Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros

The joys and pains of first love. That is the exact statement that one would get upon seeing the film.

Maximo Oliveros (Nathan Lopez) is a twelve-year old gay boy who attends to his family's house needs. He lives with his father (Soliman Cruz) and two older brothers, Kuya Boy (Neil Ryan Sese) and Kuya Bogs (Ping Medina). Their family's main livelihood is the money they get from selling stolen cellular phones. Maximo's life revolves around them and his friends. In the afternoon, he would go to a neighbor's house to watch movies.

One night, while going home from a friend's house, an incident happened. A policeman named Victor (JR Valentin) saved him. From then on, they became friends until he becomes infatuated with him. Things got complicated when his family's lives where threatened because of Victor's occupation. Maximo suddenly became caught between his commitment to his family and his loyalty to his first love.

What may keep people from seeing this movie is the fact that the main character is a gay boy. It may be characterized as a "gay film". By being characterized as such, some people might stay away from it. But I'd tell them that they shouldn't miss the opportunity of seeing a woukd-be classic! Amongst other things, Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros tackles a universal theme: first love. Each and everone of us has gone through such stage in our lives and it just so happened that Maximo is a gay boy. But each experience, whatever gender you may be, is almost the same for all of us: it is exciting, happy, confusing at times, and/or sad.

Maxi's being gay wasn't questioned in the entire film. He was as normal as everybody else. He is the center of attention of his family and takes care of him like he is a their little girl. Even Victor, his policeman first love, never judged his sexuality. What matters to him is the friendship built between them.

The movie depicted a family lifestyle that is out of the social norms yet it isn't judgmental nor preachy about it. It merely shows how life unfolds in its day to day situation. The crimes, though, aren't the ones that are disturbing but how the law tends to be manipulated. The law sometimes favor not just the innocent but the ones who have money - whether their status quo belong to the rich or the "poor".

Great performances from the lead cast particularly the head of the Oliveros clan portrayed by Soliman Cruz. Nathan Lopez's strenght is acting naturally as a gay boy and his weakness are the dramatic scenes. But he outdid himself during the scene where he felt he'd become an orphan anytime soon. The silent tears would just break someone's heart into pieces!

The praises wouldn't mean, though, that Maximo is lacking in faults. In fact, it has several like some awkward delivery of lines (or maybe it is the script itself), editing and the irritating guitar plucking which serves as its soundtrack. But they wouldn't matter because you'd leave the cinema with a smile on your face and a happy heart.

Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros is a must-see movie for everyone! It is about love, family, friendship, values, and redemption. This is one movie that we could call "proudly Pinoy!"

Note: To Mother Lily, give chances to independent film makers such as Aureaus Tolentino (or Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil - I may be biased but, imho, she still did an excellent job with her work!). In their hands, the Philippine movie industry would have a better and bigger chances in recuperating to its healthy state!

To Pinoy film snubs who, for sure, would have a say in the upcoming MMFF movies even if they won't see even a single film in the lot, if there's one Pinoy film you gotta see, this is it! You won't regret it!

Visit: Maximo's Blog (Akalain n'yo 'yun! Sosi na sin Maxi! Pa-blog-blog na rin!)