Patay na si Hesus (lit. Hesus Has Died), also known by its English title Jesus Is Dead, is a dark comedy road trip film first released in October 13, 2016, and later as an entry to the 2017 Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino. The movie's primary language is the Visayan language of Cebuano, and is widely considered to be a milestone for Bisaya representation in the Philippines.
The film follows a family from Cebu. They embark on a road trip after Iyay (played by veteran actress Jaclyn Jose) learns that her estranged husband, Hesus, has died. During the road trip, their personal problems rise to the surface, and they find themselves in some bizarre scenarios as well, Played for Laughs.
Its Ensemble Cast stars real Bisaya talents such as Chai Fonacier as Jude, Melde Montañez as Jay, and Vincent Viado as Bert. The director (Victor Villanueva), writer (Fatrick Tabada), and producer (Bianca Balbuena) are also Bisaya.
In December 2020, Patay na si Hesus has been added to Netflix for international viewing, with English subtitles. It is the first ever film in the Cebuano language to be on Netflix.
Beware of spoilers.
Patay na si Hesus contains examples of the following tropes:
- Analogy Backfire: Jude attempts to use food comparisons when Mia, a little girl, asks what puki (Bisaya slang for vagina) means. This is after Mia hears Jay talking about how their father Hesus left their mother Iyay for another woman's puki; the analogy goes about as well as you'd imagine in terms of awkwardness.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Even though Jay towers over Jude, he is prone to acting much more immaturely, being the younger one.
- Bilingual Dialogue: Trilingual dialogue, if you count the peppering of English as well. But the characters sometimes switch from Cebuano to Tagalog, occasionally in in the same sentence, which is justified in-universe by the fact that they grew up with a mother originally from Manila (Iyay). Iyay also has moments of speaking purely in Tagalog, while her children respond in Cebuano. Truth in Television, if you've ever had to learn whole new languages to communicate with your family.
- Big Little Brother: Jay is tall and broad-shouldered. However, his status as the younger brother really shines through when he starts bothering his Kuya Jude.
- Black Comedy: The shooting of a few townspeople by a wanted serial killer named Bert Dy is Played for Laughs because of the circumstances' sheer absurdity: Iyay was looking for her son Bert, but the killer thought they were looking for him.
- Deadpan Snarker: Jude, especially towards his Annoying Younger Sibling Jay.
- Food Porn: One of the film's ways of showcasing Cebuano culture is lingering on the food.
- From the Mouths of Babes: Adults started the conversation, but otherwise, the tiny, barely grade-school-aged Mia, asking what puki (Bisaya and also other Philippine languages' slang for vagina) means.
- Has a Type:
- Upon meeting Linda, Jay and Bert lampshade that their Dad had a penchant for dating Tagalogs.
- Mary's girlfriend is highly feminine like herself.
- Incompatible Orientation: Jude's girlfriend, Mary, has been cheating on him with a woman. The heartbroken Jude then tearfully says he can "return" to being a "woman," if it brings Mary back, but Mary stops him because she knows how being forced to live as a woman was so painful for Jude. Mary does love Jude, it seems — just not in a romantic way. Although not explicitly confirmed in words, it's obvious that Mary is a lesbian and was attracted to Jude before he realized his true gender as a man and transitioned.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Mary is probably the most feminine significant character in the film; she later breaks up with Jude because she really is only attracted to women. Her type also seems to be other femme lesbians.
- Miss Conception: When Jay confides in Jude that he's gotten a girl pregnant, Jude snarks at him for studying so much but not knowing how to put on a condom.
- Parents as People: Iyay is tough and cusses a lot, but she does genuinely love her kids.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: The casting of famous Tagalog actress Jaclyn Jose, who had to memorize her lines and train in speaking Bisaya, is justified in-universe by her side of the family originally being from Manila.
- Road Trip Plot: Duh. Iyay is insistent it's not supposed to be a vacation but a funeral, and they're supposed to pay their respects … but who's she kidding, her dead husband was borderline Asshole Victim anyways.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Iyay, though her kids Jude and Jay don't exactly keep the language clean, either.
- Shout-Out: Mia, the tiny girl Jude is babysitting and gets dragged along for the roadtrip, actually enters the film as "Heneral Mia", wearing an obvious cosplay of the historical title character of Heneral Luna (down to fake, pompous, handlebar moustache), as part of a National Heroes school event.
- One-Steve Limit: Thoroughly avoided. The fact that there are multiple Berts in the village Bert gets lost in is milked for all its comic value.
- Averted again with Hesus's sister and second wife both named Linda.
- Token Minority: Among the main characters, there's Jude (a trans man, the only canonically LGBTQ+ member of the family) and there's Bert (a disabled man with Down Syndrome). However, true tokenism is avoided for Jude by the fact that Jude's character arc is one of the most prominent in the film, and there are other important LGBTQ+ characters in the movie. Bert is also a prominent character, being one of Iyay's kids.
- Theme Naming: The kids' estranged father is Hesus. They named their dog Hudas.
- Trans Tribulations: Throughout the film, Jude's gender identity is disrespected, even by his well-meaning family. But this is resolved by the end, with Iyay explicitly mentioning that she has three sons, and all of Jude's family fully accepting him for who he is.
