Jason Lumabas

ENGLCOM (RVLC)
Documentary Analysis

The documentary that we watched was entitled Toughest Place to be a Bus

Driver; it was directed and produced by Simon Phillips. It was the second episode of the
series Toughest Place To Be that is being aired in BBC. This second episode was
aired last February 20, 2011. The episode was about a London bus driver who went to the
Philippines to experience how it was like to drive a bus in the worlds most densely
populated city, Manila. There were several issues that were shown in the documentary but
the main issue revolved on poverty and differences. According to Aldaba (2009), in the
midst of the continuous occurrence of global problems, resolving the problems of the
Philippines seems to be unexcogitable. The documentary aims to open the mind of people
to see what the real world looks like. Thus, the documentary was both social and
informative since it provided learning on how people from different origins live their
lives.
The huge difference between the way of living and salaries of both drivers
supported the issue in the film. The culture that Josh West, the London bus driver, grew
up in was very unlikely to what he experienced during his stay in Rogelio Castros
country, which was also a factor that further helped in the discussion of the topic. The
issue raised was controversial. By analyzing the documentary thoroughly you can see that
this issue is far from getting resolved. The accuracy of it is credible seeing that it
involved real life experiences and knowing that it happened only recently. Problems in
the Philippines such as poverty were also shown in the film, which is still evident as of

today. As a matter of fact, according to the most recent data collected by international
sources concerning poverty in the Philippines, 44% of the population survives on less
than 2 US dollars per day (Smith, 2010).
There were quite a lot of scenes in the movie that strongly supported the issue
mentioned above. Rogelio Castro, the Filipino driver, lived in the heart of Manila where
houses were really small and seemed impossible for a family of six or more to fit in them
but they had no choice. In addition to that, the homes that these people call there were
not even close to being described as well-built and were very close to each other that it
looked like one house is being dependent and leaning on the next. Describing the
situation will make viewers understand even more the circumstances of the character. The
strategy was used very well because it was able to feed the audience much information
and understanding. The second strategy that was used effectively was comparison. Josh
West, upon seeing the vehicle that Rogelio drives to earn a living, was in total shock. He
thought of his automatic two-decker bus and compared it to the small manual jeepney
that was the source of income of Rogelio. The jeepney was very narrow and people will
have to cram themselves in for them to fit. The big red bus was automated and airconditioned. Josh does not have to check the engine every time he starts it and make sure
that the bus will run well throughout the day. The jeepney obviously was not and was
prone to break down. Comparison makes it easier to identify the differences of almost
two same things.
There are a lot of people who can relate to this especially Filipinos who are living
in the urban poor area and Filipinos who are used to seeing the situation. Other viewers
have to be aware of the situation in Manila, Philippines being the setting of the

documentary. Having knowledge that the circumstances are still ongoing will also help in
understanding the film. The reason why there is such difference between the lives of two
people having the same occupation should be given further analysis. How the poor stays
poor and the rich get richer should be discussed because it is the main reason why people
experience such inequality in their lives.

References:
Aldaba, F. (2009). Poverty in the Philippines: causes, constraints and opportunities.
Philippines, MNL: Asian Development Bank Publishing.
Smith, J. (2010). Philippine Unemployment in the Philippines. Retrieved on 2012
November, 6 from http://www.poverty-in-the-philippines.com/2010/05/poverty-inphilippines-philippine.html