How Romance Reclaimed ‘Alienation’ from ‘Commodification’: Baltazar’s “Third World Romance” (2023) Film Review

Can someone stand and say: “Can we please give another Pinoy romcom a chance?”

In one episode of “Ang Walang Kuwentang Podcast”, director of “Sunshine”, Antoinette Jadaone mentioned that some Hollywood romance comedies (romcom) have been already created in the Philippines. Films like “Anora” and “Past Lives” had their own version if we untangle the tapestry of Philippine filmography. Romcom in the Philippines is the most accessible genre among the general viewing public. But it has a big flaw—it tends to relax, especially when comfortable, into a fixed narrative of “boy-meets-girl” which roots from an old oak tree of ancient telenovelas and teleseryes we all grew up watching on televisions, inspired by Latin American countries. Gosh, I still can remember Marimar!

Well, it can be argued that most Filipinos have a love-hate relationship with Pinoy Romcoms. It's evident that Pinoy moviegoers often complained about the circuitous plot lines and character developments that romcoms tend to offer on the big screen. And Filipinos, to say the least, are not feeble minded, passive consumers of media. Of course, they would look for something that stirs their imagination and challenges their perception. The hedonic treadmill of romcom—when you offer repeated triggers of dopamine in the form of films, satisfaction plateaus. Soon enough, film enthusiasts would just indulge themselves with the latest Marvel film or the Hollywood romcoms like “Anora” or “Past Lives.” Perhaps, without giving offense to “Sisterakas”, Miranda Priestly could snatch the Filipinos’ fashion sense with “The Devil Wears Prada.” And yes, I could say this with a straight face: “Sisterakas” walked so “The Devil Wears Prada” could run.

But now it's different, come Dwein Baltazar's film that took an imaginative yet realistic approach to romcom. She might be the one of those who are challenging the stereotypes that romcoms get since sliced pandesal. Baltazar's “Third World Romance” struck a balance to the traditional elements of romcom that Pinoys once knew, but gave depth, social critique, and something that is relevant and real among the general viewing public.

Structure of Baltazar's RomCom

“Third World Romance” began in the very same formula of the traditional romcom. Baltazar knows how romcom initiates the prospective love and connection between the two characters. And how cliché it is to witness again a “boy-meets-girl” moment in a film produced in 2023. However, Baltazar's film did not conform to the same formula but tried to go beyond it.

When main characters Alvin and Britney met in the very first scenes of the film. It wasn't automatically romantic. The story's conflict began first long before the two characters felt something was special with their escapade to steal some relief goods from a government warehouse. Here's the depth that Baltazar ensured that people would notice: romance is inherently imbued to the everyday life of Filipinos; and that same romance circled around with the main characters' financial struggle, employment mishaps, and the unnecessary anxiety to go through life after the brutal pandemic. That real element coincided with how the characters grew along the way bearing the conflict that almost every Filipino experienced during the hard times of quarantine and insane moments of lockdown. These narrative elements made Baltazar's story more firm and not some “fairy-tale” story where a certain princess shall meet a prince charming at the end.

My last sentence above, in fact, happened. The story showed that Britney found comfort with Alvin because the latter helped her in her life's struggle. What was Alvin’s goal with Britney: to live a happy life. To offer anything that makes his loved one satisfied and happy. That in effect is an element of the traditional romcom. It's where the prince becomes a safe haven to the princess where all of her problems will fade away because the prince hails from a wealthy background, perhaps a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of some company or a nepotism baby. But how did Baltazar's go beyond the usual plot devices in romcoms? She didn't make Alvin rich. The character is quite evidently financially capable than Britney but still struggles in the very same oppressive system of employment and labor. In effect, the two struggled inside the same conflict where their romance is trying to flourish. The plot gave Alvin the chance to become vulnerable when the character was in the middle of an argument with his boss trying to justify that the customer is at the wrong side of the issue. While Britney, the feisty student from a social justice university who believes that workers and employees should be given their rights, stood there quietly—scared to lose her job amid his mother's piling debts. Alvin was no martyr. In the famous grocery scene where the two couples were quarrelling while customers were asking for certain products, which made me laugh so hard and appreciate how beautifully written the scene was, Alvin expressed his frustration and disappointment to Britney. That vulnerability would never be evident in the traditional romcom where “prince charming” always saves the “damsel in distress”. This narrative device worked at the point where viewers would perceive that both Alvin and Britney are just victims of the same oppressive labor system whilst trying to find love and romance among themselves.

