There is no cinema in this form of isolation:

This form of isolation, however, is the ideal climate for cinema:

Filipino soldiers paid extra for being lonely on the frontline in the disputed Spratlys

PAG-ASA ISLAND, In the South China Sea: This sun-splashed island is so remote that soldiers are paid a “loneliness fee” for deployment here, and the few residents are encouraged with free meals to live in a nascent village without a single car, store or Internet access.

When a Philippine air force C130 cargo plane flew in Friday with a fresh supply of rice, beds, chessboards and a flat-screen TV, a few women hitched a ride and quickly sought out their husbands among the troops for a little personal time.

The battle for ownership of the potentially oil-rich Spratly Islands has settled into an uneasy stand-off since the last fighting, involving China and Vietnam, that killed more than 70 Vietnamese sailors in 1988. The other claimants are Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.

But for dozens of Filipino troops and villagers on steamy Pag-asa, the biggest of seven islands and two reefs occupied by the Philippines in a swath of the South China Sea, it has been a constant struggle against isolation, broiling sun and fierce storms.

The water, the sun, the giant trees, the heat, the machine gun, the waiting and waiting—we are in the realm of Beau Travail.