In Kasal (The Commitment), Joselito Altarejos crafts a deeply introspective road film that serves as both an exploration of love and commitment and a quiet protest against the institution of marriage. The film follows Paolo and Sherwin, a long-term gay couple en route to a wedding, but their journey becomes more than just physical-it is a slow unraveling of their relationship, their personal struggles, and their place in a society that refuses to recognize them.
Altarejos cleverly flips the perspective of many LGBTQ+ films. Instead of portraying same-sex relationships as something unusual or deviant under the heterosexual gaze, here, it is the gay couple observing heterosexual relationships-noticing both the absurdities and privileges of a system that excludes them.
Through a series of conversations-about adoption, annulment, shotgun weddings, and family expectations-Paolo and Sherwin are forced to confront their own uncertainties. Sherwin remains closeted to his family, unable to express his truth, while Paolo, despite his past mistakes, longs for a future where their love is legitimized. But is that future even possible?
The most powerful moment comes at the wedding itself, where Paolo, upon hearing the priest declare marriage as "only between a man and a woman," walks out and smokes outside the church. It's a simple but devastating act-a silent rebellion, a moment of resignation, and an unresolved question all at once.
By the film's end, Altarejos offers no easy answers. The couple, once bound together in a car, now sits in silence-their relationship, like the film itself, left open-ended. One of them continues to film the wedding vows of the newlyweds, a poetic visual metaphor for their own exclusion from the institution they have spent the entire film interrogating.
Kasal is a rare and intelligent piece of queer cinema-unapologetic in its politics, restrained in its drama, and unrelenting in its critique of the systems that define love and belonging. It doesn't just ask whether Paolo and Sherwin can survive as a couple-it asks why they are still forced to fight for the right to even try.
