Bulatlat News
The production takes an unconventional approach to telling the story of ordinary people under extraordinary circumstances— of poverty and pandemic— humanizing their choices, actions, and love languages. The film successfully stitched the fictional characters and the realities in the background, tapping kilig into romantic chemistry and familial love.
By VENMAR CECILLE
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – The film is unflinching in showing the flaws of love and labor.
Third World Romance (2023) features the lives of Britney (Charlie Dizon) and Alvin (Carlo Aquino), lovers who crossed paths in their need for livelihood and aid during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines.
The film is directed by Dwein Ruedas Baltazar who is also known for the films Gusto Kita With All My Hypothalamus (2018) and Oda sa Wala (2018), and also a few series in mainstream television.
The production takes an unconventional approach to telling the story of ordinary people under extraordinary circumstances— of poverty and pandemic— humanizing their choices, actions, and love languages. The film successfully stitched the fictional characters and the realities in the background, tapping kilig into romantic chemistry and familial love.
The film depicted how romantic experiences can flourish even without the extravagance of life. Romance can be found in the most awkward moments, subtle vulnerabilities, small celebrations, or even acknowledging mistakes. Both Aquino and Dizon made this easy to grasp. They are able to portray how circumstances and challenges can make their relationship work, proving that a connection that thrives in struggle, determination, and desperation can be strong.
Foregrounding realism
With realist elements, the film remains committed to portraying the truth in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Inefficient ayuda distribution. This is the first point of conflict introduced in the film, where Britney and Alvin first meet. The characters were told that the aid packages ran out, prompting them to follow those conducting the distribution. They found out otherwise.
This instance does not stray away from what happened in reality. In October 2020, still the first year of the pandemic, a total of 7,601 complaints in the distribution of the government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP) were recorded. The same program was also flagged for its failure to distribute P1.7 billion to indigent Filipinos.
The prevalence of contractualization, layoffs, and job insecurity. Britney and Alvin met the second time while searching for a job. Soon, Britney was accepted as a cashier in the grocery store, while Alvin a bagger.
Britney’s character showed a strong political consciousness in the film. She mentioned that she resigned from her previous company because of the dehumanizing wages, lack of benefits, and unfair labor practices. She also called out Alvin and their manager at the Wynn Grocery for giving tasks outside the scope of their job description as cashier and bagger. However, a circumstance forced the lead actor to weigh between survival and fighting back.
The Philippine’s unemployment rate reached an all-time high of 17.60 percent in June 2020, a key indicator of the economy’s weakness. The Philippines is also known as one of the top 10 dangerous places for workers in the Global Rights Index of the International Trade Union Confederation.
These underlying contexts have shaped the identity, motivations, and decisions of Britney and Alvin. Furthermore, the film became a social commentary by witnessing how the characters confront and overcome these perennial problems and let their relationship flourish amid the adversities. To love and embrace humanity in oneself, especially amid the dehumanizing conditions, is a protest. The agitation of the film is also seen in its mise-en-scene, with vandals stating “Sahod Itaas, Presyo Ibaba” and stickers calling for women’s empowerment.
Non-conformity
The film is not afraid to show us its non-conformity to the traditional Filipino family.
Alvin’s family, which comprises his transwoman father and siblings who have diverse sexual orientation and gender identity, is portrayed to have a healthy relationship with one another. Britney and her mother, too, maintain a good relationship despite the piling misfortunes that seem to hinder their way.
The Third World Romance also shies away from resiliency porn. It sets the film apart from many others that often sensationalize the struggles of the working class and other victims of oppression. As the film develops, the characters deepen their political consciousness with nuance and authenticity: the change is not portrayed as an instant transformation, but as a gradual awakening driven by the complexities of political and personal challenges.
Another layer of its genuine portrayal is the avoidance of defeatism. It is sometimes a common ground for films that dwell on realism: portraying a sense of hopelessness and futility of struggle against a rotten system.
Here, Alvin and Britney fought back. This rippled to their colleagues at Wynn Grocery by demanding adequate pay for overtime and just workload. It might have run short in depicting the establishment of a union, but it is a headstart of the workers’ solidarity: finding the common ground to fight for humane working conditions.
Lastly, the concept of happiness extends beyond the context of love. It is a constant struggle in a milieu that deprives the characters of humanity and even basic social services. Despite the individual differences of Britney and Alvin, their class interest intricately weaves together their common yearning for a better life by facing their dreading situation together. Their happiness is not a mere state of mind, but a resistance.
Third World Romance is able to magnify the plight of the working people, wrapped in the premises of romance and unconventional storytelling. It also shows how resistance requires love to materialize and transform. The film never fell short in engaging the audiences with the dilemmas at play as it also stimulates familiarity. (JJE, RVO) 
