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Marino (Call of the Sea) (2010)

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Starring: Allen Dizon, Ara Mina, Krista Ranillo
Genre: Drama
Language: Filipino
Special Feature: English Subtitle
Rating: Unrated

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Synopsis
“Kapag dagat ang pagitan, paano tatawirin ang kalungkutan?”

“Marino” is a film that aims to shed light on the sacrifices and triumphs brought about by overseas employment, experienced particularly by seafarers. Benjo ( Allen Dizon ) is a 30-year-old husband and father who has been working as a seaman for the past seven years. He is about to embark on yet another journey as a seafarer. Life on the ship is set. Professional kinship is developed as common aspirations and perils define life on board. Amidst the call of duty, the rudiments, difficulties and hazards of being a seaman, with his simple and noble acts of heroism are shown. Sea pirates, sunken ships, sexually transmitted diseases, foreign employment are among many issues that beset the job. The seaman’s life of tested fidelity, hope and faith is chronicled as the shipmates rid themselves of loneliness, each seaman navigates his way through his own journey. Benjo’s bunkmate (Emilio Garcia) gets into a brutal accident. Another seaman struggles with his sexual identity (Rico Barrera), and another seaman (Victor Basa), reminds Benjo of his happy-go-lucky brother (Mike Tan) who became a single dad too soon. Despite their differences, friendships between these seamen are developed.

After several months on his most recent voyage in the ship, Benjo gets an emergency call from his wife, Mina (Ara Mina ) to inform him that her ill father just passed away. Deeply affected by the death of his father-in-law who was a second father to him, Benjo sadly informs his wife that he can’t come back for his father-in-law’s funeral. He reminds his wife, however, that sacrifices that he makes, he does for the good of the family. But Benjo is not a saint, he is also tempted with this Filipina prostitute in Bangkok ( Krista Ranillo). Other’s character includes Benjo’s ex-girlfriend ( Bangs Garcia) and Mina’s shoulder to cry on in the Philippines ( Marco Alcaraz).

“Marino” is a film that focuses on the individual lives of a seafarer husband and a grieving wife, separated by physical distance, learning to cope with the situation despite the length of time apart from each other, gasping in the depths of loneliness, uncertainty and fear, surging in the waves of hope, and never letting go.