Module 3--"American Adobo"-D. Valencia

Set in New Yprk City, the romantic comedy film entitled "American Adobo," centers on a group of 30 and 40-something year old Filipino friends who reunite at holidays and family events during the course of a year. Through their meetings, they learn hidden truths about living and loving from one another. The main character in the film, Tere, is a single Catholic accountant who specializes in cooking adobo--the national dish of the Philippines, which is comprised of meat or vegetables marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic. Among Tere's group of friends are Mike, an editor who is unhappily married to a rich and extremely self-centered woman; Marisa, who is a successful career woman and an ego-driven socialite whose boyfriend is known for being notoriously unfaithful to her; Raul, who is, in one word, a womanizer; and Gerry, a gay man struggling to stay in the closet fot the sake of his old mother, regardless of the fact that his boyfriend was slowly dying from AIDS.

Over the course of a year, the five friends are faced with surprises, disappointments, betrayals and loss. They are forced to help each other through hard times when things are simply just falling apart. As the movie proceeds, the audience is given a first hand glance at how Tere's excruciating loneliness gets the best of her. That is of course, until she meets the man of her dreams in a life-saving moment. The audience is also given the chance to watch Gerry tell his mother about his sexual orientation as well as Raul's life changing moment when he is informed that a past "partner" may have infected him with the AIDS virus.

The film title in American Adobo doesn't only refer to the national disn that I personally can say is one of my many favorite Filipino dishes, but it also implies the tension of the characters as they struggle to straddle two totally different cultures--American and Filipino--while at the same time juggling the stresses of the modern, big city life. The food theme of the movie is reinforced by the group's many gatherings--which always centered on one meal or another, whether it be an American barbeque, such as that that was held at Mike's house, or a Filipino dinner, such as that that was always held at Tere's.

American Adobo, in my opinion was very entertaining, although I feel as though too many ideas were blended together in the creation of the film, thus making it a little on the "busy" side of things. I feel as though the story of Marisa and her cheating boyfriend has been used one too many times in movie scripts and it simply has just become an old and worn out idea. Gerry's story, however, was one that I found interesting. Homosexuality is not exactly a widely accepted practice or way of life in the Philippines. In fact, it's looked down upon by alomost everyone. It isn't accepted because Filipino's believe that intimate relationships should only be between a man and a woman. For this reason, when a person like Gerry comes along, he doesn't know whether he should or shouldn't come out of the closet because he anticipates that he will scare everyone away.

I sympathized with Gerry when he told his mother about his sexual orientation because she told him that she just could not accept the fact that her son was gay. This may be the reason why she kept trying to set him up on dates with different women all over New York City. Gerry's mother told him that she expected him to marry a woman and give her the grandchildren that she had always dreamed of. But because Gerry was in a relationship with a man, he couldn't give his mother what she wanted. Gerry's mother couldn't even bear to look him in the eye after he gave her the news about him and Chris. Now, I don't know about you, but I just can't understand why some Filipino parents have a "set dream" or a "planned out life-course" for their children. These parents are the ones who set their standards so high that they are let down when they find out that their child has decided that he or she wants something else. Gerry's mother is a great example of the kind of parent that I just described. She didn't expect much from Gerry, except that he marry a woman and give her grandchildren, but when that didn't happen, she just couldn't find it in herself to just accept him for who he was.

The situation between Mike and his wife was one for me to watch as well because I could totally relate it to personal experience. I've seen many of my aunts and uncles come from the Philippines to Hawaii only to get caught up in the "American way of life" and lose touch with their Filipino roots. Since they've become Americanized and adapted to the American way of life, they refuse to eat such foods as pinakbet, adobo, or inabraw because they think its gross. They even go as far as to say that only "poor people of the provinces" eat them. What's worse is that they're totally suppressing their Filipino culture and they're not teaching their children about their roots and where they came from.

Overall, I would say that American Adobo, although lacking some quality, was an enjoyable film to watch. The friendships between Tere, Mike, Marisa, Raul and Gerry were priceless and anyone would give to have a friendship like the one they had. Their group's friendship was like the backbone of their individual beings, as it was what kept them all from going insane, and that was what made the movie worthwhile watching.