Aishite imasu (Mahal kita) 1941

Plot synopsis:
The date is December 1941, and the simple folks of the quiet town of San Nicolas are unaware that war is nearing upon them. Inya (Judy Ann Santos) is a lovely young lady who had just married her childhood sweetheart Edilberto (Raymart Santiago) and they're excited about starting a new family. Ignacio "Igna" Basa (Dennis Trillo) is Inya's best friend, a transgender woman who has been in love with the handsome Edilberto for years. Ignacio falls for Ichiru Hamaguchi (Jay Manalo) a Japanese Army official who returns her affection, but becomes torn between fulfilling her duty to her country and her love for Ichiru.
The arrival of the Japanese throws the town into chaos, days after the Japanese air raid in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7 - which marked the start of the war. Meanwhile, on December 8, Japanese air bombings included Manila, Baguio, Davao, Iba and Clark fields to signal the Japanese invasion to the Philippines.
But Edilberto, Inya and Ignacio aren't the only ones the war will change forever. Traitorous Japanese interpreter and local collaborator Maura (Angelu de Leon), strong-willed Tiyang Mabel (Jacklyn Jose), tough guy Anton (TJ Trinidad), and pure-hearted Julia (Iya Villania) also get caught in the winds of the war, and find themselves doing things they never thought they'd do... all for the hope of living and dying another day.
Starting on December 1941, the guerrilla leader captain Ediberto Manalang (Raymart Santiago) was named Commander Berto, and was supported by other local guerrilla forces in the town of San Nicolas during the Fall of the Philippines. Meanwhile, battles between the Japanese and USAFFE troops ends in the Battle of Bataan on 1942 and the Bataan Death March begins on April 9 of that year. 76,000 surrendered Filipino and American troops became Prisoners of War under Japanese hands. The defeated troops were forced to march from Bataan to Tarlac.Anton joined the guerrilla movement. Ignacio became the movement's spy inside the Japanese forces, catching Maura's suspicion. Anytime Kapitan Berto attacks a Japanese patrol, the latter burns a village and executes suspected guerrilla members under direction from Maura. Inya is also suspected as a Japanese spy and tortured by the guerrillas.
She revealed Ignacio's secret to Hiroshi, who in turn told Ichiru. At first, he did not believe. Until he suffered a nightmare that he was holding his father's blood in front of the Americans. He tried to make love with Igna, but the latter refused. Ichiru revealed that he knew Ignacio is transgender and he never cares about it as long as he loves Igna.
A few years later, local guerrilla forces are led by Captain Inya Marasingan Manalang, who replaced Commander Berto in 1943 after Edilberto died during a Japanese attack on their camp. The Japanese retaliated with brutality, hanging the mayor and others. Anton and Igna's transgender friend Edna were released at Igna's request. A guerrilla raid sealed Igna, Ichiru and Akihiro's fates. As Igna returned to the camp after she warned Inya of the raid, she was caught along with Ichiru by Maura and Hiroshi. Igna was beaten. Ichiru escaped along with Akihiro and Igna. They returned to Tiyang Mabel's house, where Akihiro and Ichiru committed seppuku. Igna again was arrested by Maura and Hiroshi. The former was tortured until unconscious. Kapitan Berto (Inya) raided the town hall, rescued the mayor and Igna and eliminated the Japanese garrison,at the cost of several resistance members,including Anton who was shot by Hiroshi, until the latter was also killed. As soon as Inya and Igna got outside, Maura and her backup arrived. As she shoots Inya, Igna uses her body as cover and took the fatal shot. Inya's men open fired on Maura's vehicle, killing her and the Japanese inside. Igna's last words said she was a traitor, so she deserved a traitor's death.
Many decades and many coercion later, Inya told the whole truth about what happened during the time. As the mayor and the historian discusses future plans, she left them.

Tags: flashback

Review:
Excellent. I rented out this movie with friends and I expect that its going to be another Filipino drama movie. I was wrong.Its rare to find these gems in the Filipino cinema. I love the way it is narrated using flashback techniques and notably, the acting done by Trillo, Santiago and Jose.Character development is very rich which makes the viewing experience very memorable. The special effects used are somewhat mediocre (the explosion effects of the bombs dropped off from the Japanese planes) but the costumes, language ('pure' Tagalog) and yes! the vintage cars used in that era were faithfully shown.The major aspect that I love about this film is how they achieved the 'fulfillment'that educated viewers will surely appreciate because of its multidimensional approach in achieving the ultimate objective - To tell the story!. Just didn't do it for me!. This was the official entry of Regal films to the 2004 Metro Manila Film Festival. Even though this was top billed by Judy Ann Santos and Raymart Santiago definitely the highlight of this movie was the performance of Dennis Trillo as Ignacio/ Inya. He acted really well and was very convincing throughout the film So much so that when I saw him as Ignacio I was a little surprised since I had gotten so used to him as Inya. He really deserved his award as best supporting actor in the MMFF.As for the acting of Santiago, I thought he also did a good job. Perhaps not as good as that of Trillo but nonetheless very good. Santos' performance on the other hand was rather patchy as we could really see her good acting ability in some scenes but rather overacting in some other parts. I thought that there was no way she could have beat out Vilma Santos for the top acting prize.If the filmmakers intended this to be a movie that promoted a sense of patriotism, I'm afraid I felt no such feelings. It seemed like the love story angle eclipsed every other subplot that may have been presented in the film. I also was disappointed with the story of the film.Other than the performance of Trillo, there wasn't much to praise in this film.