Die Beautiful: Embracing Identity—A Transgender's Path to Achieving Dreams Through Hard Work
Written by: Kurt Loren Bayani
April 10, 2025
Where will your resilience and perseverance take you? Is it for the better or the worse? Each and every one of us is doing our very best in every obstacle we encounter in our journey as individuals because, in this way, we could get the reward we asked for. Dreaming is a never-ending journey in our lives. As we step into another season of our lives, we want to achieve certain and essential dreams or goals for ourselves. What more can we do to achieve those dreams we have for ourselves? Can resilience help us to step into another dream, or will it be a hindrance for us to live on those dreams?
Courtesy; IMDb
“Die Beautiful” is a 2016 comedy-drama film directed by Jun Robles Lana, starring Paolo Ballesteros. The film unfolds the story of Trisha Echeverria/Patrick Villar (Paolo Ballesteros), a trans woman who has a goal to win a gay pageant or to become a beauty queen. Trisha is all in one. He is a son, sister, friend, mother, lover, wife, and queen. He had an adopted daughter that he trained to be like him someday; this experience gave him the resilience to do more in handling every difficulty he encountered. Also, his childhood trauma gives him motivation to continue and strive more to achieve his ultimate goal, which is to become a beauty queen.
Courtesy: Far East Film Festival
Trisha successfully achieves his lifelong dream, which is to become a beauty queen. After he is crowned, he suffers a brain hemorrhage, which soon serves as his cause of death. Before he dies, he has one wish, which is to die beautiful, that his friends fulfill. On every night of his wake, his friends make him beautiful and make him look like a celebrity. As his friends mourn his death, they are still fulfilling Trisha’s wish, and also their action is rooted in Trisha’s father wanting him to be buried as his son (as Patrick Villar).
Courtesy: IMDb
Courtesy: Screen Daily
The film "Die Beautiful" tells the story of a transgender woman and highlights the importance of identity, love, and support in overcoming adversity and pursuing one's goals. Trisha's story serves as a model of how LGBTQ+ individuals live in today's world, showing how adversity shapes them and how perseverance and hard work can enable them to achieve what they desire. Regardless of gender, Die Beautiful also highlighted the need to be the best versions of ourselves because as long as we are showing the real us to those around us, it is perfectly acceptable.
References:
Chui, A. (2017, January 01) Die Beautiful: Movie Review https://itswynnesworld.com/2017/01/01/die-beautiful-movie-review/
Prudente, J. ( 2024, April 19) Die Beautiful REVIEW: Paolo Ballesteros Passionate Portrait of a Beauty Queen https://www.sinegang.ph/filmreviews/die-beautiful-jp