Insignificant

At an abandoned warehouse, in a forgotten corner of a big city, a woman in a designer sweat suit is thrown to the floor, her hands zip-tied in front. At the doorway, a man in a Hello Kitty ski mask stands guard, a taser in his hand. We think we know exactly what’s going to go down, because we’ve seen it a thousand times on television, in the movies, in real life. But this woman – Tefton Montgomery – is no helpless victim. As quickly as she’s thrown down, she’s back on her feet and in the face of her kidnapper, Joseph De Los Reyes, threatening him with the same force he just asserted with her when he took her off the street and threw her into the trunk of his car. Taken way off guard, Joseph is not only intimidated by her bravado but he’s truly scared of her. His plans of using a rich, white lady to gain nation-wide news attention to protest the deportation of his sweet, Pilipino mother after thirty years in the United States isn’t going as planned. Tefton lets Joseph in on a secret; she’s not rich (wearing knock-off designer wear) and even though she’s white, the media doesn’t care about her kind – fat women. Well, unless they’re the butt of a joke. His sympathy is thin as the under representation and stereotyping of Asian-American men in the world is appalling. Realizing they have much in common, the narrative is flipped and Tefton and Joseph bond over being ignored in modern American society because to those in charge, they’re insignificant. Their introspection makes Joseph realize his critical mistake in the snap, desperate decision to take Tefton for his own means. In good faith, Tefton promises she won’t tell anyone what he did if he releases her. Joseph believes her, does the right thing and lets her go. Just as the full force of what he just did washes over him and he thanks his lucky stars he’s avoided the biggest mistake of his life, a horde of charging personal security officers descend. Tefton reappears at the doorway revealing her bluff and the truth, she is indeed the heiress he thought she was. She approaches Joseph and takes his testicles into her hands, squeezing them tightly, “Doesn’t feel right when someone else puts their unwanted hands on you, does it?” Without hope to save his mother, a tearful and devastated Joseph is hauled away to his fate. Watching this desperate, pathetic man go, Tefton’s own strong morals emerge and she promises to help stop his mother’s deportation. When Joseph asks why, she simply explains -- because women need to stick together, regardless of the actions of the men in the lives.