Unlike Lino Brocka's Macho Dancer that tells a world of bars and hotels, drugs and violence, slavery and porno movie-making, and drag queens and crooked policemen and Mel Chionglo's Midnight Dancers that depicts erotic, sensuous, and dangerous world and that reveals the story of three brothers who work as macho dancer and male prostitutes in a gay club, Ang Lalaki sa Buhay ni Selya, narrated a charming and colorful drama-comedy that depicts sexual prejudice and marriage for convenience with a touch of sensibility.
In Ang Lalaki sa Buhay ni Selya, Selya (Rosanna Roces), a small town school teacher, knows that Ramon (Ricky Davao) is different from the men she has met. Bobby (Gardo Versoza), her hunky boyfriend whom she has been sleeping with, like the sex but avoids marital commitment. Later, Selya realizes that men are really just interested in sex, so she may as will just have it regularly with Bobby whom she loves. In her attempt to follow him, she stumbles into another town, into a boarding house owned by Ramon, an unmarried man, also the owner and principal of the town school where Selya ends up teaching.
Ramon and Selya are match together by Nana Piling (Eva Darren), Ramon's caretaker who believes that homosexuality is a disease and who believes that a man in his position must marry and procreate. Ramon and Selya became friends. Overwhelmed by the homophobic attacks of his small-minded neighbors, Ramon impulsively proposes to Selya, thinking that Nana Piling has told her that he is a homosexual. After the wedding, Selya discovers that Ramon is a closeted homosexual who has a relationship with Carding (Alan Paule), a young farm worker who is also married with two children. Earlier, in an act of selfish love, Carding breaks up with Ramon so that the town can have a beautiful impression of their esteemed principal.
Bobby returns and Selya also returns to Bobby's arms because of Ramon's inability to satisfy her sexual desire. But when she becomes pregnant, Bobby leaves her again. In spite of everything, Ramon cries the child as his own saying that he will bear his name and inherit everything from him. Selya and Ramon live happily in sexless union.
Six years passed and Bobby returns again. And among the community of intolerant and homophobic behaviors, Selya confronts her own narrow-mindedness when she must choose between the two men. Ramon, who listens classical music and reads poetry, is a contrast to the gun-totting, testosterone-driven Bobby.
Based from real life stories of persons who underwent similar experience, Ang Lalaki sa Buhay ni Selya questions the conventional understandings of what is male and what is female and challenges the concept of homosexuality and heterosexuality and chauvinistic ideas and attitudes. The movie also raises the questions: What is good? What is normal? What is a good normal human being? Who is more of a man? Is he the one whom society calls a macho? Is he somebody who is not that but may have a bigger sense of responsibility?
Ricky Davao's award winning performance as the problem-inundated homosexual was very moving. Rosanna Roces, the then Sex Goddess of Philippine Movies, proved that her attempts to make serious movies after Ligaya ang Itawag mo sa Akin are not stroke of luck. Her moving performance in Ang Lalaki sa Buhay ni Selya is believable. Even Maestro Ryan Cayabyab's musical score is touching. The only problem is the script, which does not have continuity. The story has problems in identifying Selya's character and her relationship between Bobby and Ramon. The dialogue does not come out realistic and the subject matter was treated in a melodramatic way that turns off mature moviegoers who want a more frank view of homosexuality. However, notwithstanding its melodramatic devices, the movie's treatment of a friendly but complicated story of love and betrayal leads viewers to a different and disturbing experience and perspective.
The marriage of convenience story, sensitively written, directed, and acted, is a study not so much of sexual orientation but of human accommodation, where compromise is inevitable and sometimes disastrous. Traditionalist and homosexual activists might be troubled by the movies ending, but the story finally transcends political correctness, concentrating instead on the plight of persons who may not fit-in the so-called social conventions and conventional morality that are based on hostility, arrogance, and ignorance.
Because of its superb direction, Ang Lalaki sa Buhay ni Selya won the Teddy Best Feature Film, the Gay and Lesbian Award of the Berlin International Film Festival, and the Special Jury Prize in the 1998 Turin International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. It was also adjudged the Best Asian Film Award from the Newport International Film Festival.
Ang Lalaki sa Buhay ni Selya raises issues of sexual prejudice and the notion that homosexuality is a disease. The movie depicted that sexual behavior, whether homosexual and heterosexual, does not commensurate with ideas and dignity. In some areas, no charges are brought against those heterosexuals who insult and emotionally harass homosexuals because of their sexual orientation.
With the notion that homosexuality is a disease, the American Psychological Association issued a summary statement of homosexuality. They said:
The research on homosexuality is clear. Homosexuality is neither mental illness nor moral depravity. It is simply the way a minority of our population expresses human love and sexuality. Study after study documents the mental health of gay men and lesbians. Studies of judgment, stability, reliability, and social and vocational adaptiveness all show that gay men and lesbians function every bit as well as heterosexuals.
Nor is homosexuality a matter of individual choice. Research suggests that the homosexual orientation is in place very early in the life cycle, possibly even before birth. It is found in about ten percent of the population, a figure which is surprisingly constant across cultures, irrespective of the different moral values and standards of a particular culture. Contrary to what some imply, the incidence of homosexuality in a population does not appear to change with new moral codes or social mores. Research findings suggest that efforts to repair homosexuals are nothing more than social prejudice garbed in psychological accoutements.
People with homosexual orientation have long been stigmatized. When the American Psychological Association dropped homosexuality as a disease in 1973, the question of why some heterosexuals harbor strong negative attitudes toward homosexuals began to receive scientific considerations. Sexual prejudice refers to all negative attitudes based on sexual orientation whether they are bisexual, heterosexual, or homosexual. Given the more current social organization of sexuality, sexual prejudice is almost directed at people who are engage in homosexual behavior.
Today, the Lagablab and Gay Legislative Advocacy Network, a coalition of gay groups all over the country, is soliciting congressional support in the creation of laws that will criminalize verbal and physical violence inflicted on homosexuals.
Indeed, Ang Lalaki sa Buhay ni Selya emerges as homage to the family of whatever form or shape and is a heartwarming movie for “three little pigs” who want protection from a “wolf” who wants to destroy their home.
