The Flaming History of the Dela Cruz Family

An important and beautiful short film

To make this clear from the start - ”Ang Nagliliyab na Kasaysayan ng Pamilya Dela Cruz” is no Boyslove film, but it stars two of the most famous and best Pinoy BL actors. Elijah Canlas rose to international fame for his amazing acting in the movie ”Kalel, 15”, where he plays an HIV-infected boy, and for setting new standards in the history of BL series and movies with Kokoy de Santos in ”Gameboys the series” and ”Gameboys the movie”. Rex Lantano is well known for his outstanding performances and his readiness to risk something new in various short films and the series ”Daddy Love”, ”Meet my Angel Season 2”, as well as for co-producing and acting in ”Love at the End of the World” and ”Papa, what is love?”.

This short film depicts the fight of peasants in the Philippines against land-owners who usually live in the big cities, using the De la Cruz family as an example. With stylistic elements of a documentary, it shows the hard life of poor villagers, and the brutal methods of land-owners who try to steal their land by force.

Rex Lantano plays Jun, the son of a family who has joined the non-violent peasant movement in Central Luzon after his elder brother José was killed in a fight against the landowners' minions. He tries to persuade Tonio, the son of the de la Cruz family, played by Elijah Canlas, to join the movement. Tonio is reluctant, because his father doesn't want the family to join the movement.

Things change when Tonio's mother eye-witnesses the killing of a neighbour. In a moving speech, she calls upon her husband to join the peasants' fight for the good of their son Tonio. The father, who was crippled by gunmen when Tonio was very young, is still reluctant, because he is afraid Tonio may face a similar fate as himself, and he has no hope that the peasants' movement can ever be successful against the minions of the landowners.

Tonio, however, agrees with his mother. During their discussion, the vi...