Batanes - The Movie

This was the second movie I know of that had Batanes as a setting. (The first one was that really old movie with Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta, the name of which I forget at the moment.)

I watched this movie with my wife so that she could appreciate the province which I actually consider my spiritual home. Batanes was always, to me, a place where I could fly off to for a period of peace and lightness of heart.

I went to Batanes many times over a period of four years. And every time, it was always with a heavy feeling that I flew home to Manila.

Batanes was heaven on earth. Manila was... not. No matter that technology in Batanes at the time was archaic -- and that the only way to get to talk to relatives in Manila was to line up at the congressman's house for an hour or two. I always wished that the plane wouldn't make it. And if it did, I always wished that it wouldn't take off because of a sudden change in weather. Once, we were actually stranded for a whole week -- and we liked it. The only thing that drove us batty was the fact that we couldn't do anything except stay indoors -- the rain was so hard, the winds were so strong, it was like the Deluge had decided to come.

But I digress.

Watch this video clip from the movie. Rent it or buy it if you can. And while you might find the story a bit cliched, I'm sure you'll walk away wishing that you could go to Batanes one day.