THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS
*** out of *****
Reviewed by Juan Incognito

Screening in the 2006 New Zealand International Film Festival
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Genres
Drama
Romance

2005
Directed by
Auraeus Solito
Written by
Michiko Yamamoto
Cast
Nathan Lopez .... Maximo
Soliman Cruz
Ping Medina .... Kuya Bogs (Maxi's brother)
Bodjie Pascua
Neil Ryan Sese
Pepe Smith
Peter Anthony Tombasa .... Peter
J.R. Valentin

The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros is a story of transformations, of change, set in an unnamed urban slum in the Philippines. It follows Maxi and his family through a time of great change and struggle. I was a little perplexed when I started watching this film though, I had not read much about it, so I had little knowledge, or more importantly expectations.

Maximo, an early-teen boy prefers to be treated as a girl, and is largely accepted by his family and community in this role.  It makes him happy and that is apparently enough for everyone else. I have no idea if such acceptance is normal in Filipino culture, but it definitely is not in New Zealand culture, not at such a young age anyway.  It is refreshing to see that a country with such a strong attachment to Roman Catholic values can be so understanding. Maximo wanders through life seemingly clear in his routine, he cooks for his father and brothers, but gets to spend his spare time with his friends, playing dress up or watching DVDs. School is something that happens to other people.

One of the more endearing parts of the film is the strength of the story.  While the focus always returns to Maxi and his response to the events that occur, there is also a strong focus on his criminal, but happy family, and the new policeman. The stories interact, and in some cases mirror each other.  Maxi starts off with great certainty, people understand his preference to be a girl, his family is stable, he is happy.  By the end of the film he is living a normal boy’s life, going to school, wearing a uniform, his family life now destroyed.  The policeman starts of uncertain of his position, fighting to be honest in a sea of petty corruption, and he pays for that honesty, he is isolated, and even attacked.  By story end he has been forced to abandon some of these values, complicit now in extra-judicial murder.  Things have become normal so far as possible in a slum, Maxi is in school, the policeman is forced to work in a way that compromises his beliefs. The two no longer are friends. Is it a good thing?

The cinematography of the film is a strong point.  The shots are crisp, vivid, real, which can be slightly disturbing when the background is a Filipino slum.  However the image generated doesn't seem as grim as I had thought it would be, sure it is definitely a slum, but it seems cheerful, the people industrious and happy. This is just another demonstration of the universality of human life and experience despite environment.  There are occasional issues like during the Miss Universe pageant scene. The director tried to make the sequence talk to the camera, but it doesn't quite work for some reason. It is a nice idea, but hard to pull off when the rest of the film does not work in this style.

I quite enjoyed this film. While it does have a unique take on things, dealing with a boy that lives as a girl in a slum environment, the story moves far beyond the potentially narrow question of sexuality.  It’s really quite a broad based story and worth seeing just for this factor. Of course it is also a nice snapshot of slum life. If you are looking for something international that has a strong story, then consider this film.

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