August 10. 2026
Lt. Edgardo Reyes (Ruru Madrid) and his men were assigned to a small settlement called Pusong-pusong in Basilan, under the leadership of Pah Ismail (Ronnie Lazaro). Their mission was one of community service -- to teach the children there the sport of football. While they were assembling the goalposts, the residents paid them no mind. The soldiers played ball among themselves. Soon, curious children went to watch and play.
One of the boys was Khaleel (KD Omalin), who had been taken in as a child warrior by a Muslim rebel group led by Omar (Jhong Hilario). When Omar allowed Khaleel to go visit his mother Farida Kapeng (Iza Calzado), he was convinced to stay and learn how to play football with his friends, specifically as the goalie. One day, Lt. Reyes proposed that the kids be allowed to go with him to Manila to join a football tournament there.
Ruru Madrid played the ideal idealistic military man Ed, while Sue Ramirez played his ideal supportive wife Fatima -- both looked and felt very good as the kids' surrogate parents going over and beyond the call of their duty. Iza Calzado had the perfect face for tragedy, Ronnie Lazaro for leadership, and Jhong Hilario for ruthlessness. New child actor KD Omalin held his own in the company of these veteran actors and shone as the heart of the whole film.
This film is the directorial debut of TV and film writer Mark Duane Angos. The story was based on Angos' personal experience 12 years ago when his Manila-based youth football team were able to play with a team of kids from Mindanao. Angos brought both the glorious and the grim aspects of that memorable intercultural interaction of his to the big screen. Seen in this light, his seeming bias, which can be felt while watching the film, can somehow be rationalized.
I watched this film right after watching "Ganggang," another film in competition in this Cinemalaya 2026. Both films basically told the same story of children playing in the warzone between the military and rebels. The major difference was the point of views of the respective filmmakers on which group they portrayed as the good and as the bad. Watching both films would seem to give us a more balanced overview of the tense situation from both sides. 7/10
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