Aishite imasu (Mahal kita) 1941 (2004, Philippines)

The film starts with an elderly woman being shown a memorial to those who died during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941. As she looks at photographs, she eventually sees two pictures of Ignacio Basa, and we see that one picture is of a young boy, and the second is of a young woman. We then go into flashback to those times, starting with the children, including Ignacio, playing.

In the family circle, we now see Ignacio a little older; the girls of the family are engaged in dressmaking, and Ignacio takes one of the dresses and rapturously holds it against himself in the mirror.

A young woman, Inya has just married Edilberto, and their life seems set for happiness. But now we discover that Ignacio is gay, and he too is attracted to Edilberto.

However the invasion of the Japanese disturbs this domestic scene, and they enter the village during a music festival at which Ignacio is singing, dressed as a woman; on the entry of the Japanese he sings a song of welcome to them.

This goes down well, and the Japanese commander is sexually attracted to Ignacio, and this immediately leads to complications, as Ignacio, calling himself Inya, has to keep secret his bodily gender. The early friendliness of the Japanese soon turns to violence and torture.

"Aishite imaru" is the Japanese for "I love you", and "mahal kita" is the Tagalog equivalent, as spoken in the Philippines.

HF January 2008

This Page: Aishite imasu (Mahal kita) 1941 Return to Alphabetical Index Page Return to Home Page

Hazel Freeman's International Transgender Film Guide is maintained by

Hazel Freeman

and hosted at