#manila in the claws of neon

[lairreparablefugadeltiempo]

Maynila sa mga kuko ng liwanag (Lino Brocka, 1975)

[nathanbatemanfucker]

Blue Scoops: A Prologue

summary: it was time.

pairing: f!reader (blue) x m!oc oliver raven, eventual f!reader (blue) x javier peña

contents: no smut but 18+, death of family, grieving, depression, break ups, crying

wc: 1.25k

AN: a very soft launch to my baby that i’ve been obsessing over off and on. please, please, do take note of the contents and take care of yourself. grief is a pretty big theme throughout this entire work so keep that in mind. also please do remember that this work is 18+ only as there will be nsfw content. eager to hear your thoughts on this so pls do share them if you read, it’d mean a lot to me!

series masterlist | misc. masterlist

He was old. It was time.

Those words blink in your head like a gas station neon sign, blinding, annoying and completely unwanted.

He was old. It was time.

You knew it was coming but not like this. Just like that, the man who knew you best was gone and now it feels like your lungs are filled to the brim with water. You should’ve been there, should’ve sucked it up, and gone over to help him shovel his driveway. The reason you two were fighting has been dead since you were a teen, and now you’re left to add this to your pile of internal bullshit. Another impossible thing to wade through.

He’s old. He was old. And now he’s just gone.

He was old and it was time but did it have to be like this? Did it have to be out in the cold all by himself? He deserved better than that. He deserved the world, he deserved a granddaughter that would’ve helped him instead of holding a grudge after all he’d been through.

“Ma’am do you want to see him one last time?” Jerry, the man that’s in charge of the arrangements, gives you that warm smile he’s so good at. Sometimes it makes your skin crawl, and sometimes it's a comfort.

This time it's the former, because of course you don’t. Seeing the empty shell of your grandfather sounds like a sick and twisted dream, but you’re all he has left and he deserves respect paid. Somewhere inside of you, you find the strength to say yes but you don’t even recognize your voice.

“We can give you a few more days before you decide how you’d like to handle this.”

Shaking your head, your hand falls to your purse, ready to get this all over with, “No, that’s okay. I want him cremated.”

“Usually we have people give it a few days before-”

You cut him off, mouth setting into a thin line, “I know what I want, we planned for this. I want him cremated.”

Jerry whinces, before smoothing his face back into the warm smile, “Yes ma’am.”

You handle all the payment and paperwork with robotic, empty movements, you mind millions of miles away. When you make it out the car with a manila envelope full of documents, Oliver, your boyfriend is waiting for you.

“Hi, sweetheart.”

“Please take me home,” You whisper softly as you sit just on the edge of losing it again.

He doesn’t say anything else, just starts the journey to your shared apartment. He doesn’t reach out to comfort you when the tears start to fall, and it's no one’s fault but your own. You’ve been snarky in your grief, nitpicking every single gesture of care he tries to bestow on you. Grief makes you unkind because you’ve never held it quite like this before. It digs its sharp claws into you and makes you lash out.

The process of going through grandfather’s things will be lengthy and time consuming. With little thought and much haste you quit your job as a pastry chef to free up time. In hindsight, you should’ve been more gentle with yourself, eased into it, but you needed something that reminds you of him to latch on to. Through all of the sorting and compiling of his assets and bank accounts, you find out he has a healthy savings —all yours now— and owns a house in your grandmother’s home town, Laredo, Texas. The house is yours now too, and when your mind immediately thinks of escaping there you pack the papers back up and avoid them.

You’re disappointed with yourself because when you thought of escaping, it was alone, without Oliver. And with that thought came relief. Oliver’s been nothing but good to you, he’s not perfect, but he tries and there’s not much more you can ask for. There’s not much more that you would ask for, because its not fair when you’re treating him like this.

As the weeks pass, you glance at the box the papers are in every once and a while, longingly, guiltily. It only takes a month for you to pull them out again, and when you do, you accept your fate.

It’s time to go.

You’re not in the right headspace to be in a relationship, and you know that it's time when the idea of leaving doesn’t even scare you. It makes you feel terrible— sick to your stomach, but not afraid.

Oliver’s trying and so are you, but it's not working. Since your grandfather died it feels like your relationship is a failed handshake that both parties know but can’t execute.

“Oliver?” You ask as the two of you sit down for dinner.

It's another crockpot meal of chicken and rice and broth. The thought of even getting out the can opener or chopping up a vegetable sounds exhausting. Everything, even feeling angry or sinking into the sadness, feels exhausting.

He gazes at you, looking tired with a voice to match, “Yeah, sweetheart?”

Its now or never. If you don’t tell him now the two of you will drown in unhappiness and resent each other. You don’t want, for yourself, sure, but most importantly for Oliver. He deserves happiness even if you don’t think you do.

You set down your fork and take a deep breath, unable to look at him, “I have to leave.”

“What?”

“This isn’t working, we both know that this isn’t working.”

There’s a lull, a deep cove of silence that makes you feel like time has stopped before he speaks again, “Is there any way that I can change your mind?”

It feels cold, but you can’t help the humorless chuckle that leaves your throat, “Do you actually want to?”

“I love you, even in all of this.”

Your throat goes thick from his words, god you don’t deserve him. Sometimes you wonder if you ever have, or if the green jadedness growing inside has earned you a life full of sorrow. A naive life, thinking you’ll have the picket fence and nuclear family while in reality it’s all just an illusion. You’re not even sure you want it anymore, not that it matters, you’re convinced you’ll never have it. And while you love him too and always will, not like this. It can’t be like this.

“Oliver…I don’t think that you should.”

“It's not a choice,” He murmurs and there's defeat written all over him. When he looks at you, eyes sad, the tears in your eyes finally fall.

You take his head into your hands, trying to desperately make him understand, “Neither is me leaving.”

There’s no more explicit talk about the breakup after that besides you giving him a move out date and the address to the house. He helps you pack and it makes you feel even more like shit. He’s sweet, accommodating. You wish that he would yell at you, that he would tell you how much of a bitch you’re being but he doesn’t. Of course he doesn’t because he’s Oliver. When you pack up your truck, he gives you a tight hug, tells you he loves you. You hug him just as tightly, promise to call, tell him that you love him so much, that you’re sorry.

When you drive away you feel like you’re rotting from the inside, emotion festering beyond its expiration date inside of you. You’ll take your time making your way to Laredo, hoping that somewhere along the way you’ll find some sense of happiness again.

> chapter 1

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[type-write]

Manila in the Claws of Light

Neon lights dressed bareness, Sequins decorated carcasses, Red wax on pale lips, Steel poles impale hips. Whistles make the trunks sway, Toss me a penny for every hand you lay. Red light, red light, This is Manila by night.

