Toni Magsaysay, a Manila-based graphic designer in her 20s who did her bachelor’s thesis on the lives of OFWs, said many Filipinos would be able to relate to the film.

“Many families have relatives working overseas,” she said. “They know the sacrifices made by each end. But at the same time, they do not entirely share all of the hardships from both sides, as to not make both sides worry too much.”

While many OFWs are nurses, engineers and ship workers, Magsaysay adds that the majority are domestic workers.

Hong Kong, which employs 213,000 Filipinos as domestic workers according to 2019 statistics, is one of the top destinations for OFWs. E.J.R. David, a Filipino-American professor who teaches cross-cultural psychology at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, said many Filipinos see more opportunities in the likes of Hong Kong and Singapore than they do at home.

“In addition to featuring the plight of overseas domestic workers, which many folks can relate with, [Hello, Love, Goodbye] also tackles issues that are more universal like love, family, individuality, responsibility, and how they are all intertwined,” he said.

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“Many of us can relate to these universal themes, because many of us in the diaspora are constantly trying our best to navigate this delicately tangled web of in our lives.”

David said that while the film was popular among Filipinos because it gave them a glimpse of what their loved ones might be going through, OFWs themselves would also find it powerful because they would “finally feel seen and appreciated when they are often regarded as invisible in their daily work”.

Hello, Love, Goodbye also breaks down stereotypes surrounding OFWs, according to Eian John Pascua, a graphic designer and fan of the film who is based in the Philippines. He said OFWs are often assumed to be earning a significantly higher amount of money, and are therefore expected to foot the bill for their families when it comes to items like new cellphones or shoes.

“That was one of the issues discussed subtly in the movie, when Joy’s siblings were asking if she could buy them stuff that was a bit pricey,” Pascua said.

For graphic designer Magsaysay, the film was also realistic in its depiction of the more gritty aspects of being a domestic worker living in Hong Kong. She cites a scene in which the characters picnic in crowded Victoria Park on their day off. “I remember my sister, who once lived in Hong Kong for a teaching job, telling me, ‘How they sit on cardboard [in the park] is really real’ when we watched the movie together.”

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Due to their sacrifices, OFWs are often regarded as modern day heroes by their families, said David, the academic. “The country recognises that it is largely dependent on the money that overseas Filipino workers send back,” he said, adding that research suggests more than a third of the Philippines’ population receives money from relatives working abroad.

David also points out the problem with many Filipinos having to part from their families just to survive.

“It is unfortunate the Philippines as a country has become dependent on this sacrifice, [that its] largest export is its people [and] providing for their family means having to leave them behind,” he said. “It’s a sad life when you realise that in order for your family to survive, then you need to serve others.”