Pisay (film)

Pisay is a 2007 Filipino drama film directed by Auraeus Solito, written by Henry Grajeda and starring Gammy Lopez, Annicka Dolonius, Carl John Barrameda, and Elijah Castillo. The film, set in the 1980s, is centred upon a young student, from 1982 as a freshman and ending in 1986. The background is the last years of Martial Law in the Philippines where the Marcos dictatorship was at its peak.

Pisay
Directed by	Auraeus Solito
Written by	Auraeus Solito Henry Grajeda
Produced by	Auraeus Solito
Starring	Eugene Domingo Gammy Lopez Annicka Dolonius Carl John Barrameda Elijah Castillo
Cinematography	Charlie Peralta
Edited by	Kanakan Balintagos Mikael Pestaño
Music by	Jobin Ballesteros Vincent de Jesus
Production company	Solito Arts & Road Runner
Release date	2007 (2007)
Running time	230 minutes
Country	Philippines
Languages	Filipino English Cebuano Hiligaynon

Synopsis

The show revolves around Rom Meneses (Gammy Lopez), a young student who enters the premier Philippine Science High School (Tagalog: Mataas na Paaralan ng Plipinas sa Agham; or commonly known as Pisay) along with seven other students during the politically volatile years of the Philippines in the '80s. The students are guided by their teacher Ms. Casas (Eugene Domingo), as they discover the world outside the four corners of the school and the chaos of the Marcos dictatorship.

Plot

The film can be split up into four interconnected stories: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years.

Introduction

The film starts with science quiz bee contestants fighting in the 1981 National Science Quiz Bee. The narrator talked about natural selection and how it affects them as students. Daki Lim, a contestant, was removed from the elimination round after incorrectly answering the last question that mass is the same as weight. He contests his answer to the panel of judges but was still removed from the competition.

Freshman

The film then transitions to a comic speech made by Ninoy Aquino about Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. Rom Meneses is an alternate (a student who is not immediately accepted by the school, a wait-lister) who received a letter from PSHS that he is now allowed to apply to the school, much to the joy of his mother. Rom entered the school the next day to register as a student. He was asked by the Director about his test results and his own background; to which he answered that he was not able to finish the exam since he was late and that his mother was a market vendor and his father an OFW in Jeddah.

Rom went to his room where Ms. Casas, a teacher, was teaching about scientific hypothesis to her students. He met Wena, a fellow student and his groupmate. Ms. Casas then made her students go outside the room and talked about Quod Erat Demonstratum, to teach her students about having conviction as students of PSHS. Rom's mother congratulated him on his first day of school and celebrated her son's achievement as a student of the school.

The next day, Rom and Minggoy reported about the Solar System, and there they said that Halley's Comet would return to 1986, the same year the students would graduate. Rom and Wena started becoming close to each other even though they had separate backgrounds.

Mateo and Minggoy talked about their grades, to which Mateo did not want to talk about it. Rom tried finding his grades and initially thought that he failed since he looked at the lower ranks; however, his friend pointed out that he is rank 4 in the entire class. Rom and his friends celebrated at the school party; where he danced with Wena, causing the class to see them as a romantic couple.

Ms. Casas tried separating the two after seeing how the couple became ever closer by talking to both personally. Rom and Wena decided to break up their relationship and it only separated even further after Rom was goaded to kiss Wena, to the chagrin of Wena and the reaction of Ms. Casas. Rom chased Wena in the library and tried to explain to her about the situation that happened earlier and she explained that her life was already planned out from the very beginning. Rom went home to see his own mother crying and comforted her.

During the final exam, Wena returned the cassette tapes to Rom via Minggoy. Wena learned that she was rank 38 in her grades and Ms. Casas told her that she is a good writer. Rom was rank 2 in his grades; however, the two did not talk to each other. The two went their separate ways.

Sophomore

Mateo is ironing his clothes as he is late for class. The geometry teacher is discussing to the class about the final project that they will submit, she encourages them to discover new things for themselves. Mateo arrived late to his class and the teacher asked him if he has any math problems to discuss in class, to which he answered none. Mateo was then brought in front of the class, showing the large burn mark in his uniform in his back while he was discussing his own problem. The teacher then made him recall the Pythagorean theorem, to which he could not remember.

