A boy is orphaned when his parents, Muslim freedom fighters who end up becoming bandits involved in kidnapping for ransom, are killed, leaving him with a knapsack full of dollars and a band of American and local troops trailing him. He finds help with his aunt and another woman, who decide to aid his escape. They try to ensure everybody’s safety in their passage away from their embattled home.

Mardoquio is showing only what needs to be shown, telling only what needs to be told, and trusting subtlety in its pursuit of accomplishing his advocacy. The film is visually arresting. Mardoquio displays his mastery over the spaces of the vast jungles and their surrounding fields. In a sense, he breaks the illusion of film and keeps his audience repeatedly aware: danger lurks outside his frames. A film to remember.

Arnel Mardoquio hails from Mindanao, battered for decades by a civil war between Muslims and Christians. He is a dedicated supporter of political and human rights advocacy, a fights for political emancipation. He upholds the noble motto of any civil rights movement: “Each one teach one”. This could be written on his coat of arms. And in arms he comes. His weapsons, though, are pen and camera. His informal trilogy HOSPITAL BOAT (2009), SHEIKA (2010) – which brought him to first international attention – and CROSSFIRE (2011) elaborate on those issues. THE JOURNEY OF STARS INTO THE DARK NIGHT (2012) addresses the government’s undeclared warfare against its own people in Mindanao and won numerous awards from several highly acclaimed local bodies.