(Conclusion)

SOME viewers who will watch ''Muro-Ami'' during the Metro Manila Film Festival may not get to see the film they expect. You see, when most people talk about the muro-ami syndrome of using young boys to dive into the sea to scare school of fish into fishing boats' waiting nets, they focus on the ''slavery'' and ''cruelty'' aspects of the situation.

While filmmaker Marilou-Diaz Abaya is fully aware of the cruel and inhuman aspects of the job, she has chosen not to make them her film's primary focus.

''The issues are covered in the film,'' she says, ''but indirectly. I decided to dwell more on the spirit with which the muro-ami divers literally survive.''

Marilou says that a young muro-ami diver's life is truly a hard one. He gets only P2,000 to P3,000 for a round-trip fishing voyage that could last up to six months (on the bigger ships). In addition, he hardly gets the full amount because ''umuutang siya sa tindahan na ang may-ari ay yung may-ari din ng barko. It's really very feudal!'' Marilou exclaims.

But, built into this complex diver-owner relationship is the traditional belief, ''He (the owner) will take care of me from cradle to grave.''

This is another potent dramatic element, but again, Marilou's film doesn't focus on it. ''I wanted to raise other questions,'' the filmmaker shares. ''Like, what is the real value of human life ba?''

Some may say that, in choosing to focus on this and not on the inequities built into the muro-ami syndrome, the filmmaker is being evasive, and could perhaps overlook her material's true core.

But her work this past few years indicates that she has been steering away from the obvious, choosing to go into more uncharted filmic waters, as it were. Thus, her ''Muro-Ami'' and its ''different'' thrust may be seen as a continuation of this line of investigation in her past few films.

What, then, is Marilou's ''Muro-Ami'' about? ''There's little plot to the movie,'' she says, ''because I wanted to deal with its less event-oriented aspects. It's more about the enigma of the sea. It's so powerful, it's all around us. The fishing ship's voyage itself is a metaphor. Getting lost between ports…

''Since we toned down the plot, we could concentrate on experiencing an alien environment--the sea. In that environment, people are forced to confront questions, like what is good or bad, what is right or wrong…

''At the film's start, Cesar's character wants to subdue the sea (because it took his wife and child years ago). But after everything that happens to him and to his ship in the movie, he begins to accept that he will never conquer it.

''In his rage, before he arrives at acceptance, he cries out, 'Bakit ginawa ng dagat sa akin ito?!' Even his father (Pen Medina) doesn't have the answer.

''Also, he comes to the point when he realizes that he has a responsibility to the young kids on his ship--to save them, and not endanger their lives. And that, even if his most trusted assistant betrayed him, the boy (Jhong Hilario) wasn't bad, he just made a mistake…''

We observe that some scenes in the movie, specially the ones showing the ship seemingly stuck in an utterly immobile sea, feel like a retelling of the Iliad or the Odyssey, and Marilou acknowledges the inspiration. Her local source material includes the stories that she's heard from fishermen all her life. ''Cesar's character is a composite of several mandaragats I know,'' she shares.

Marilou says she's particularly happy to have worked with Amy Austria in this movie. ''The first time we worked together was in 'Brutal,' a long time ago, and now she strikes me as so much more serene, exuding that quiet kind of confidence and security as an artist--which also happens to be exactly right for the character she's playing.

We conclude our talk by observing that the evocative, even poetic nature of Marilou's new film is reminiscent of her approach in ''Milagros,'' and Marilou adds, ''Actually, its even trickler, since to many people, the setting, and our view of it, is more unfamiliar.

''It isn't only the plotting that we toned down, we also opted for a less 'produced' look--natural lighting, no make-up, the least possible degree of intervention with the material. I kept reminding myself, the sea itself is spectacular enough, don't fuzz it up.