Muro-Ami

Muro-Ami (Reef Hunters)
GMA Films' Muro Ami (Reef Hunters)
Directed by	Marilou Diaz-Abaya
Screenplay by	Ricardo Lee and Jun Lana
Story by	Marilou Diaz-Abaya
Starring	Cesar Montano as Fredo Pen Medina as Dado Amy Austria as Susan Jhong Hilario as Botong Rebecca Lusterio as Kalbo/Amy
Cinematography	Rody Lacap
Edited by	Jesus Navarro
Distributed by	GMA Films
Release dates	25 December 1999 (1999-12-25)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	Philippines
Language	Tagalog

Muro-Ami (Reef Hunters) is a 1999 Filipino film that depicts one of the worst forms of child labor in the illegal fishing system. The film follows the story of Fredo, a ruthless captain of 150 Muro Ami divers, who employ illegal fishing practices, such as pounding and crushing corals to scare fish, driving them towards the nets. With a high quota to meet, Fredo forces the divers, who consist mostly of children, to accomplish at least eight dives a day to meet their goal before the millennium. Tired and harassed after the burdensome task being given to them, the children have to make do in subhuman conditions in the Muro Ami boat, The Aurora. They sleep in rat-infested bunks and are fed only twice a day. Life above the water in the boat is much worse than the suffering the children encounter beneath the sea. For every dive, a child's life is perilously in danger.

On January 22, 2008, filmmaker Nick Deocampo, Director of the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation (Mowelfund) announced the holding of a Ricardo Lee Film Festival from February 4 to 10, 2008 – the World Arts Festival under Mayor Tito Sarion, in Daet city, Camarines Norte. Lee's scripts became Philippine cinema classics of Philippine cinema, which made the 2nd golden age of 1980 Filipino movies. 5 films will be shown in the festival: Gina Alajar's "Salome," "Anak," "Muro Ami," "Gumapang Ka sa Lusak", and "Memories of Old Manila".^[1]

Plot

Fredo (Cesar Montano) is a fisherman who has endured more than his share of hardship in life; his wife and child both perished in a boating accident, and today Fredo approaches each trip to the sea with the angry determination of a man out for revenge. Fredo commands a crew of young people from poor families as he takes his rattletrap ship into the ocean in search of fish that live along the reefs, snaring catch with an illegal netting system. Not all of Fredo's youthful sailors are willing to put up with his abusive arrogance, however, and even his father Dado (Pen Medina) and close friend Botong (Jhong Hilario) have grown weary of Fredo's tirades. Fredo's body is beginning to betray him as well, and as he and his crew damage the sea's reef beds in search of fish, no one is certain how much longer he will be able to continue.

Maestro Fredo, a tyrant captain, fixates to claim the treasures of the sea—no matter what, in whatever diabolical technique for as long as he profits. He employs dozens of men, mostly children, in his dangerous expeditions. Conditions aboard the ships are oppressive. Children are often overworked and his crew is furious with the way they are living. He blames the sea for claiming the lives of his family and he exacts revenge by plundering its depths.

Cast

• Cesar Montano – Fredo
• Pen Medina – Dado
• Amy Austria – Susan
• Jhong Hilario – Botong
• Rebecca Lusterio – Kalbo
• Jerome Sales – Filemon
• Teodoro Penaranda Jr. – Tabugok
• Ariel Estoquia Mijos – Bahoy

Production

Direction: Marilou Diaz-Abaya
Screenplay: Ricardo Lee and Jun Lana
Cinematography: Rody Lacap
Film Editing: Jesus Navarro
Production Design: Leo Abaya
Art Direction: Bonna Fajardo and Mannix Mateo
Music: Nonong Buencamino
Producers: Butch Jimenez, Jimmy Duavit, Marilou Diaz-Abaya

Awards

See also

• GMA Films
• GMA Network

References

External links