Metro Manila Film Festival: ‘Oro’

Mercedes Cabral (center) and Irma Adlawan

(We are running this guide to help moviegoers plan their holiday cinema tour. The 42nd Metro Manila Film Festival runs from Dec. 25 to Jan. 3, 2017.)

Directed by Alvin Yapan; starring Irma Adlawan, Joem Bascon, Mercedes Cabral, Sandino Martin, Sue Prado, Biboy Ramirez and Timothy Castillo.

The film is based on true events. By asking for Linda’s (Cabral) hand in marriage, Elmer (Bascon), a small-scale miner, plans to finally establish a life of his own; separate from Kapitana (Adlawan), his longtime employer and benefactor who buys the gold he mines. Linda works as an elementary teacher, while Elmer barely finished high school.

Pregnant with their child, Linda keeps this a secret from Elmer, fearing that this would only pressure him to marry her. Just when the two are about to reveal their secrets to each other, their small mining community is disturbed by the arrival of an armed group masquerading as environmentalists.

As the provincial government and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources fight over the jurisdiction over small-scale mining operations, Elmer and Linda suffer the devastating consequences of violence and corruption. —MARINEL R. CRUZ