SOME LESSONS FOR A LAW STUDENT FROM THE MOVIE “BAR BOYS” BY KIP

OEBANDA
By: Erlano Francisco R. Gacias

Filmmaker Kip Oebanda’s “Bar Boys” is a film which is several notches higher than the other
youth-oriented films out there. While it tackles some universally relevant themes such as the
pursuit of young love and the rejection that comes with it, minor conflict with a best friend,
teenage rivalry, or the physical insecurities that come with growing up, it nonetheless elevates
itself and at the same time veers away from the above-mentioned themes.

It takes its cue from the lives of law school students.

Of course, it did not need to dwell on every article, code and case in a law book. While it was
able to adequately portray the challenges inside a classroom in law as well as the seriousness in
a courtroom, it nonetheless entertained viewers with its candid and accurate depiction of the
triumphs, challenges and misadventures one encounters in law school.

Set up in tackling the life of four law students in their journey to become the lawyers they have
dreamed themselves to become, “Bar Boys” not only perfectly portrayed the life and struggles
of law students in their academic life but also dealt with several factors that affect their
respective studies. Through the lives of these four young men — Torran, Chris, Erik and Josh —
the film answered in light-hearted and often comedic ways, a number of questions, from what
it takes for an aspiring lawyer to get into law school and what he needs to do to stay and
graduate and eventually, pass the bar.

There are important details to take note of and lessons to learn. Especially if you are a law
student or one who aspires to become a lawyer someday.

Torran, (played by Rocco Nacino) signifies composure and confidence, that which keeps us
afloat in times of distress. He is the embodiment of how law students are sometimes confident
with the things they do and how they do it because of their respective knowledge of the law.
However, such confidence at times falter. In the movie itself, Torran had himself a hard time in
coping with external factors like allegiance, conscience, and doubts. He experienced a moral
dilemma when he witnessed one of his fraternity brothers abuse a neophyte and was torn
between reporting the offense to school authorities or preserving his seat in the so-called
brotherhood. This is where we are given a glimpse into school fraternities and the sensitive
issue of hazing is tackled. Hence, he was at a standstill and indecisive as to what he needed to
pursue according to his conscience.

The character of Chris (played by Enzo Pineda), on the other hand, shows the reason why we
should keep on going. It shows us the reason why we pursue our dreams, not only for ourselves
but for our loved ones as well. Through Chris, we are told that grooming oneself to become a
lawyer entails enormous sacrifices even if one is born with a golden spoon. Chris had the option
to enroll in an Ivy League university abroad but opted to take up law in the Philippines partly
because he wanted to be with his girlfriend (Ana Luna) who his father (Pontri Bernardo) didn’t
know about.

Erik (played by Carlo Aquino), may be the most relatable character of all. He embodies the
culmination of almost everything in law school – the hardships of being underprivileged, the
sacrifices of his loved ones, and the fact that he was just your average law student who tried to
survive law school one day at a time. His character embodies the reason that makes us try
harder because of those who support us. It is the anchor in our life. It is the North Star that
guides us. It is the moral compass that points towards the right direction in our lives. Erik’s
plight reminds us that poverty should not prevent us from pursuing our dreams and that there
are people who are willing to help and inspire us along the way.

Lastly, Josh (played by Kean Cipriano), represents our life outside of law. There is life outside of
law school after all. It is the love for other things. It is our sanity break in this world of legal
jargons. It is our life beyond the world we have chosen. We need to have for ourselves a break
or two from time to time. And his character was a reminder that while law school demands the
best of our attention, we cannot function correctly if we will be forgetting our life outside law
school.

The movie shows that the road from law school to the bar examination and finally to becoming
a lawyer is never meant to be a straight path. It has its curves. It has its humps and bumps.
There are broken and unpaved roads along the way. More importantly, no path is similar with
that of another. All we could do is try our best in traversing our own path with the help of those
who support and believe in us.

Aside from being a movie on the lives of law students and an offbeat barkada film, “Bar Boys” is
also a reflection of our society, one that mirrors the lives of people from different social
standings as well as the good and bad values that Filipinos deal with separately at one point or
another. While it was apolitical and refused to make use of cases that might be startlingly
relevant to the current events in the country, the film was sincere and delivered its finer points
with sparkling clarity.

Hereunder then are a few important tips for law students that can be gleaned from the movie:

1. “Bar Boys” serves as a reminder to all those engaged in the study of law that one cannot
survive law school alone. Success in the study, and even in the practice, requires help from
other people. Law school is a journey that is not meant to be traveled alone. You will need your
family, you will need your friends, you will need your classmates.

2. Law school will not mainly be about the struggles of a law student in his or her academics
because of tons and piles of reading assignments, jurisprudence that need to be read and
understood, the unending list of assigned codal provisions, and several annotations that need
to be read and mastered as well. As the movie has clearly depicted, the life of a law student
does not solely revolve around the study itself. It is and will always be a cycle of struggle,
problems, short-term solutions, and pain all rolled into a single yet repetitive loop until one
graduates and gets through the wraths of law school.

3. The movie depicted how tedious and taxing law school is. We even saw ourselves in some of
the characters. We laughed at every law school experience. We felt their struggles. We smiled
for their success. The story appeals to law students like Torran and his friends, for law students
like us, but it also appeals to the rest of many because each of us is a student of life,
continuously learning and trying to make it through.

4. As one of the dialogues in the movie said: “It is survival of the fittest in law school.” And yet,
as another dialogue succinctly said it, too: “Walang iwanan, tulong-tulong sa law school!”

Now, as an aside, here are some of my personal choices for quotable quotes:

1. “I don’t forgive, so I don’t forget.”

2. “Pareho tayong law student. We both don’t have time for relationships.”
3. (Law school) “is not your Miss Universe.”
4. “Mas tigang pa ako sa aspalto.”