Remittance. Dir. Joel Fendelman and Patrick Daly. Outcast Films, 2015. Kanopy. 90 minutes.
For plot summary and other details: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3186122/.
Setting: [contemporary timeframe, maybe 2010s]; Singapore; the Philippines
Language: Tagalog, English
Subtitles: English
Ideas and questions I gathered from the film: Education provides a refuge for Marie. When she’s taking night classes, she finds community with women who speak her language. That support fosters her independence and drives her to take business courses in order to open her own hair salon. She does everything she should to achieve her dream -she learned the skills, saved her money, and separated from her abusive husband- but conditions beyond her control cause her to fail. The frustratingly unsatisfying ending creates empathy for Marie. I wanted to know if she turned the situation around and felt cheated that I didn’t get that information, which mirrors the ways Marie must feel robbed of her dream. As unfortunate as Marie’s situation is, I doubt that it’s an anomaly.
Keywords: Southeast Asia, work migration, education, strong women, female perspective