NARS

Should I stay or should I go? This is the question facing most Filipino nurses nowadays. This will also be the question that the upcoming movie Nars will attempt to answer. Jennylyn Mercado, Jodi Sta. Maria, Agot Isidro, Coco Martin, and Jon Avila portray five graduating nursing students who are at a crossroads in their lives and their careers. Their different stories are a cross-section of society's nurses. Each character reflects the Pinoy's aspirations, motives, realities, ambivalence, and fears in becoming a nurse.

With a majority of nurses opting to work abroad rather than stay in the Philippines, Nars aims to present the advantages and disadvantages of working for one's homeland. The five lead characters belong to one study group who immerse themselves in a community before they can graduate. As they work on their last year as nursing students, they meet people who make them realize not only their roles as ordinary nurses but as Filipino nurses.

Director: Adolf Alix, Jr.
Screenplay: Agnes de Guzman
Production Company: Carl & Carl Productions
Executive Producer: Carl Balita
Line Producer: Carlo Maceda

Cast: Agot Isidro, Jennylyn Mercado, Jodi Sta. Maria, Coco Martin, Jon Avila, Jaclyn Jose, Allan Paule, Jeffrey Hidalgo, and Joseph Bitangcol

Ela (Jennylyn Mercado) comes from an impoverished but happy family (composed of Jaclyn Jose, Allan Paule, Jeffrey Hidalgo, and Joseph Bitangcol). Each member makes sacrifices to support her education. In return, Ela sets aside her dreams and takes the course her family chose for her.

Adrinne's (Jodi Sta. Maria) parents are both working abroad. Her mother is a caregiver in Canada while her father is an engineer in Dubai. Thus, they provide her with all the money and material things but fail to give her what she truly longs for—their love and their presence. She, too, wants to work abroad but aims to work in Australia to spite her parents.

Marissa (Agot Isidro) is single and a doctor by profession. Her whole family migrated to the U.S. many years back. She was left behind because she was already over-age when their petition arrived. Now, Marissa wants to join them through legal means. With a heavy heart, she gives up her medical profession and takes up nursing. Marissa is involved in a wrong relationship. Leaving the country will also spell a new start for her. She represents the story of doctors who take up nursing in pursuit of the American dream.

Liam (Jon Avila) dreams of becoming a nurse. His parents are Filipinos who are U.S. citizens. They send him to the Philippines because education is much cheaper here. Liam learns more than the course he pursues. He discovers his roots and meets Ela, the love of his life.

Noel (Coco Martin) is gay and proud of it. He enrolled in nursing because it is the "in" thing to do. He soon comes to love the profession, especially since it will become his key to becoming a "blushing bride" someday. He intends to apply in Europe where gay marriages are allowed.

Nars is a major film independently produced by Carl & Carl Productions.

*article courtesy by pep.ph*

----------My Short Rev-----------

Besides the fact that the film wasn't a clear copy, and we payed 120php just to watch the premiere of it here in Iloilo because it was made compulsory by the nursing departments of every colleges here in our province, I was touched by the thought content and the characters being portrayed in the film. I saw myself in one of the characters and there were scenes this movie wherein I just got teary-eyed without my classmates beside me knowing. It was true, different nursing students, different goals to pursue. Others would think it's all because of the dollars all the time, but it's never all that, it's just that, there are fewer and fewer nurses staying in our countries and instead of taking care of our own color, they are much rather off taking care of other colors because of the poverty we are experiencing here in our country. Poverty and continued price increase of everything we can get a hold of. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You can't blame us.