A film China doesn’t want the world to see

I hadn’t watched a big-screen movie for the longest time until China pushed me to see one, which, ironically, it didn’t want me to watch. It’s a film that China doesn’t want the world to watch. China has been trying to stop the film’s domestic and international screenings, so every Filipino should go out and watch it.

When I found out that the film “Food Delivery” was showing at a mall theater near my home in Metro Manila, I hurried to the venue, bought a ticket, got myself a hotdog sandwich and juice, and proceeded to watch, eager to find out why China is afraid of this movie. And find out, I did.

The movie has no script, plot, or trained actors and actresses because it’s a documentary. It filmed real-life events that were taking place in the lives of real people who were not performing for the camera but were merely going about their lives. But even if the movie presents natural, raw, and unembellished settings, as well as people shorn of cosmetic enhancements, it was oozing with drama, tragedy, and symbolism that no contrived script and trained performances could have delivered with equal impact. Our leaders who lack exposure to the lives of their ordinary constituents should watch this movie.

The first group of people whose lives are documented in the film are Philippine soldiers and coast guard personnel, who are tasked to deliver food supplies and other provisions to our security personnel guarding our islets in the Spratly group of islands. It presents conversations of our security people about their families, their financial struggles, and snippets of their opinions about our country and the menace of “Big Brother China.” Powerful symbolism abounds with decrepit military ships carrying supplies, flimsy rubber boats that deliver food to our soldiers stationed on almost barren islets, crumbling outposts that serve to protect our soldiers, strong and dangerous waves, and meager supplies.

The second group of people portrayed are Zambales fishermen, whose lives have been negatively affected by China’s illegal occupation of Scarborough Shoal. The shoal, which has been rich fishing grounds for our fisherfolk since time immemorial, is well within our exclusive economic zone. It has also been classified by an international arbitration tribunal as open to traditional fishing for fishermen of all coastal nations around the South China Sea. However, China has used threats, intimidation, and even brute force to appropriate the shoal grounds exclusively for itself. There is real video footage showing how China employed sheer violence by using high-pressure water cannons, causing damage to our coast guard boats, even ramming and boarding some of them, and bullying and browbeating our security personnel. There’s dramatic footage of a lone fisherman on board his small outrigger fishing boat defiantly challenging two enormous Chinese ships, playing mouse to annoy two big cats.

The film documents how Zambales fisherfolk have fallen into hard times, with mounting debts, health issues, and an uncertain future, mainly because of China’s illegal seizure of their fishing grounds. It also tackles the case of four fishermen who mysteriously disappeared in the vicinity of the shoal, and the efforts of fellow fishermen and coast guard personnel to locate them, to no avail. Even without the theatrics of contrived films, the movie manages to convey a visual narrative that pushes, pulls, yanks, jerks, and fiddles with all of humanity’s emotional chords.

The film documentary opens our eyes to the realities of people who toil to ensure food delivery on our nation’s table. Our fisherfolk, who gamble with their lives, face the dangerous forces of nature and the menacing misbehavior of a foreign aggressor to carve out subsistence living for their families and bring food to their families’ table. Second are our nation’s security personnel who, faced with meager provisions and a puny arsenal, put their lives on the line to protect our vast fishing grounds that will guarantee food delivery for our future generations.

Through its portrayal of the lived experiences and the daunting challenges faced by our depicted compatriots, “Food Delivery” impels us to come to the conclusion that our most effective weapons against a neighborhood bully are the shaming mechanisms of international law and the klieg lights of international attention. We must continue telling our stories about China’s oppression, which “Food Delivery” masterfully accomplishes. It’s for this reason that China is scared of this film.

The film ends with a brave and defiant gesture by a small flotilla of fishing boats, symbolically showing the ultimate futility of China’s wayward ways.

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