be an OFW and his husband

will find another job on other company so I decided to tackle the importance of

the father in this episode. If the foundation was weak and all of the sudden its

parts will break into pieces. In the episode “Ang Liham ng Isang Guro,” changes

my view of becoming a teacher. Before I watch this film, I am close fist of

becoming a teacher but after realizing that we lack of teachers in our country at

least I am open to become a teacher as part time after I take my degree and

having my license on engineering. I would like to share my knowledge to those

who wants to learn and achieve their dreams and goals in life. In this film, I find

the most forceful sequence in the movie, is when the grandmother of the guy is

talking about the life of being a teacher. The pride of being a teacher is

priceless. To see your student is learning is a prize for them. Teaching the future

leaders of the country is an honor and for them and what’s more of influencing

them in your beliefs and sharing your wisdom to them. In the episode “Ang

Liham ni Pekto,” changes me my view to the discrepancy between rich and poor.

I realizes that, everything has a right even that is a poor, a scavenger, it is still

has a right. Give them their rights. These are one of their treasures that the rich

keep on stealing at.

4. Did the film use effective techniques to convey messages? What specific

artistic style did the film use to impart ideas to its viewers

A good movie has a message within it. One of the goals of the writer of the

movie was to send his message to his/her audience. I got plenty messages from

the writer and strike me from his/her story. The gesture of the actors and

actresses was one of the factors that help the audience to understand clearly on

what the writer is trying to say. Through the help of the director by shooting

every detailed part of the story was one of the important in conveying its

messages to its audience. If the story is very good but the directing is bad, that

will go to waste because the audience will get distract on what the story is trying

to say, so having a good director in a movie really a huge factor to deliver its

messages to the audience. One also the techniques that they have done is each

ending part of the episode, they flashed a “quote or message” that mostly got

from the Bible. This is a good technique because it is like you can reflect on the

quote and suddenly the flashback of the episode will flash on your mind.

Sometimes the flashed messages are like a summary of all the messages in the

episode. It will strike someone if he/she has truly watched the movie because as

you will read the quoted messages, you will suddenly feel the message of the

story. One also of the good techniques is having background music on some

scenes in the movie. Like in the episode “Ang Liham ni Pekto,” in which on the

romantic scenes there is background music. This boost the highlights of the

scene, it gives more life and interest for the audience. The detailed part of the

romantic scene gives more color when there is background music on it. In the

episode “Ang Liham ng Isang Guro,” it also has a good timing of background

music that boost the feeling of the character and strikes the audience feeling.

Like when they are crying, when the guy is writing a letter you feel the sadness

of the guy on the first part of the story the regrets of taking education course.

Sounds is a good technique in boosting one’s feeling in the movie, it is more

concrete and giving a strong and striking feeling for the audience so this is a

good technique to deliver the message to the audience.

5. Which of the following film genres: drama, comedy, musical were effective in

shaping up the interest of the viewers for quick and easy grasp of the film

contents?

Drama, comedy, and musical were pretty all good for shaping up the

interest of the viewer. Before you pick on the three, know the sequence of the

movie first and think which genre will best fit. Musical, is pretty effective for

those movie who has a lively storyline and movie “Kalatas” has a sensitive

storyline that deals to the social problem of the country. For me, it is not that fit

to the movie “Kalatas”. Comedy is one of the movies who always caught up

interest of the audience especially to the Filipino who loves to laugh and to

laugh. The movie “Kalatas” was pretty sensitive to be a comedy movie because

the message of the story cannot emphasize on it. The flow of the story and the

episode is not that fit for the comedy. For me, drama is the best fit on the movie

“Kalatas” because of its flow that it has and its episode on the story. The movie

is pretty sensitive that makes it perfectly fit to be a drama movie. The essence

of the story will be more emphasize and its message can deliver to its audience

perfectly. It shapes the viewer’s interest because it is fit on the genre. The effort

of delivering the story to its audience was pretty light because it is on the right

genre. Again, in my opinion the movie “Kalatas” is perfectly fit to drama.

6. Who among the film characters would you consider parallel to the ways you

think, behave, and feel.

Among the film characters in the movie, I find myself in the character of

Pekto in terms of think, behave and feel. The character of Pekto was so familiar

to me and I am very comfortable to watch that episode. We have same way of

thinking, and his sense of humor. Pekto really has a good sense of humor that’s

why on that episode it is kind of romantic-comedy. He is always full of energy

and always touching someone feeling through his smile. He is a family centered

man that’s why we are parallel to each other. Pekto work for his family through

fishing, and I can say he is happy on what he is doing. Pekto also was a friendly

guy. He can adapt to someone attitude and behavior if there is a new comer on

their barrio. He has a lot of friends on their barrio, he really values on what

relationship that he has on his circle of friends. They share what they have. It is

like give and take. I practically say that I really see myself on him, the family

centered attitude, a joyful person, and a friendly one. His attitude is like a rubber

band, it is flexible. He can adapt to his environment to survive and make the

best most out of it. He has also a true man words and that I also have. We both

has a word that we really meant it, and do not give up until we get it. Like in the

story, his love to Halina expresses it through his effort and he did not give up

until his last chance of catching Halina on their barrio. He give all out of what he

has and shows he really mean all the words that he has said to Halina.

7. What fruitful message would you generate out of the film “Kalatas”

There are plenty of messages from the story but I see the most fruitful

message from the title itself “Kalatas.” I think the writer want to show the

status of “kalatas” or “sulat” in Filipino term on today’s technology. I see the

advantage and disadvantages of having a “sulat.” In the story, there are

three episodes who make a “kalatas” for their loved ones. On the episode

“Ang Liham ng Isang OFW,” it shows the distance between the OFW and its

family. She always write a letter for her family, this is a kind of

communication that she made because she has no time to go on internet and

also her family in the Philippines doesn’t have a computer and an internet

connection. “Sulat” connects two people who is far from each other, this is a

kind of communication that our generation today is missing at. Through

email, our generations today find it convenient and flexible so the traditional

way of “sulat” has been left to the past generation. In the episode “Ang

Liham ng Isang Guro” and “Ang Liham ni Pekto,” it shows the status of

“sulat” today. Sulat today is only like a diary which who you talk if you want

something to say or share. It is also nowadays used only for formality. Our

generations today really left the traditional way of making a letter yet it is

most likely used for formality. The advantages of having a “sulat” is you have

a hard copy or you can have a flashback for the memories of that letter. The

disadvantage is the letter is not that fast to arrive to the receiver, in short

email is better and more flexible. Sometimes, instead of having a letter we

actually chat on facebook, skype or even call to the cell phones of our loved

ones. In the movie, the message is as there are new generations our

technology is constantly upgrading even that the new generations still hug

our past traditions who is left away with the old generations. Technology is

constantly upgrading but traditions will be traditions the new generations will

still hug our traditions.

REACTION PAPER

On the film

“Kalatas”

Manzano, Kenneth D

HUM18 / A50