Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros

Maximo is a carefree homosexual who lives in a slum. Since his mother passed away, he acts as the light of the house. In contrast with his innocent and happy life, he grew in a world of violence and crime. His father steals mobile phones and sells them to survive a day with food in their table. To make the situation worse, one of his brothers, Boy, unintentionally murdered a 16 years old teenager.

Maximo Oliveros

As he enjoys his day to day living, he met and fell in love with Victor, a police officer. Like a hero, Victor saved him from being teased by bystanders in the middle of the night.  

Maximo with Victor

Maximo meeting Victor posed problems to his family’s living. It came to a point when Victor forced Maximo to confess the crimes done by his family. After days, Maximo wrote a love letter to confess what he really feels and this led to his first heartbreak.  As revenge, his father and his two brothers ganged Victor. Maximo then came to the rescue and took care of him.

Boy, Bogs, Maximo and Paco

After few days, a new chief led the police station and had Victor as his assistant. This new chief, along with Victor, shot Maximo’s father and Maximo saw everything. This ended Maximo’s love for Victor. The story ended with his brothers preparing lunch and anything else he needed as he goes back to school.

DIEGESIS

The shots of Maximo’s mother in a picture frame tells us how important she is in the family. It can also imply that she was a great wife and a caring mother to his children. In one scene, Paco reminded Maximo about his mother’s death.  

“Papasok ako sa factory, kakayod ng parang kalabaw sa katiting na sweldo. ‘Tapos may magkakasakit, ‘tapos hindi ako makakapagbayad sa ospital. Hindi na! Hinding-hindi na mababawasan ang pamilyang ito.” Paco said. 

Even if the scenes were not shown, it tells us that Maximo’s mother died because they have no money for her medication. This was his reason why he got himself to a dirty job. He doesn’t want it to happen again. There were no scenes showing wake and burial after the new chief shot Paco but it was understood that he died at that specific moment. He wasn’t also shown afterwards.