---

Inspired by the film of Lino Brocka: “Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag”  English translation:  “ Manila in the Claws of Light “

[pandaigdig]

Paradise Unfound: The Brilliance of Lino Brocka’s ‘‘Maynila’’

Lino Brocka’s Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (1975) is arguably the most complicated work in Philippine cinema. Translated as “Manila in the Claws of Neon” and “Manila: In the Claws of Darkness” to foreign audiences, the film made it in some international critics’ lists as one of the most important films ever made. The indecision in providing a more accurate translation sheds light to the uncertainty of the film’s characters, their fates bounded by Manila’s luminescence and darkness–mystified by its pleasures and dangers as they venture on what was supposedly a hopeful journey.

Bembol Roco stars as Julio Madiaga, a young fisherman from the country who travels to Manila in search for his lover, Ligaya Paraiso, portrayed by Hilda Koronel. A certain Mrs. Cruz whisked Ligaya away to the city in hopes of getting a stable job and education there but was likely prostituted and slaved to a Chinese merchant. Julio finds himself in the heart of society’s outsiders and misfits: slums, callboys, prostitutes and undocumented blue-collar workers who make up Manila’s underclass; like Julio, they’re mapping out their futures in the city of bright lights.

However, Manila, despite of what country folks make it out to be, is a long way from being the land of opportunities. For Brocka and his characters, there is an understated frustration and resentment glossed over by the city’s bright neon lights. However, its ugly side will soon possess Julio and his cohorts to turn to desperate measures. Julio learns that in order to survive in the dog-eat-dog society, he lands his first job at a construction site where he makes two pesos and fifty cents a day but four pesos according to the documents. Nearing the end of the construction, Julio and a few others get fired simply because they are no longer needed. Soon after, he finds himself working as a male prostitute, which unmistakably pays better than doing construction labor though it takes a much greater sacrifice to come to terms with.

Along his journey, Julio meets a few good people and is getting closer to his goal of finding Ligaya. But he has also shown fits of frustration in certain conditions–shaken by a bitter mix of pain and emotions; Brocka perfectly captures Julio’s indifference until it disorders to a kind of pitiful rage, hinting at his tragedy to accept such fate. Julio is left only with a little glimmer of hope that soon disappears in the darkness that in the end he comes face to face with death.

An uninventive mimicry of the Greek Orpheus’ journey to Hades’ Underworld to rescue his wife, Underworld can be likened to Manila–bathed in neon lights, a metaphor for hope, but beneath the dazzle is a disguised injustice within its towering buildings and vigorous commercial establishments–a modern metropolis. Orpheus is Julio, who is subjected to the test of Manila’s reality where life is tragic, dreams are repressed, and in spite of great sacrifices, one is forever trapped in its torment.

Maynila, perhaps Lino Brocka’s most powerful film, is the every archetypal tragic plot that transformed from imagination to a world with human shape and meaning. Northrop Frye, one of the most prominent modern literary critics, poses that the art of literature is formulaic because every story has a signatory archetype, such as the hero’s quest.

For Brocka and his characters, there is an understated frustration and resentment glossed over by the city’s bright neon lights. However, its ugly side will soon possess Julio and his cohorts to turn to desperate measures.

An uninventive mimicry of the Greek Orpheus’ journey to Hades’ Underworld to rescue his wife, the Underworld can be likened to Manila–bathed in neon lights -- a metaphor for hope. But beneath the dazzle is a disguised injustice within its towering buildings and vigorous commercial establishments–a modern metropolis. Orpheus is Julio, who is subjected to the test of Manila’s reality where life is tragic, dreams are repressed, and in spite of great sacrifices, one is forever trapped in its torment.

Maynila, perhaps Lino Brocka’s most powerful film, is the every archetypal tragic plot that transformed from imagination to a world with human shape and meaning. Northrop Frye, one of the most prominent modern literary critics, poses that the art of literature is formulaic because every story has a signatory archetype, such as the hero’s quest.

In his first book, a close reading on William Blake titled “Fearful Symmetry,” he describes that culture and civilization are derived from imagination, which he defines as a “creative force of the mind.” In the movie, audiences are drawn to the reality of Manila’s culture and society where the central character, Julio, a young man from the province in hopes of making a living in the city, is an archetype that begins with a “recurrent image, plot, and pattern”–a retelling to take on a “universal quality.” In Frye’s “Anatomy of Criticism”, the word “archetype” means “beginning pattern” that audiences can relate to because they are who are being represented by the characters. Characters are made human, Frye argues with a Jungian concept that “part of what makes us human is an “unconscious inhabited by shared memories, desires, impulses, images, and ideas” that are distinct in every archetype.

But Julio is nothing like a hero; he is indifferent, then passive-aggressive. Brocka shies away in displaying Julio’s violence and instead captures his innocence until his death. Brocka finds stupidity, not depth, in Manila’s commitment to corruption that it plagues those who dwell in it. Given Julio’s innocence, he is blinded by the neon lights of Manila, thus believing that there must be a better life to earn in it but instead, he becomes the central victim of the city’s deceit. Sometimes heroes are not meant to triumph in the end–what with Julio’s character growth, murder as his last resort that was sparked firstly by the death of Ligaya; secondly, due to his resentment that he can no longer suppress.

...audiences are drawn to the reality of Manila’s culture and society where the central character, Julio, a young man from the province in hopes of making a living in the city, is an archetype that begins with a “recurrent image, plot, and pattern”–a retelling to take on a “universal quality.”

The film carries a hard-hitting truth: the rational response to poverty is violence. It’s a prime vision of what Frye calls the “human tragedy” in which the “human world is tyranny or anarchy, an individual or isolated man, the deserted or betrayed hero” that follows the “human pattern.” No one is redeemed, but that’s what evokes a sensation.

Words by Paulin Atienza

Date written: 2013

Photo credits: The Criterion Collection, Asian Film Archive, Letterboxd, The Manila Times

[rhan-but-faster]

The Reclamation of a Broken Paradise

A Film Analysis of Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (Manila in the Claws of Lights/Neon)

“We all do things we desperately wish we could undo. Those regrets just become part of who we are, along with everything else. To spend time trying to change that, well, it's like chasing clouds.” A quote from Libba Bray, an American Writer. I am a Filipino, that is something I whole-heartedly admit but unfortunately ever since I grew up and learned about what my country is like, I somehow loathed to be one. Of course I proudly wear my nationality but it is hard to love something that hurts me back. I wish I was brought back before I discovered everything else and more, Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag (Manila in the Claws of Neon) by Lino Brocka is a movie all about that. It specifically shows the reality of Manila which caters to the expectations many have. I have known this movie for quite some time now and it has been renowned as the greatest movie in Philippine Cinema of all time and it’s only now that I have really had the chance to watch it for myself. To think that a movie almost 5 decades ago is still relevant to this day, is quite an occurrence in itself.

