‘Busong’ (Palawan Fate) is a film from Philippines that deserves a real good review and a thorough analytical study. 

My friend Jake, who works in Blackcode Advertising and I caught the film together at a film festival. I could see Jake getting upset as the film had a very different and unconventional kind of narrative and also because it was sort of incomprehensible while approached from the usual perspectives. 

‘Busong’, which is directed by Auraeus Solito and which had its international premiere in the Directors'Fortnight, Cannes 2011, has a narrative, a thoroughly non-linear narrative that could leave you confused.

‘Busong’ tells the story of Punay, a girl who has running sores all over her body and Angkarang, her brother who carries her in a hammock in an endeavour to find a cure for it. The film sketches their journey across the island of Palawan. In the course of their journey, Angkarang is helped by different people in carrying Punay. There is a woman in search of her husband, a fisherman who has lost his boat and his son too and there is another guy who is in search of himse

lf. These people, who pop up one after the other, help Angkarang and Punay and then move on, to meet their fate. And Punay and Angkarang too are moving towards their fate. So it’s this ‘fate’ aspect that forms the thread of the narrative, which is rather haphazard as we find ourselves moving to and fro in time. But the way the film blends the different stories and blends it with the landscape and life of the island of Palawan makes it different.

As the title suggests ‘Busong’ (which roughly means ‘fate’ or ‘karma’), is basically about fate, one’s journey to his fate. At the same time, it’s a back to one’s roots film too. The film, set in present day Palawan, also makes sure that we stay close to nature all through the narrative. The end sequences lend an air of surrealism to the film, which has as one of its highlights brilliant cinematography that captures the beauty of the Palawan Island as the story traverses through forest, sea and the mountain, which form three different segments of the whole narrative itself. 

Kudos to Auraeus Solito, the man behind ‘Busong’. He and his team have done a brilliant job; the film is already getting noted all over and will win more accolades for the makers…