Mateo and Minggoy talked about their food that is served in the school canteen and Mateo talked to Minggoy about his plan to buy a new pair of Saucony shoes. Both of them went out after class and Mateo told Minggoy that he is the first in his family to ever get into PSHS, to which Minggoy joked that his family celebrated that they got rid of Mateo. Later in the night, Minggoy told Mateo about his plan to build a telescope to sell Halley's comet. Both Mateo and Minggoy parted ways and Mateo returned to his dorm. Mateo's dorm was loud and stressful, his upperclassmen dormmates bully him.

The next day, Mateo was told by his teacher that his final project is not satisfactory and asked why he is performing poorly. Mateo initially bluffed but answered that he no longer has the passion to study. Later, as he was doing his laundry, one of his dormmates forced him to wash his underwear, causing him to lose his mood.

Minggoy, Mateo, Daki, and Andy were eating in the canteen when they learned about the assassination of Ninoy Aquino at Manila International Airport, causing the students to dampen their spirits especially that many of them were exempted from the final exam. Later, the class talked about the assassination during geometry class and many students including Mateo answered in front of the class. Late in the night, Mateo tearfully wrote a letter to his parents about his current situation as a student in the school.

The next day, Mateo was encouraged by his own classmates to do well in the final exam. Mateo was the last to pass his papers. Outside the exam room, the students talked about how the school would be segregated into upper-half and lower-half students based on academic rank. Mateo was called by the director and he went to the office, where he saw his geometry teacher again. The geometry teacher told him about the Bell curve and how he did his best amidst his own personal problems.

Mateo and two other students were given an announcement by Ms. Casas that they are removed from the school because they failed their subjects. Mateo comforted the two and bought them snacks and played together, wearing the new Saucony shoes that he wanted. Meanwhile, inside the dorm room, Mateo's dormmate was enraged that his lab experiment was ruined because of Mateo.

Junior

The part starts with an explanation about how the Chico River Dam Project, a controversial project, would displace thousands of indigenous peoples if it was completed. Liway was arranging her things when her mother entered her bedroom, her writings impressed her mother and praised her for her writing skills. Liway then went to school and there she was confronted by her chemistry teacher, who told her that she needed to pass the chemistry lab reports that are long overdue. Liway jokingly told her if there is an application form for "Philippine Social Science High School" after she was told to improve her grades in science.

There was a discussion in social science about peace and development in the Marcos era, and Liway was able to recite a lot during the discussion. The teacher told them that they have a research project in the subject and that the upper-half should team up with the lower-half. Andy confronted Liway and told her that they should team up, to which Liway initially refused; however, reconsidered. Andy was then called for his ROTC. Andy then went to the office where he was confronted by the higher-ranking officers about the position that he is supposed to take.

Later Andy then went to the lab where Liway was doing her lab report. There both Andy and Liway talked about their personal lives. Liway and Wena talked about the school paper that they both working on. Liway wanted to talk about the class segregation and how she condemns the practice. Liway discussed to her friends about what she knew of the controversial dam project and the acts of bravery that the indigenous peoples did in order to resist the government's actions, especially with Macli-ing Dulag.

The school discussed the results of splitting up the classes into the upper-half and lower-half. Even though many of the teachers disagree with the system of segregating the classes since the results are questionable, Ms. Casas insisted that the system should be retained since there are not a lot of teachers who could teach the classes properly. Liway clapped back towards Ms. Casas with how the school is not well maintained especially some amenities were out of order.

The petition to give the school its proper budget drew the ire of Ms. Casas, who then told Liway to study instead of continuing the protests. Later on, Liway was told by her mother about the dire situation that her father has been facing. Even though her father was not involved in a labor strike, he was being found by the authorities for his alleged involvement. Because of this, Liway and her mom are forced to seek political asylum in the Netherlands. This bothered Liway and affected her relationships with friends.

Andy presented the report that they made with Liway while Liway packed her stuff and left the school premises.

Senior

The students are presenting a combined Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo presentation in their class. Meanwhile, Ms. Casas told the students that they should only take Basic or Applied Science courses in college as not doing so would be penalized by reimbursing the entire cost of high school education with interest.