This Film by Lino Brocka was made on 1975 as a direct yet discreet protest against Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos campaign of making the Philippines a “City of Light”. It shows how the country’s method of capitalism and consumerism brought by the colonials, which is still occurring to this date, of the country has led to the poor living, if one were to call it living, conditions of the majority of the population at that time. During The Marcos Regime, more commonly known as the Martial Law, the state of living for the common Filipino people were at ends meet, scraping by with blue collar jobs in a relentless cycle of work until they eventually “pay” it back to the market. It starts of as a promise that all dreams come true and that their problems will be gone if they were to go to the place of potential riches. Much like how City folk in the Philippines view America for a better life or an escape from their original life only to be disappointed that it is the exact opposite, in fact a worse situation than what they originally had. Provincial Folk think the same towards Manila and the protagonist Julio Madiaga and his leading woman Ligaya Paraiso were not excluded from this misleading mindset. They were sworn a life of prosperity only to be met with disparity once they arrive at the capital. A ruthless life in the city of Neon, worked until not needed, surviving through any means necessary, even if it is undesirable.

The Movie starts with a dull out gray scale view of Manila, slowly showing the sounds of the hustle and bustle of the city, the eventual chaos that is the first definition about the reality of the capital. Until it pans to the main character, Julio who is left penniless after venturing to Manila in order to find his girlfriend who he has decided to look for after he heard about the news that she had run away.  In an effort to survive in the city, he has worked in jobs that are considerably detrimental, a low paying corrupted construction job with high risks of death, and an underground prostitution job while he searches for his Lover. Throughout his time living there, his eyes opened to the truth behind the false promises of the city and he began to realize the severity of life compared to their provincial home. He eventually found out that Ms. Cruz has sold Ligaya to a Chinese man named Ah tek who has apparently married her and made her bore their child. The two lovers planned to return to the province the next day but it was then the final moments those two will ever have, for the cruelty of the city has led to both of their demise, Ligaya through her perpetrators hands, and Julio through city gangsters coming for his head. The desire for them to come back became their ending.

Personally, throughout the Film I have noticed a lot of symbolisms going into play. First of is the name of the main characters Julio Madiaga and Ligaya Paraiso, with their name being a creative play meaning Matiyaga or persistent and joyful paradise respectively. I believe that the film is portraying Filipinos and the country they call home. Filipinos are known for being persistent and are able to be adaptable to any obstacle that they face despite their situation being anything but normal. Many of the population work on blue collar jobs and others resort to illegal practices or jobs in order to obtain money. It has come to the point where the value of money is equivalent, and in cases, more valuable than the life of a person as seen in scenes where a co-worker of Julio died while working or how Ligaya was sold for prostitution. In relation with that, the film showed how the country was sold to the ploys of modernity and capitalism. The “tropical paradise” we are known for being corrupted and maltreated, bearing children of foreign origins. The people know about their situation and are aware of it, but it has become an “it has always been like that” mentality. Yet they know that they want to bring back their ‘joyful paradise’ but, as the ending goes with the movie, if they were to do such things, it would mean the end of not only them, but also their country.

This Lino Brocka Movie exposes and expounds the anti-poor and anti-life methods of capitalism. The idea that anything could be exchanged for something, even to the most basic form of abstract things may seem logical. But because of this type of economic system countries such as ourselves have systems that become faulty, imbalanced, corruptible and deplorable for the entirety of their community. Because of this idea of exchange and to put price tags on literally everything, the birth of capitalizing on people’s lives have come to play. Being sold as a wife or husband, selling their bodies for money, exhausting their energy and even their own blood and sweat for construction has become the effects of this system of economy. Despite it being a horrible method, it has become a norm and since then, five decades ago when the movie was released, it still operates and works to this day. Only to value oneself over the value of exchange would be the most likely time that change will happen.

Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag (Manila in the Claws of Neon) is truly a masterpiece of one of the greatest Filipino Filmmakers, Lino Brocka. To think that something produced 45 years ago still remains relevant today, is a hard knock reality that our country has been having since. Living in the city, especially if one were to come from a province, is far from a good life. A reality that if one has lived in relative poverty in the province, they will have worse poverty in the cit. The film also shows the socio-economic issue of money and the value of human life and the virtue of keeping what you already have to hear a lesson worth remembering. For me, the movie was expertly paced and there were little to no instances of plot holes and through this pacing it paved way for heightened scenes appropriate for their timing. A unique and tragic tale of a real life occurrence containing deep, empathetic and relevant plot that pronounces issues the country has been facing for years. One could even say it is a timeless chef-d'oeuvre of our industry. This movie has truly deserved its consistent tile as part of the world’s top 100 films of all time.

[xxntigo]

MIDTERMS: In-depth reaction of “Maynila, sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag” and “Insiang”  Film Reaction 2019

Film Language

Robedillo, Jeremy

MM23 S.Y. 2019-2020

     In the Era of 70's one of the most recognizable directors in the Philippine is Lino Brocka who expressed a very strong love for the country.And one of the Filipino films that impacted the lives of each and every one. Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (Manila in the Claws of Neon), Brocka's most work which landed in some international critics' lists as one of the most important films ever made. The courage and his determination were undoubtedly surfaced based on the subject and the objectives of the story. 

    Very much acclaimed and deservingly noted in everyone's heart. Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag is an awakening and powerful film. Based on the plot, derived from a serial published in a local magazine, collaborated by screenwriter Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr. The objectives can easily be seen in on the main characters Julio Madiaga (Bembol Roco) being purposefully driven by his urge to find his one true love Ligaya Paraiso (Hilda Koronel), one of the characters of a Filipino being naive and strong-willed, Julio went to Manila from his province where he grew up to rescue Ligaya . Lino Brocka used these two main characters as the subjects of his thoughts about the present situation of the Philippines, Manila as the capital and known for many promises, with its injustices hidden by affluence and commercialism as paraded by the several high-rise buildings and the neon lights that enhance every business. Julio Madiaga Orpheus' wife is LigayaParaiso Julio, a fisherman from the province travels to Manila to look for Ligaya, who was swooned by a certain Mrs. Cruz (Juling Bagalbago) from the province to work and supposedly study in Manila. Unfortunately, Ligaya became a prostitute. She was forcibly raped by a Chinese merchant who trapped her and threatens her every time she attempted to escape and only to find herself helpless and tortured.She also thinks about the plight of her child if she will be caught.

     On the part of Julio finally, he saw Mrs. Cruz after months of searching and looking for his beloved Ligaya. Throughout his journey, his money runs out and was forced to look for work and landed in a construction site and was involved in the troubles of the common laborer. Injustices in laborers like how the foreman would exploit them by lending them their own money, using and taking advantage of a portion of their wages to money-making schemes (bogus). Julio befriends Atong (Lou Salvador), one of the laborers welcome Julio to his house in the slums area where he could live since he has no place to stay.

