Rating: 4/5
Criterion Challenge 2022 | 20/52 | Isabel Sandoval’s Top 10
Cold open on Dado cutting a pig’s throat. Welcome to Tondo, a shantytown in Manila. Cut to Tonya selling fish at the wet market. Boats and slums line the Pasig River. Mud-caked children smoke cigarettes and play games. Folks sift through Smokey Mountain, a major landfill for Manila.
Insiang, Tonya’s daughter, crosses a footbridge carrying a runny sack of clothes. She does laundry and delivery services. Living with Tonya and Insiang is Tonya’s sister-in-law and her family — a dozen children and grandchildren. Still, Tonya chastises them for moving to the city when jobs are scarce.
Edong asks Insiang if her employer, Mrs. Flores, has any job openings. Tonya has been harsh on Edong for being unemployed. But Insiang is well aware of Tonya’s sharp tongue — she receives the brunt of Tonya’s misery. Though Insiang has committed to putting up with her condition, Edong wonders how long they can handle this desperation.
Edong has friends with jobs who still can’t make it work. They sit outside the shops, drinking liquor and making passes at the young women who pass. Edong jumps in, groping the shop owner’s daughter. The shop owner chases him down and creates a scene that Tonya witnesses. This drives Tonya to kick her sister-in-law’s family out. She even strips the youngest of the clothes lent to them, sending them naked down the street.
Dado, Tonya’s much younger boyfriend, makes passes at Insiang. She pushes him away easily enough. But when Tonya moves Dado into the house, his violent and controlling tendencies change Insiang’s life for the worse. She is no longer content with putting up with her condition.
The film is a relentless look at urban poverty in the Philippines. So much so that President Ferdinand Marcos halted its release and put it through rigorous censorship. Marcos’ daughter, Imee, however, was a principal sponsor. With her help and public protest, the censors lifted the ban.
Hilda Koronel gives a grounded and nuanced performance. It’s clear why Lino Brocka put her in so many of his movies. Not everyone matches her, but no one is so bad that it deters from the movie. Mona Lisa also crushes it, both in her performance and choice of stage name.
While the film has a social realist core, the story is melodramatic, bordering on exploitation. In the wrong hands, this movie could have turned out differently. I’m still on the fence about a couple of choices, but I understand them in the context of Insiang’s trajectory.
This film is heartbreaking and bleak. We, the audience, experience some catharsis, but no happy ending. Cruelty begets cruelty.