Kalel, 15: Ang Bigat at ang Lungkot

Kalel, 15 is directed and written by Jun Robles Lana and Elijah Canlas takes the lead role. It is about a 15 year old boy who tested positive with HIV. 

Kalel is a son of a pastor and his mother owns a karinderya where he and his sister works. Tapos dahlia pari ‘young tatay ni Kalel, just like how his mother sees his HIV status, Kalel is kept hidden in the dark.

Kalel waiting for his father to finish the mass. Screenshot from the film's trailer.

Kalel, like other 15 year old boys, has friends, has friends, plays basketball, and falls in love with a girl. However, as the story unfolded, Kalel’s world became smaller and smaller. 

What I liked about the movie was, it wasn’t sexualized. For the first time, I saw a film about people living with HIV (PLHIV) that didn’t show any sex scenes. Normally kasi, parang lahat nang napanood kong content about HIV will always have a sex scene. 

Hindi sinabi kung saan nakuha ni Kalel or kung kanino niya nakuha but there were scenes that would make you assume.

Screenshot from the film's trailer.

Second, I am not sure if I liked it was in black and white. Parang sinasabi niyang, This is the life of Kalel. It’s not colorful, not because he has HIV but because the people around him lives in the stigma when they shouldn’t be. Naiisip ko kasi nung mga time na iyon, Lana could’ve made a positive representation but maybe, he was aiming for it to be real. Like, it’s black and white, no gray areas, this is how it is. This is the stigma. This is the society they live in, that we created. Imagine, Nanay pa mismo ni Kalel ‘yung gustong itago ‘yung status niya kasi ayaw niyang mapahiya. Siya ‘yung mapapahiya, hindi si Kalel. 

“Nakakahiya ka. Ano na lang sasabihin ng mga tao? Wala akong kuwentang ina?”

And as the story spiraled down, makikita nating nobody cared for Kalel. Nobody even asked about what he feels, everybody just cared about themselves. Kalel was just 15 years old and he had to handle everything on his own. Mother gone? Older sister in jail? Feed himself? Backstabbing “friends”? Heartbroken? At 15, Kalel already underwent a turmoil.

Elijah Canlas as Kalel. Screenshot from the film's trailer.

There was something about the film’s resolution. The pixels, I mean. Hindi ko alam if namamalikmata lang ba ako but there were scenes that the framing became squares as if they connote that Kalel is being boxed and he cannot step out of it. Lumiliit nang lumiliit ang mundo niya. The scenes were shaky, too, pero di naman sobrang shaky gaya nung mga unang films ni Brillante Mendoza. Just the right amount of shake that you would feel that the camera was handheld to produce gripping shots. 

Screenshot from the film's trailer.

The ending for me was, uhm, yes, it was open ended, but I have two conclusions. Like, it opened different possibilities. First, Kalel just went with the flow and started to meet clients despite his status or dahil the scene got a wider resolution, Kalel decided to do something for the better of his status. That finally, he stopped using that VCO from his hypocrite father and started to listen to the doctor. Again, different possibilities but I really hope it was the latter. 

Rating: 4 out 5

Why? Bravery, reality, and great acting, especially Jacklyn Jose’s (Kalel’s mom). Her comical timing was amazing! 

We watched Kalel in Cinema Centenario in Maginhawa since we missed the cinema run. I hope after the pandemic, film and theatre industry will be back so we can watch more films and even plays! Told myself I will be investing on plays, too, this 2020 but the pandemic waved and said Hi.

If there would be screenings and you decided to watch it, lemme know!

At tina-ranscribe ko lang ‘yung nilagay ko sa YT ko last March. Nawala na ‘yung copy ko na binasa ko lang din. Dami pa lang lapses doon sa VO. Hahaha!