    There's significantly a comparison that Lino Brocka derives from this film about the plight of the Filipino as a laborer and unjustified practices by the employer. Atong's fate is tragic. He was killed and his sister ended up work as a prostitute in a bar, and his bedridden father brought about of being paralyzed was burn to death when the slums area suspiciously catches fire during the Christmas season. Another of Julio's companions in the construction site became employed in an advertising company because of his eagerness to being a working student. In the event of the story, each character shows the different lives of the Filipino, how the ways of surviving poverty, unemployment, unjustly crimes and the means of living into one of the victimizers in this urban called hell.

     Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag had different episodes that were justifiably served. On one of the episodes, Julio is enticed to become a street hustler in exchange for quick cash. Used his body and swallowed his pride, dignity, manhood and allured by the promises of a bright future by the neon lights as everyone landed in the city. This film comes from reality based on the situations living in Manila. Every detail will make you feel the pain and agony being betrayed and it will uncover the leash of the abusers. It will cross the mind of the viewer the question that "where on earth do these people existed and never been caught ". Being a patriot or a hero won't be able to find a solution to change the situation.One might think the film is worth to watch and will leave a mark that opened the eyes that living under a depressed state and became a victim is a choice. Though the film is subjected to how badly wounded the characters are and is, still it showed the reality of the choices of every Filipino. The big mark is not only the effect but the cause of all the chaos, it is not where sweat, blood, and tears are within commerce, and those who are ignorant enough to get enchanted by its grandiose promises are oppressed and forever trapped in its clutches but the reality that mongers, infiltrators, syndicate and power hungered people are do existed and should not blame the choices of the Filipino only. It is an open invitation to all Filipinos that it is high time to fight their rights and start living under the truth.

    At the end of the story, Julio was caught in the dead-end street nowhere to go and decided he kill himself before the gangster ready to beat him up to death. That is the actual state of a scenario feeling being trapped and nowhere to go...do, we fight or plight. Lino Brocka ended the story this way to show from Julio's plight is inevitable because of his choice, it was based on emotions and not in convictions. 

    The director of this film perfectly given the choices for every Filipino, "Are we going to stand, or are we going to run?

    Ligaya Paraiso is our very own country the Philippines, it is a place to live (Ligaya) peacefully and honorably (Paraiso) by its countrymen the Filipinos. 

    Hence, in the event of searching, longing and being discontented on its own given opportunities there are some Filipinos who were willingly overcome by their greediness and selfish ambitions. 

    Historically speaking, it has something related in the past that our country was once slaved and abused by foreigners and infiltrators.Their teachings, customs, and traditions were passed from ages to ages.The motives and attitudes were also influenced by them.

    Colonization, it was brought about as part of future modernization but there are hidden agenda.

    In history, only educated Filipinos were given a chance to mingled and be part of the changes and eventually they were being used and abused too.

    Ligaya Paraiso represents innocence and vulnerability in the attacks of the enemies. 

    Her plight and being traumatized by the attackers is the exact reaction and state of being threatened.The feeling of being paralyzed of fears of the antagonist. Our country once was happy and free became slaved and trapped by the evil ones. 

     Unfortunately, there are some Filipinos were convinced and controlled by them. The purity that once was the main characteristic of a Filipino was taken away by the opportunist. 

     The cry of Ligaya Paraiso is the cry of our countrymen, her undying love for her child is the symbol of the undying love to the next generation. 

    The broken pieces of her soul shout out the agonies and the uncertainty over the future. 

    What strikes in the mind of Ligaya Paraiso is to stay where she was trapped unknowingly that she was slowly losing her dignity and right to withstands the possible solution until he Met again Julio Madiaga, who intentionally and purposefully driven by his will.

    His character in the film signifies that there are Filipinos who were willingly loose their very own life to fight what they think is right. In his journey also shows the possibility of being swayed by emotions in searching justice and truth.

    Driven by emotions per se is not only the solution. It can be done most recognizably. This film was one good example of opening the eyes of the Filipinos and to let them think what are the better ways to fight for their rights and start living in under the truth. 

    Though Julio who was having thoughts on how to help Ligaya, still his focus eventually went into a mess by clinging into his emotions and that is exactly some Filipino just wanted to get even and their focus of having a good stand and dignity was beginning to be driven away. 

    Finally, all the details of this film can be seen into ones stand and conviction using the art of film making to ensure the welfare of his countrymen in the future, the voice of the next generation, his attributes that made the present Ligaya and Julio today was once fought by his and through his masterpiece- film making a strong and loud medium. 

    Similarly Speaking, INSIANG another film directed by him.

    This was produced during Martial law. It was also temporarily banned because it contradicted the propaganda of Ms. Imelda Marcos. 

    It shows that this film elaborates again on the situations of every Filipino family and plight on how to combat it against the evil one.

     Insiang was produced in 1976 violent-drama footages that mostly shows the plight of filipino women on the hands of their attackers.The story was situated in the slums of Tondo, Manila, the film stars Hilda Koronel as a hardworking daughter who mainly just want to help her always complaining mother (Mona Lisa whose involved with a much-younger lover (Ruel Vernal) who eventually raped her. As part of her plan to her who sought a lover but also left her without reason (Rez Cortez), Insiang felt betrayed and wanted to seek revenge. 

    The story evolved about a young girl who grew in the slums. It shows the reasons why the violence occurred due to overcrowded neighborhoods; the absence of human dignity due to poor social environment and the need for change. Relatively speaking its attributed as part of the consequences of being rape and to revenge in end.

    A very gross scene as an introduction was done in a slaughterhouse killing violently pigs, 

    The process was quite normal showing how almost brutally killed and pushed into big boiling water while hearing the groaning of the pigs, the cutting, poaching the ribs, head cutting and limbs chopping. The sound and movements of the poachers that could give you goosebumps and almost felt like vomiting. 

    The blood oozing from limbs to limbs showing the carcasses of the pigs, hanged and swung from end to end, leaving no space to stop and pause to check if anyone was misplaced or still moving. As if no mercy at all since it was an Animal then.

    The areas chosen by the director were depressed, misplaced and taunted that could emphasize the present situations of the country back then. Poverty was the number one issue during the '70s, especially those who live in the slums areas of Tondo Manila which a place that is commonly feared for. Uncontrolled growth of the population and unemployment rate rose up. 

     Lino Brocka’s 1976 Insiang, a woman who came from a very poor family that made her decision to work hard but still it's not enough. A Picture of an environment of destitution and abused by attackers and left her thought that revenge is an answer. On which she can only struggle violently, and vainly. The film was an expression of Lino Brocka’s sentiment to every poor Filipinos, he portraits the everyday walks of life in certain depressed areas. 

    Certainly, the roots of her misery extend all the way home, where her mother, Tonia (Mona Lisa), bitter about her husband’s departure, kicks her financially strapped in-laws to the curb so she might have her young lover, Dado (Ruel Vernal), move in, before proceeding to badger her daughter into a Machiavellian rage. Beset by maternal resentment, Bebot’s love-’em-and-leave-’em callousness, and Dado’s perverse tendencies, Insiang plots her revenge, with Brocka expertly dramatizing the (understandable, if not prudent) reasons for each character’s behavior.

