“American Adobo”
“American Adobo” is an intriguing film about a group of Filipino American friends who encounter problems in their life in America. The film follows the lives of a group of friends, Tere, Mike, Marissa, Raul, and Gerry. They were former classmates in the Philippines and are now living in New York. They gather several times in the film and feast upon Filipino food, which included Tere’s cooking of the famous and delicious Filipino dish, adobo. The tribulations they come across deals with their relationships which are Tere’s incompleteness in life because of no significant other, Mike’s problem with his self-absorbed wife who spends too much time gambling, Raul’s promiscuous ways, Marissa’s cheating boyfriend Sam, and Gerry’s difficulties with his sexuality. In the end, they all made a resolution for the New Year to help them solve their troubles
One of the relationship problems in the film “American Adobo” is of Marissa. Marissa dates an American guy in the film named Sam. After a gathering at Tere’s place, she went home to Sam and found a glass imprinted a lipstick color that was not of hers. Sam tried to deny the fact that he had a girl over but Marissa doesn’t believe him and angrily sends him out of her home. Later, Sam tries to lure Marissa back by a song he wrote. Marissa is easily ensnared by this and takes him back. I don’t think Marissa handled her situation with Sam well. I believe she shouldn’t have taken him back right away and gave her and Sam time to figure things out. I thought she was too easy for Sam to get her back. She should’ve been stronger.
In the end, Sam cheats on her again at another gathering. Marissa then finally dismisses him completely out of his life by sending him naked out in the highway. I thought it was clever of her to get back at Sam in this way. Sam needed that type of revenge and I’m pleased she didn’t take him back again.
On the other hand, Mike also has a problem with his relationship. His wife spends a lot of time playing mah jong and is never home. She also has a narcissistic attitude that only regards her. Mike got fed up with his wife’s ways and had a desire to go back to the Philippines. Therefore, he went back to the Philippines after the New Year. I also thought that Mike didn’t deal with his relationship well. Instead of sticking to it and trying to work things out, he gave up and move back to the Philippines. He did want he preferred and didn’t consider the feelings of others, especially his children. I thought he should’ve tried harder to work things out with his wife. I also thought he shouldn’t have abandoned his children. He could’ve stayed in America so he could at least still have contact with his children. I don’t think he should have moved somewhere far like the Philippines.
On the other hand, the other character in the film, Raul, is a player with girls. I don’t approve of Raul’s behavior. He had a lot of girlfriends and did not have any emotional attachment to them. He viewed his girlfriends as only someone to have sexual relationships with. I thought Raul was a heartless jerk to have an attitude like that. He didn’t have any respect towards women. I thought he needed to have bad karma in his life to backstab him and allow him to recognize that what he’s doing is, in my opinion, morally wrong.
He eventually did because he later received a letter from one of his former girlfriends stating that he might have HIV. This scared him and allowed him to open his eyes and realize his mischievous ways. I’m glad that he was distressed and learned from that alarm. He needed a tense situation like that in his life to realize that using girls just for fun is wrong.
Alternatively, the other character in the film, Gerry, struggles with his sexuality and coming out of the closet. He refrains disclosing to his friends and family about being gay until he was faced with the problem of having mail, which included private pictures, sent to his mother that was intended for his boyfriend, Chris. He decided to fly to Manila for to prevent his mother from seeing the mail. Luckily, he reached there in time to avoid the embarrassment.
Gerry flew all the way to the Philippines just so he won’t disappoint or terrify his mother with his sexuality. It is difficult to come out of the closet especially when a mother is expecting his son to marry a woman. I would react and feel the same way if I was Gerry. I wouldn’t want to disrespect my mother and go against her ways like how Gerry felt. But yet, I believe it is important to proclaim your sexuality to your family. I was glad when Gerry finally unveiled his gayness to his mother. I thought it took a lot strength and courage to do that because his sexuality went against his mother’s morals.
Gerry has a right to unveil his sexuality or not. He chose to not reveal it at first but he later did. What is a right? A right is a claim on others that is vindicated. This claim is accepted by not just an individual but by the general public as well. Human rights consist of negative and positive rights. It also includes moral rights. We would regard rights as important in human action because rights determine what is accepted or not accepted in society. Rights allows to us to make human actions that are just.
“American Adobo” is an interesting and great film about Filipino Americans who face issues within their relationships. I thought the characters in the film could have handled their situations better because they gave up too easily, forgave too quickly, or used people immorally. I didn’t agree with Mike’s, Marissa’s, and Raul’s actions. I would deal with their troubles in a different way.
No comments:
Post a Comment