'Bakal Boys' Could Have Been More Fascinating

This movie's enigmatic ending where you'll be shown a young boy swimming in the murky waters of Manila Bay Bay of Reckoning: the 1898 Battle of Manila Bayin the evening will make you ask aloud if he actually wishes to die or if he thinks only him can locate the dead body of his good friend who was not found anymore one time their group went out swimming and to scavenge for iron and metal scraps at the bottom of the sea. Such story commonly takes places in communities based along the shores of Manila Bay, where people's livelihood sources are usually what they can gather and hold around the places where they happened to live for many generations now. The film's a great introduction to how people lead their lives in these areas, where you'll see them who prefer to be left on their own making their own living rather than expecting others would come and help them.

The fragments of the lives shown in this movie look happy, calm and innocent; they look poor on the surface but they actually look contented although probably could be hungry at times. They even have opportunities for entertainment. They don't even seem to blame the lack of good government in their midst for the kind of lives they have, at least in the form of getting sources of potable clean water, the construction of paved roads, etc. And they can find time to help each other whenever tragic events take place in their communities, i.e., they would spend hours searching for a lost boy whose body was never found. Among other types of people, their communities also include the minorities, including Muslims who I believe have been increasing in numbers in Metro Manila all these past few decades.

There's an interesting MuslimThe Muslim Next Door: The Qur'an, the Media, and That Veil Thing character portrayed here by a veteran actress, Gina Pareno, who was credible as usual in her role as someone who'd leave to Allah the fate of her lost grandson. But I thought her scenes were, rather, brief. You could actually feel sorry for her grief over the loss of her grandson's body that still has yet to be found despite their efforts; the scenes where she hugged the other young boy without saying lines were effectively touching.

Also, I enjoyed observing the underwater scenes where I noticed a lot of small fishes swimming around the camera's span. This means there are lots of fishes that live in the dark waters of Manila Bay, which body of water has been serving both as a sewage system and a dumpster for many families in Metro Manila. This gives me some hope that Manila Bay The Battle of Manila Bay: The Spanish-American War in the Philippinescan turned into a major resource for other forms of livelihood for more numbers of families including those who live more inland and far from the shores.

As an afterthought, I do sincerely hope that free quality education will be provided to the youth in these communities - it's such a waste of human resources to just let them lead the kind of lives they're having now without them going to school and to learn how to explore other opportunities in life. Chances are, they'll always end up being among the dregs of society, and experiencing disadvantaged lives until they die.