     Representation of urban poverty, the film explores themes of betrayal, revenge, and despair.

     The film was a typical plot about a victim and the revenge that leads to destructive effects on both parties. The mother and daughter relationship was crushed after the incident in which the daughter was blamed to protect the existing relationship of her mother's lover. And this leads to the distraught feeling of the victim. In order fulfilled to revenge, Insiang made a drastic move by attracting her rapist to gain his attention and pretends that she wants to have a relationship but to make an act of successful revenge towards her former lover Bebot(Rez Cortex) who was killed by her assailant. To have all her revenge her rapist was caught by her mother and tragically killed in front of her daughter only to be put behind bars for her misdeeds.

     During the time that her mother was killing her rapist, she just stood up and watch him killed violently. This shows that her anger that brought her into the moment without thinking that in the end, her very own mother will suffer the consequences that she planned.

    In the last part of the film where she visited her mother, she was rejected when she started showing that she is trying to let her mother know that all she wants is her love and affection.

    This story was existed before and as high as the number one case of rape and lead to murder. Especially in very poor areas where there is no protection for women and children. They are always the target and became a victim.The sad part of it that justice more often than not was not given.  

     Lino Brocka made this film as an awakening about the present situation of the Philippines that justice is not always served and the family ties are becoming weak because of high unemployment rates, poverty escalated and there are no programs yet to enhance the life of the Filipinos especially the children.There are no laws that will protect children and women. 

    The government is deaf in does of the victims. During that era, a million of cases of rape and murders are never heard and were not given a chance to be solved at all.

    Insiang is a symbol of how women are so weak and fragile during those times but were not given importance. Their rights against violence and abusive situations that sometimes after being a victim to worsen their situations became a prostitute and all the more exploited.

    In this film family, ties and values were also tackled.In the event of having a family the Filipino culture of being dependent even after marriage is far beyond issues. Married children are still clinging to their parents and the worst their needs were still a responsibility given by their parents even it is hard for them to do so.

    Unemployment is the number of problems that the government cannot solve by that time due to Avery low foreign investors who can tie up in the government and also 8t is not yet the priority of the government. 

   The effect of this problem is the high rate of crimes is everywhere and mot of the time it occurred in the depressed areas like the slums. Men are becoming violent into their wives, they become a problem in the family and society. The Director's mindset about the negligence of the government is seen in the entire story these were shown in the different characters the reactions and conversations contents where drastically proved the condition of the hearts of every Filipino family who are presently suffering.

   This gives the person after watching the film thought of how he or she can contribute to help the change in society. The center of it that becoming a victim and the plan to avoid it can be done by the help of not a person only but the whole unit and that is the family.

   Filipinos are family-centered and their values are important on how their role in the society that can make a difference. Instead of revenge, it can be undone by the proper collaboration from the people who have power and control on the government program and the priority would be canter in the family needs of every Filipino. The culture and traditions of the Filipino are originally strong by its spiritual conviction and strong values about the family. Lack of education areas the main reason for making a family strong and ready to have a family. The top priority of the government is not just to tackle every detail of the problems but the cause of it. The program base and facing reality are the most effective solutions.

    After what happened in the life of Insiang the problem was not solved through her revenge but the worst of it all the more it did not solve but rather it aggravated the situation. Being imprisoned and being desolatedare not the end of the story at all.

   It's was an open-ended question on the mind of a viewer but by these points were justifiably brought out by the director's mindset that was perfectly raised in the eyes of every Filipino may it be individually impacted or as the whole family.

   The whole story has made up a very good declaration based on the reality of what was happening in the country. It is also a declaration that the Filipino has an entire choice on how to combat the existing problems not only by sulking and fell on the trap of self-pity. That there are a thousand ways to fight poverty, crimes and most of all to bring back the government as the main source of a helping hand to everyone.

   The film has also used a very wise and convincing tactic to open the hearts of the Filipino not to revenge but to learn and know how to become aware of their rights and how to pursue their dreams and goals in life no matter how impossible the situation is and are.

[welikeitspicyreviews-blog]

Auteur Theory using the films of Lino Brocka ‘s Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag and Insiang.

Auteur Theory is a method for mainly focusing at movies that express that the director is the "author" of a film. The Auteur theory contends that a movie is an impression of the director’s creative vision; thus, a movie directed by a given filmmaker will have familiar, repeating concepts and visual lines that illuminate that allows its viewers to recognize who the director is and demonstrates a certain signature style all through that director’s filmography. This theory started when Andre Bazin proposed the idea. Andre Bazin is an eminent French Film Critic, who had a great influence on the film industry. Bazin accepted and supported movies having Realism contents. He has been considered as probably one of the best critics; it is likewise viewed as that the founder of “Cahiers du cinema”. Andre Bazin opened the way for an achievement in traditional filmmaking to French New Wave. He had led the way of Auteur theory into use that said directors are the makers of the film. Creating the director’s own style just makes the film remarkable and imaginative. After the idea of the Auteur theory that says the directors as authors of the film was expressed coherently, following directors oftentimes started to make progressively and self-referential works. So basically, if anyone ask who made the film, it is the director. It often comes down to the director because he will be the one helping each department execute the script. Auteur theory is a substandard way for envisioning film that as often as possible neglects to perceive the commitments of the various individuals who take an interest during the time spent making a film. In any case, the possibility of a single imaginative shaping of a film gave the youthful art of film another sheen of masterful authenticity and decency. It likewise enables us to make a well-ordered story of true to life history and to watch the manners by which the thoughts and obsessions of an incredible director (especially one who controls different parts of the filmmaking process) do shape a film. Whatever its inadequacies, auteur theory is an essential apparatus of literacy in the film world. 

Lino Brocka is a prominent filmmaker who is known for his socially conscious films that still remain a masterpiece until today. Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag and Insiang are two of his works which were always about societal issues tackled in the most subtle, but powerful way. Being a thorough filmmaker, Brocka mostly ponders on topics that are the predicament of the overlooked and ignored sectors of Filipino society. With his socially conscious films, Brocka likewise talked about subjects of sexuality, which directors during his time would in general maintain a strategic distance from. Amplifying the oppression and disregard of the common masses, Brocka's movies are also very character driven where the poor scarcely rejecting by while fending off maltreatment from the administration. He frequently cast obscure actors to concentrate more on the story and not on the big name. On-screen characters, for example, Bembol Roco, Hilda Koronel and Laurice Guillen are among the obscure actors that worked with him more than once for quite a long time, and after some time getting to be stars in their very own right. Lino Brocka is arguably the Philippines' most recognizable director. Aside from the widely released. The usual suspects are Insiang (1976), Bona (1980), and Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (Manila in the Claws of Neon), Brocka's arguably most complicated work which landed in some international critics' lists as one of the most important films ever made.

