Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea – A Gripping Trip Along Resupply Routes amid the Regional Tension.
Director Baby Ruth Villarama and her team travel on a range of sea craft to document the continuing conflict and its effects between the Philippine nation and the People's Republic of China over sovereignty of the recently named West Philippine Sea. This vast area, recognized by nearly everyone outside of China as part of the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, has seen escalating incursions by Chinese vessels. Among them are fishing boats, most notably China's coast guard vessels that have engaged in harassing, collided with, and tried to seize Filipino boats as part of the wider territorial conflict.
Portions of the film are undeniably tense, yet mostly the conflict unfolds as a tense game of seaborne intimidation. Officers from opposing vessels deliver impassioned speeches over short-wave, laden with diplomatic language, engaging in a kind of "airwave diplomacy".
Sustaining the Outposts
The film's title references the critical efforts by the Filipino military to resupply foodstuffs to remote islands in the West Philippine Sea where troops maintain a presence for long, solitary stretches. These outposts are often little more than patches of sand in shallow waters, about the size of a football pitch, reachable solely via high-speed inflatable boats.
These trips prove clearly frightening for the livestock being transported, which are loaded alongside tinned food and other necessities. Viewers see the goats struggling for secure footing as the boats hurtle across the rolling sea.
The Fishermen's Plight
In another segment communities around the inhabited Scarborough Shoal, who lament over dwindling catches attributed to the ongoing activity of Chinese fishing boats in their ancestral fishing areas.
Fascinating Topic, Flawed Presentation
Critically speaking, the documentary is slightly weakened by a somewhat scattered narrative approach and a soundtrack that can feel somewhat melodramatic, overemphasizing the tense scenes. Nevertheless, it stands as a important look of a maritime conflict that is rarely covered outside its region.