Mr. G was writing a message under a table until he was caught my Ms. Fanny. Ms. Fanny asked him as to why he is in the room and then informed the student about the upcoming rally. Euri and Ms. Fanny went to the office and there she told him that his combined presentation was impressive. The scene then jumps to a biology class wherein Euri dramatically recited his answer to the class. Euri found Mr. G dramatically acting from a play called Ang Paglilits ni Mang Serapio and asked him why he did not pursue acting full-time, and he replied by saying that he did not want to lose his U.S. scholarship.

Euri got more involved in theater arts by attentively listening to the lectures of Ms. Fanny. One day, Euri and Minggoy approached Daki because their project in Filipino literature was approved and there he told them that he was interested in organic chemistry and while talking he grossed out both with his weird idea involving proteins and chickens.

Euri was told by Mr. G that he should take a science-related course in college. One day, Euri was inspired to write a play based on recent events happening in the country and based on the research Daki made. While Euri, Daki, and Minggoy were practicing for the play they made they were approached by Ms. Casas, who told Daki that he has to defend his research in Texas.

While Daki and Minggoy were cracking jokes in a 48-kilobyte computer, Minggoy started feeling physical pain, causing concern among his friends. The next day, after a moving exam, Euri asked Mr. G as to why he did not pursue acting; Mr. G answered by saying that it was martial law at the time and that he was afraid of himself.

Ms. Casas had the props for the upcoming play removed as she had personal concerns for the students, this caused both Mr. G and Ms. Fanny to condemn the actions of Ms. Casas. Outside the school building, student protests are made and Ms. Casas told the Director about her concerns about the fates of some of the students during martial law. While the protests are happening outside, Mr. G gave Euli a mask from Minggoy as he was sent to the infirmary.

The play that Euri wrote was performed anyway outside the school building. The performance satirized U.S. political intervention in the Philippines, Mr. G played Uncle Sam and Ms. Fanny played the motherland in the performance. After the performance, Minggoy was visited by his friends in the hospital and told him it was a rousing success. Euri rewrote his contract form from Biology to Theater Arts.

The scene then transitions to the events happening around the People Power Revolution. Protesters arrived in the school in a jeepney, convincing students to join them. Daki convinced his friends to join the protesters, Wena was reluctant to join but went inside the jeepney as well. More scenes of the revolution are shown.

Inside the office, the Director and Ms. Casas talked about giving Ms. Casas a break from academic duties in order to finish her dissertation, Ms. Casas then thanked the Director for her support. Wena met Rom again after a long silence, and Wena told him that she is bound for the U.S. after graduation. Rom jokingly asked her to be his partner at the graduation ball. Mateo returned to the school and was greeted by his old teacher, who he then told that he excelled at the school he transferred to after leaving PSHS. Both Euri and Andy were congratulated by their teachers as they were climbing up the stairs, with Andy in particular given a postcard from Liway. Rom on the other hand was greeted by his father, who was able to arrive on time on his graduation ceremony.

While the rest are celebrating for graduation, Minggoy is bedridden in his room and asked his grandmother about her age, to which she said she was born at the same year Halley's Comet appeared (1910). Later in the night, Minggoy and his grandmother looked at the Moon using the homemade telescope that Minggoy made.

The film ends with the students being called one-by-one by the teachers.

Cast

• Gammy Lopez as Roman "Rom" Meneses
• Annicka Dolonius as Rowena "Wena" Ledesma
• Carl John Barrameda as Mateo Markado
• Elijah Castillo as Miguel "Minggoy" Lamazan
• Shayne Fajutagana as Liwayway "Liway" Claver
• Jonathan Neri as Andres "Andy" Gallardo
• EJ Jallorina as Euripedes "Euri" Calo
• Alfred Labatos as Dakila "Daki" Lim
• Eugene Domingo as Ms. Casas
• Arnold Reyes as Mr. G
• Rowena Basco as Ms. Fanny
• Glecy Atienza as Dra. Claver

Release

The film was released on February 20, 2008, in the Philippines and was also shown in Canada, South Korea, Germany, France and Singapore at different film festivals.

Awards

Pisay won awards for Best Director, Best Production Design, and Audience Choice Awards at the 2008 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. Internationally, it won the Audience Award and International Jury Prize at the 2008 Vesoul Asian Film Festival.