MAYNILA SA MGA KUKO NG LIWANAG 

As the film starts,  we see still shots of  Manila in black and white, first in quite a while calm state, at that point bit by bit transforming into a swarmed, occupied city. Just sounds from the genuine scene were being appeared, which rapidly sets up the truth of Manila and demonstrates the obvious feeling of authenticity by the director, Lino Brocka. It has a series of well formed images captured raw and genuine. The pictures are accused of an earnestness, a quickness particularly Brocka's- - as though Brocka had shot the image directly outside the theater where it's screening, built up the surges, and hustled inside to spool the print into the projector, new and smoking hot. From its opening shot of littered walkways, The scene backs off at seeing Julio's face falling down at the base of an impasse rear entryway. This scene also showed the capacities of Brocka to depict the spinning feelings of the executive and the entertainer, which is a blend of dread, outrage, and distress. Basically, the story’s plot is a love that is lost and the protagonist ventures out to find the love of his life after receiving a letter that his lover is lost at the city she went to. Amidst finding his lover, he had experienced the very different lifestyle he was familiar with. There he learned the streets of Manila being vicious and unpredictable. While in Manila, he had experienced different types of jobs that portrayed the problem of wages here in the Philippines and other social issues that were often overlooked.  Julio, the protagonist, experienced a series of unfortunate events where he became homeless and met a man in the streets of Manila. Due to a desperate need of means to live in Manila and to earn fast money, he became a prostitute. The film closes with a huge crowd chasing after Julio because he had just killed who he believed to be Ligaya’s Chinese husband, or oppressor, as he is portrayed.  In the end, Julio is trapped in a dead end right after committing murder and being chased by a mob ready to beat him up in all probability to death. Lino Brocka didn’t show Julio’s violent last dying breath but centers on his face instead. Trapped and wide-eyed, flashback to the moment he landed a foot in Manila, Julio had no clue whether he’ll ever find Ligaya, or what would eventually happen to him. But in his last moments, you can tell that he knew very well that was the last of his breath.

In spite of the way this is a film done in 1975, the social conditions stay unaltered, if not more awful, in the present-day Philippines. The issue of wages for those with members of the working class, the human trafficking for men and women alike, and every one of these issues are present in the film. It depicts the few disorders the nation was and is confronting. Watching it in the present modern times would even indicate its influence, since it stays to be relevant in spite of decades after its release. These things happened as a result of Brocka's creation. The mind reels at what Brocka would have made all things considered. Offering life to the authenticity, obviously, is Brocka's melodramatic energy. In the event that the characters in Maynila don't profit by the three-dimensionality of the best screenwriting, they- - the leads down to the overflowing additional items - are honored with that intense, Brocka-mandated character of individuals battling angrily to live, to clutch each hopeless urge of life. You understand that the figures, the outlines you have glimpsed on screen that adamantly decline to determine into conspicuous people are quite outlines. You quit searching for the mental profundity that isn't there and rather recline to savor the general terms, the all encompassing perspective. The protagonist of the film, notably, isn't Julio, or Ligaya, or the different other supporting characters; it's simply the city. The significance of Maynila: sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag as a Filipino film shines even up to this date. It is Filipino auteur Lino Brocka's showstopper—one that underlines his political activism and affinity for utilizing mistreated characters who steadily arrive at an awakening. This film was created during Martial Law, when the Marcos system was advancing Manila as a city filled with dreams and all things fantasy. Their image of progress, however, was to disregard the wild neediness in the city. Brocka's vision, in this manner, is a courageous one. The film demonstrates what the Marcos system needed to stow away: Manila's poor living in frail conditions, compelled to work in exploitative occupations that neglect to pay a living salary, and now and again in any event, depending on prostitution to endure. This vision is the thing that makes Maynila: sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag applicable decades later. The issues it brought up in 1975 are as yet present even up to now—Manila's rural still live in alternative houses adjacent to streams, steady employments are still rare, many still work in prostitution so as to eat.

Maynila: sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag is the only Filipino film to make it to be included in the film anthology 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. This only shows Lino Brocka’s effectiveness as a director. 

INSIANG 

Brocka is known for his capability to consolidate imagery with the real world, and this is very noticeable in Insiang, which was one of the Filipino movies to be presented in Cannes. By turns expressive and rough, laid-back and incoherently overheated, Lino Brocka's "Insiang" that was released in 1976 is without a moment's delay unique but so natural that you may end up commenting on it with true to life commentaries as the story unfurls. The director, Lino Brocka, portrayed the house with a blend of metal, wood and cardboard, an early point of convergence, transforming it into a little community of the spread and a very unfortunate condition that encompasses it. As Mr. Brocka plays with his encircling, going from tight to wide, placing the scene's instability into distinct visual terms, he changes this one family into something that is bluntly pungent for a city. The exaggerated hardware kicks in after Mr. Brocka oils it with some horrid scene-setting, beginning with the terrible picture of a pig being gutted in a slaughterhouse loaded up with shouting, biting the dust creatures that prompts a narrative arrangement of human lack of sanitization — this ends up being a get ready for the brutalization of Insiang, the protagonist, including by Tonya, the protagonist’s mother. All throughout, Mr. Brocka, working with his remarkable chief of photography, Conrado Baltazar, makes pictures of astonishing force, similar to that of vicious hands gripping in the void. Insiang's obstinate measures give the film a role as a shocking tribute to feminist self-completion. However, with his torment fashioned finale, and its tangled bunch of unwavering, unpredictable, unfulfilled sentiments and wants, Brocka guarantees that any minor triumph appreciated by his ethically and sincerely distorted protagonist is tempered by an revoking portion of mixed distress and hopelessness. The first Philippine film ever displayed at Cannes, Brocka's portrayal of familial betrayal form and societal deserting channels its drama through the channel of neorealism, its story's elevated feelings kept at a stew by a simmer.

In Brocka's film, the ruinous mother - daughter relationship is odd even by the gauges of the maternal acting. Regularly, in Hollywood and European exposition, maternal drama sees at any rate one of the ladies leaving with some proportion of joy. The threatening vibe among Tonia and Insiang got under the skin of Marcos-time controls, who dismissed a situation that closures with the daughter revel on over her vengeance and communicating total scorn of her mom. Brocka surrendered by taping a compromise endeavor however punctuated it with a chilling response to quietness. There is no illuminating exercise toward the finish of this fearless film in light of the fact that Insiang is, as Brocka portrayed it, an "immorality tale." As the characters start to perceive their essential sadness, they go to damaging acts that cut out their specialties in damnation. Without the standard reclamation account, the plot pursues an alternate direction. It starts with stupendous theatricality and finishes in absolute quietness. This inversion of sensational develop powers the film to wander in the center, investigating fringe characters and building a detailed cosmology of the ghettos before continuing its course toward the savage peak foreshadowed toward the beginning.

