In Divorce Resort, 72-year-old Butch Meily finds himself in what he calls “a Disneyland for divorced couples.”
The documentary short, which recently made its world premiere at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival, follows the Filipino citizen as he makes use of a legal loophole to put an end to his marriage. The U.S. territory of Guam offers a 7-Day Residency Divorce, which requires that one spouse spend a week on the island, establish residence, and acquire an internationally recognized divorce.
Although it could have been easy for the short to wade into the legal jargon that comes with a divorce (especially for a marriage recognized in the Philippines, where divorce is still very much illegal), that was not the case with Divorce Resort. Meily can be seen sunbathing on lounge chairs, hanging out at night markets with his lawyer-turned-bestie, and applying a healthy dose of sunscreen before trying out the hotel’s tennis courts. All the while, however, the shadow of his pending divorce papers looms large over Meily’s jaunt through paradise.
“He was in this legal, emotional purgatory,” director Coby Becker told Rolling Stone Philippines. “I mean for me, as someone coming from the U.S., where we have a 50 percent divorce rate… his [situation] was almost unfathomable.”
Becker joined the project when his best friend and Meily’s son, Marco, told him about the upcoming trip to Guam. “When I heard that his ‘Way Out’ involved a seven-day vacation, it was irresistible,” said the director. “It was this conflict between piña coladas, conga lines, snorkeling… and then this enormous loss and him reconciling with that. It was him processing his emotions, but poolside.”
Marco, who also serves as a producer on the documentary short, recalled that his father spent an extensive amount of time researching how to get his divorce. “People will find all these crazy loopholes and go all the way,” Marco told Rolling Stone Philippines. “We wanted to show the lengths that people have to go because of this lack of divorce [in the Philippines], which seems so backward to so many people.”
Two weeks of planning and pre-production later, the self-made documentary team followed Meily on his legal vacation (which “was going to happen whether we followed him or not,” joked Marco). “He really was a star waiting to be born,” added Becker. “There really was no convincing. He was so down.”
Somber Ends
While the first act of Divorce Resort presents us with a relaxed, almost happy-go-lucky Meily, its last few minutes give a glimpse into his inner conflict.
“Wow, 29 years,” Meily whispered as he signed his divorce papers in the resort lobby. From there, he grows more and more contemplative as he tries to make the most of his final days on the island.
“I’m looking for what I lost, because I did know what happiness was,” said Meily in a voice-over that plays over a montage of his family’s old home videos. “When we were together as a family, and I was a husband, and I had a wife, and we had a son… I’m worried that I may not find that feeling again.”
Divorce Resort makes no grand statements for or against Meily’s decision to end his marriage. But the team behind it hopes that the short starts necessary conversations, particularly in the Philippines, surrounding divorce laws.
“If the film does have real-world political implications and agitates real legislative change, that would be incredible,” said Becker. “Oftentimes, divorce law is something really dense, bureaucratic, and abstract: no one can relate to it. But all you need is a narrative to really embody the experience and the pain, and that can often galvanize a response.”
As for whether or not the short is coming to the Philippines, both Becker and Marco hope to eventually organize screenings in Meily’s home country. “We’d still like to continue to screen Divorce Resort at more festivals,” said Marco. “We want to have as many people see it as possible. We’d love to have a premiere in the Philippines.”
