I Saw the Future of a Man from a Movie

There’s this indie film that I recently watched at the Cinemalaya 2012 Film Festival. It’s called Bwakaw. The story revolves around the life of an old homosexual man who lives in an old decrepit house with no one but his dog named Bwakaw. He named the dog as such because it was voracious, gluttonous, or ravenous, which is what the word “bwakaw” means.  Rene, the protagonist in the story, is a cranky old man. He has friends but he doesn’t treat them as friends. He keeps to himself and doesn’t like being disturbed for anything.  He’s irritable and prone to yelling, arguing, quarreling and even hurting people. Rene lived his life as if everything is in preparation for his death. All his things are already packed in boxes and carefully labeled to whom they’d be bequeathed.  And he already has a handwritten last will and testament, which he entrusts to the parish priest. He even has a coffin in his living room, which he bought a long time ago and had to keep it in the house because the funeral parlor had already closed down. He believes this is the best way to live his lonely life. A childhood friend asked him why he doesn’t think of things that would make him happy instead of preparing for his death. His answer was, “Nothing could make me happy anymore.”  Both he and his dog, whom he says his best friend, were sick.  Bwakaw was dying with cancer. Such was his sad life.