In the event that inside workmanship in the category of film, there comes the moment inclination toward less the film than the name — the almighty auteur that probably doesn't need to bow down to corporate experts — at that point even with a film as promptly striking as 1976's Insiang, we start with its creator, Lino Brocka. Indeed, even in a real existence cut heartbreakingly off, he left a sufficient imprint to in any case be viewed as the Philippines' most noteworthy director, among his shrubs being the country's first director to play in competition at Cannes. A specific affiliation made with him was a frank analysis of the dictatorship reign of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines during that time. It additionally straightaway gives the audience a sample of Brocka's figurative nature.

LINO BROCKA AS A DIRECTOR

Brocka's films feature the  predicament of the overlooked and ignored sectors of Filipino society: the slum occupants, prostitution, road hawkers, just as the individuals who were victimized essentially in light of sex or sexuality – subjects that no other director set out to focus on, particularly while under the Marcos tyranny. The bold brutalness and unquenchable absence of morals in his movies can be overpowering, yet it evokes a specific good reaction from his viewers that makes them mindful of the discouraging situation in the general public. Under the Marco tyranny, exacting restriction was authorized in the media and Brocka had to carry his films out of the nation for screenings to maintain a strategic distance from overwhelming cuts. Lino Brocka is like a giant in a world with individuals who overlooked issues that really matter and relevant with films filled with remarkable bravery and powerful experiences. Through Lino Brocka’s qualities, the auteur theory is being discussed. By his cinematic style, we can distinguish the films that were being produced as his masterpiece.

[totalsubjektivni]

Things change

Svetovna javnost je bila zaprepadena. 27. maja 2001 je separatistična in militantna muslimanska organizacija Abu Sayyaf (za nekatere teroristi, za druge borci za svobodo), ki prihaja z juga Filipinov, kjer se muslimani že 30 let borijo za neodvisnost regije, ugrabila dvajset turistov. Akcijo so mediji naslovilo „ugrabitve v Dos Palmasu“, počitniškem središču na jugu države, ležečem na privatnem otoku v zalivu Honda. V naslednjem letu dni, kolikor je trajalo pridržanje ugrabljenih turistov, med njimi tudi nekaj Američanov in Evropejcev, predvsem pa filipinskih Kitajcev, je bilo ubitih pet ugrabljenih ljudi, dvaindvajset filipinskih vojakov, ki so se podali v reševalno akcijo, neznano pa je število usmrčenih ugrabiteljev, ki so jih pokosili streli državnih enot. Odmeven dogodek, ki je odjeknil kot bomba, bi lahko bil napoved kasnejših tragičnih dogodkov na ameriških tleh, a izkazalo se je, da niti svetovne velesile niti filipinska oblast niso storile dovolj za čim hitrejše ukrepanje, reševalno akcijo ter posledično izpustitev talcev. Nekaj se jih je rešilo (pobegnilo), drugi so bili izpuščeni ob visokih odkupninah, kar jim je prihranilo dragoceno življenje. Tega pretresljivega dogodka se je lani lotil tudi velecenjeni filipinski mag Brillante Mendoza, ki je kalvarijo zabeležil na filmski trak, ter v svet poslal mlačen in nedopadljiv izdelek Captive (letnica 2012), ki – zanimivo – demonizira svetovno javnost, Ameriko in tudi lastno državo. Zavoljo tega, ker so morali (nehote) žrtvovati nedolžna življenja. A s tem niso ogrozili ali umazali lastnega ugleda. Vsaj navidezno. Ok. Demonizira je morda prehuda in prerobata beseda, a ogled me napeljuje na misel, da sicer sočustvuje in na osebni ravni podoživlja intimno tragedijo ugrabljenih ljudi, a hkrati ugrabitelje – z redkimi izjemami – prikazuje na človeški način. Ne kot neusmiljene in pohlepne posameznike, temveč človekoljubne, strpne in dopadljive. To je v nesoglasju z realnostjo – pa naj bo še toliko knjig spisanih s strani zainteresirane javnosti, celo ugrabljenih. Znano je namreč dejstvo, da se ujetniki po daljšem obdobju ujetništva navežejo, celo spoprijateljijo s svojimi ječarji. To je razumljivo, saj si vsak dan delijo hrano, skupaj obedujejo, si izmenjujejo pozornost, skrivnost in naklonjenost, skupaj stremijo k končnemu cilju – ujetnik k zasluženi prostosti, ječar k dobičku. A nerazumljivo se mi zdi dejstvo, da jih prikažeš kot humaniste. Kot sočutne in razumevajoče ljudi, ki jih ne zanima politična konotacija samega kriminalnega dejanja. Kot ljudi, ki poznajo empatijo in so tu zgolj zaradi denarja. Banalen razlog. Vem. A resničen. Pričakoval bi zastopstvo višjih ciljev, izstopajočih iz svetih spisov in ideologije sovraštva, ki tu pa tam sicer pricurlja na površje v pogovorih med kristjanom in muslimanom, a ne v pravi, zadostni meri, da bi sprožil obči konflikt interesov in različnost pogledov. Separatisti so zgolj v nekaj trenutkih prikazani kot neusmiljene živali, pogoltni in strastni, in sicer v času, ko si na silo vzamejo žensko tu in žensko tam ter jih spremenijo v svoje pohlevne ženičke. Muslimanke. A teh dogodkov je v filmski monotoniji malo, kar ne spoštuje resnice, temveč deluje pristransko in subjektivno. Avtorjeva interpretacija. Izdelek, ki počloveči zlo. Zlo je namreč na obeh straneh – na oblastniški, ki brez razloga napada tabor in žrtvuje življenja ugrabljenih turistov, ter na strani militantnih skrajnežev, ki so storili pričakovano, saj so na Filipinih že nekaj časa ugrabitve zelo donosen posel. V navzkrižnem ognju pa se znajdejo navadni ljudje, ki pri mizi odločanja nimajo nobene besede. Ugrabljeni posamezniki med filmom večkrat izrazijo svojo naklonjenost do ugrabiteljev (kot že rečeno), a ta občasno že prestopa mejo patološke navezanosti oziroma brezizhodne situacije, kjer se zdi, da je pot na prostost tlakovana zgolj in samo preko žrtvovanja in pozabe lastne osebnosti (političnih prepričanj, verovanja itd.) A ko potegnem črto čez film Captive, ki je v medijih zasluženo požel slabe kritike in mlačen odziv, lahko ugotovim, da je to najslabši kos celuloida, pod katerega se je podpisal tako cenjen režiser. S tem je vsaj deloma ogrozil svoj status nedotakljivega kulta. Že dolžina je neprimerna (dve uri in čez), saj se film vleče in vleče kot jara kača, brezciljno tava skozi svet ponavljajočih se dogodkov. Skrajšana minutaža (vsaj pol ure, če ne več) bi namreč dogajanje lahko zgostila, pozabila na repeticijo ter se posvetila bistvu – in ne nepomembnim, celo absurdnim dialogom in posploševanju politične klime. V filmu banalnosti kar mrgoli. Zdi se, da ne gledamo enega najbolj napetih trenutkov nove filipinske zgodovine, temveč brezskrben sprehod skozi džunglo, kjer niti enkrat ne začutiš suspenza ali bližajoče se nevarnosti. Bolj igrarije dveh skrajnosti (oblasti in skrajnežev), ki se v igri na srečo silita v predajo. Ali pač pogajanja. A država se v sodobni zgodovini nikoli več ne bo pogajala s teroristi. Ne verjamem, da je bila stvarnost tako nezanimiva in dolgočasna, kot jo poskuša prikazati film, ki je konec koncev sam sebi namen. Žanrsko pa tako votel, da ne veš, ali gledaš dramo, melodramo, akcijo ali komedijo zmešnjav in nesporazumov.

