Steel Is the Earth

Mes De Guzman builds his ‘earth trilogy’ around three raw materials – stone, steel and ice – that are at once elixir and poison. Necessary to survive, but also a threat to life.
Carlito, protagonist of the second part, has a patent on steel. His motorbike and pistol are made of it, and in his business he uses it in many ways. Steel stands for cold, hard and mechanical, contrasting with the soft, warm emotional issues in his life.
For instance love: Carlito is getting married. But he doesn’t dare tell his parents. He also takes advantage of the safety of the bartering rural community from which he commutes back and forth to work.
Meandering loosely and with apparent improvisation – apparent because it’s based on a substantial script full of dry comic dialogue – the film works treacherously: the mood almost inconspicuously becomes grimmer as it heads for a fatal – or steely – conclusion.