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Title of Movie: Closer to Home (1996)
Directed and Written by: Joseph Nabile
Rating: 3 laurels out of 5 laurels
The movie "Closer To Home" is about the consequences of Filipino poverty from the point of view of an American writer Joseph Nabile. The movie is an eye-opener to me regarding the plight of Filipinos in extreme poverty.
The story revolves around Dalisay, a Filipina played by Filipina actress Madeline Ortaliz.
Dalisay is from a poor family living in a barrio. She knows conversational English since English is taught in grade school and high school in the Philippines.
She is looking for greener pasture, i.e. a high paying job, since her sister is sick and badly needs medical attention. Dalisay faces different options on how to escape poverty.
Meanwhile, Dean, an American from New York, is looking for a wife, preferably a Filipina. Dean is played by an American actor John Bolger.
Dean is a merchant marine but is out of sea for quite some time and works as a taxi driver. He lives with his Uncle in a room rented by his sister. He is the loser in the family in the sense that he is not financially stable among his siblings.
Why does Dean want to marry a Filipina? The movie does not say.
Dean visits a Filipina based in New York. The Filipina has a lot of contacts to Filipinas looking for Amercians as pen pals or husbands. Dean is seeking a wife by way of mail-order bride or pen pal .
Dalisay is offered to work in Japan as a dancer or waitress but she declines. She is offered to work in a factory as a sewer. One day, Dalisay receives a letter from an American penpal who turns out to be Dean. Dean invites Dalisay to meet him in New York. Dalisay goes to New York to meet her boyfriend and future husband.
The movie deals with different issues - poverty, mail order bride, intercultural relations (Philippine Culture and New York culture).
The issue of mail order bride became a high profile issue in the 1990's when a Filipina was found murdered in a foreign land I will not mention. But this movie is not about the murder of Filipina mail order brides. The movie is about the failure of some mail-order marriages.
I will recommend this movie to Filipinas who are dreaming of marrying foreigners. Filipinas who are planning to marry foreigners must beware of the pitfalls of intercultural marriage and mail-order marriage.
The movie will open the eyes of Filipinos and non-Filipinos about the pitfalls of intercultural marriages and consequences of poverty.
I could have given a higher rating to the movie if the movie ended in a happy note.
I would suggest that the writer must make a prequel and sequel for this movie. The prequel will explain why the New Yorker wants to marry Filipina and not an American. The sequel will perhaps show that Dalisay makes it good in New York and finds a good American husband.