Zdi se mi nedopustno, da včasih pozabljam na svoje idole. Porekla boš, da imam pogansko dušo. Slavim mnoge bogove. Res. Priznam. A v vseh teh letih, ko pišem te vrstice, opremljam blog s svojimi razmišljanji in se družim s pisano paleto junakov (med drugim vsak dan v mislih potujem na različne konce sveta) nisem niti enkrat vsaj malenkostnega prostora namenil človeku, ki je spremenil in oplemenitil filipinski film. Ne bom rekel, da se tega sramujem, a čas je pravi, da odpravim napako in se posujem s pepelom. Lino Brocka je bržkone največji filipinski režiser vseh časov. O tem ni dvoma. Slavijo ga vsi. Za časa svojega ustvarjanja trn v peti oblastnikov. Dandanes mnogokrat zapostavljen v analih svetovnega filma. Že res, da je posnel tudi mnogo komercialnih filmov, ki bodo ostali v vicah arthouse produkcije, a upal bi si trditi, da je ustvaril mejnike domače filmske zgodovine. Med njimi tudi nepozabno mojstrovino Manila in the Claws of Neon (letnica 1975), ki ga mnogi – zasluženo, a tudi malce pretenciozno – pospremijo z besedami „največji in najpomembnejši filipinski film vseh časov“. Ok. Že pred časom sem zapisal, da superlativi na moj blog ne sodijo več, saj s tem odvzamem občutek vrednosti in nadčasnosti določenemu filmskemu izdelku. Izpustim možnost tvoje osebne sodbe. A ob primeru pričujočega filma se lahko strinjava, da gre za eno prelomnih filmskih stvaritev države, ki jo je v preteklosti zaznamovala krvava bitka s kolonializmom, vojaškimi diktaturami in posameznikov boj za socialne pravice. Zatorej ne preseneča, da je omenjeni film ne le socialno in družbeno angažiran, temveč predstavlja odmevajoči krik k spremembi državne politike do svojega ljudstva in popravilu preteklih krivic. Lino Brocka je bil v svojih filmih tako kritičen do oblasti, da je imel nemalo težav pri uresničevanju lastnega izraznega sredstva in sporočilnosti, ki se je odmaknila od prevladujočega trenda romantičnih melodram, ter ob pomoči filma noir (poklon ameriškemu filmu) in italijanskega neorealizma rodila specifično poetiko, ki po mojem skromnem mnenju presega filmski medij (ali katero koli drugo umetniško dejavnost). Kot mogočna barkača zapluje v vode alternativne politične opcije, spogledujoče se s komunističnimi ideali in zoperstavljanju kruti kapitalistični utvari. Navsezadnje že samo velemesto (v našem primeru Manila) odigra pomembno vlogo pri prikazu notranjega stanja (boja) človeka, ki se po sili razmer znajde na napačni strani zakona. V zločinu iz strasti naposled ubije človeka. Ta razklanost, ki nedolžno in nepokvarjeno bitje privede do tako ekstremnega dejanja, je razvidna že v urbani dvojnosti. Na eni strani bleščice in bogatija mestnega središča, kjer se na različne načine pretakajo velike vsote denarja, na drugi revščina in beda obrečnih skvotov, kjer že otroci pobirajo ostanke s tal in jih hočejo prodati najboljšemu ponudniku, da bi napolnili želodce svojih družin. Ta dvojnost je vidna tudi v omenjenem paru krvnika in žrtve – glavnem junaku Juliu in kitajskemu lastniku bordela Ah Teku, njegovi žrtvi in morilcu njegovega bivšega dekleta. Julia lahko enačimo s poštenostjo in potrpežljivostjo, kitajskega povzpetnika z denarjem in razvratom. Dvojnost najdemo tudi v dveh osrednjih ženskih likih – Ligayi, njegovi punci, ki jo mesto premami, saj jo zapelje podzemlje prostitucije, ter gospe Cruz, njeni zvodnici, ki je še najbližje podobi hudičevke. Še več. Tudi sam Lino Brocka je bil istospolno usmerjen, kar filmu vtisne poseben pečat, ki se izkaže za vročico noči. Ne bom se pretirano zmotil, če film označim za filipinsko različico klasike Midnight Cowboy, kar se mi zdi posrečena primerjava, ko se enkrat srečamo s sluzom in hedonizmom moških kurb, ki so popolno nasprotje samega Julia. A on je primoran zavoljo brezdelja poseči po ustrezni rešitvi, ki ga popelje v svet najstarejšega izkoriščanja človeškega telesa. Režiserja je podzemlje privlačilo, a ga hkrati odbijalo s svojimi podobami okoriščanja z nedolžnimi mladeniči in njihovo nepopisno lepoto. Ob vsem tem ne moreš pričakovati srečnega konca, ki nikoli ni bil značilen za režiserjeve kose celuloida. Izostane. Ponikne. Smrt je zapisana v DNK-ju njegovega filmskega presežka. Ne le v končni sodbi mladeniču, ki obupan in uničen pade pod rezili ter udarci razjarjene množice, temveč tudi v prikazu običajnega delavskega razreda. Prvi del film je namreč podrejen delavcem, ki gradijo stanovanjske objekte (razsipni in samozadostni Marcos). Nemalokrat omahnejo v smrt, družine nimajo pravice do njihovih finančnih nadomestil oziroma odškodnin (nihče ne omenja socialnega varstva, zavarovanja ipd.), pri izplačilih plač pa mnogokrat prihaja do prevar, ki močno udarijo po žepu že tako obubožane delavce. Preostane jim zgolj to, da se zadovoljijo z odpuščanjem in posledično zasedejo megapolis z demonstracijami. Več kot dovolj razlogov za ogled tega bisera polpretekle zgodovine filipinske kinematografije, ki predstavlja zlato dobo lokalne produkcije (70. in 80. leta preteklega stoletja). Alegorija, ki zastopa celoten tretji svet. Preživetje je možno le ob varovanju ali podpori oblasti, v vseh drugih scenarij je potrebno plačati visoko ceno.

[shiningwizard]

Manila: In the Claws of Neon (Lino Brocka, 1975) i have to edit this and write something because leaving it blank doesn't carry across just how incredible i thought it was.