I recall film director Gene Cajayon coming to Guam to present his film The Debut to our local audience almost a decade ago. After watching the film in theaters, I bought the DVD release and it has been sitting on my DVD shelf since I removed it from its box. With summer well underway and leisure time plentiful, I decided to give it a spin.
Although only a quarter Filipino, I’ve been blessed with experiencing much of the Filipino culture. The island I live on is a melting pot of Asians, and the Filipino community here represents nearly half of our current population. Growing up I had the opportunity to make quite a few Filipino friends, and from personal experience I’d say that this film did a fairly good job with capturing many of the aspects of the Filipino lifestyle.
I thought the film itself was done well for such a shoestring budget. I was happy to see a familiar face in Dante Basco playing Ben Mercado alongside a mix of well drawn major characters.