Romance over Commodification

It was not over with Baltazar's crafting characters trying to find love in the volatile and chaotic economic condition. Baltazar used romance as a tool to critique the unfair system of labor and employment in the Philippines. As the main characters go through their everyday work as employees of a grocery store, they are intertwined with the continuous unequal treatment. They serve at the pleasure of their boss who utilizes corporate power for his own advantage. Indeed, Britney's clinching for justice at the end to expose the boss's corruption is striking. But what's most striking is how romance played out amid all of these struggles. And how this romance helped Alvin and Britney stick within their principles of fairness and justice. Alvin resigned without receiving his duly deserved pay. Britney, out of love for Alvin, realized her original passion as a feisty scholar from a social justice university. She, at the end, driven by the humanistic pursuit of love attains justice whilst triumphing over a system that restricts romance out of pure commodification. That consciousness of humanity, a eureka moment, makes the perfect Deus ex Machina that doesn't completely resolve the conflict but only leads back the two lovers in each other's hand.

This isn't something new. In literary theory, this often falls in the Marxist lens. Most people used this lens to criticize the unfair and oppressive system mostly due to industrialization, capitalization, and commodification. However, the element of humanity—like love—is often left out. Most use of Marxist lens tends to highlight how oppressive the system is but seldom how humanity triumphs over it. Karl Marx said that alienation is a fundamental evil in a capitalist society. However, that doesn't end there. He also argued that to battle alienation, men should reclaim their humanity for commodification reduces them to mere robots, slaves of the market, and cogs in the machines. Baltazar uses the element of romance between Alvin and Britney as a mace to fight off this such alienation. 

At the beginning of the story, Alvin is an obedient, easy-going bagger of the grocery who's ready to lick the boots of his boss to gain some advantages. He even complained how many of the new generation employees crave an “excess” of rights when it  often results in trouble. Alvin was subsumed in the commodification system of capitalism. He himself was a commodity. But when Britney was framed by a client, Alvin was ready to take off that mask of commodification and stand for his love—the humanistic element of love triumphed over commodification. Romance gave Alvin the strength to protest against an oppressive and realized that he's not a cog in the machine. He is a man who loves. A man free from alienation. A man who can never be reduced into a commodity. This exact human realization goes the same for Britney.

Romance Not a Passive Genre

Producers of films would often get comfortable with the traditional romcoms that sell. These narrative plot devices stood already through time and will forever be palatable to some people to some extent. However, this shouldn't give romance or even comedies a bad taste in the mouth. These are imaginative genres that process reality into something that's impactful, swoon-worthy, and at the end strikes a deep social awareness among the general viewing public. It's not about the giggles and laughs, more so it's about the impact of the narrative.

Surely we don't want to kill the old romance and comedies that Pinoys have always known and loved. Baltazar didn't eradicate the common elements of romcom for these are familiar tastes. What she did was to go beyond what's expected of a romcom—that it wasn't some repetitive story that doesn't tackle a real struggle of Filipinos. 

She gave romance and comedies teeth that bites off something that shed humanity—commodification. She showed how these humanistic pursuits are weapons of triumph over oppression. In the end, she doesn't only make people love and laugh, but also live.

And now more than ever, with filmmakers like Baltazar, Filipinos need only to rediscover romcoms for themselves.

Third World Romance (2023), directed by Dwein Baltazar, written by Dwein Baltazar and Jericho Aguaso: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Written by: Kristan Gile

Layout by: Arvie Cabarrubias