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Movie review: The bright lights, bad city of 'Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag'




As artifacts of Philippine cinematic heritage, the physical copies of “Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag” have fared far better than those of its contemporaries, as the original camera and sound negatives had been safely deposited for preservation by renowned French cinephile Pierre Rissient in the early '80s. The remastered version was premiered to rapturous applause at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, preceded by a pre-recorded message from Martin Scorsese, in which he called director Lino Brocka a “giant” whose films were “brave, extraordinary, powerful experiences.”
 
Having finally seen experienced the remastered version for myself, all this reviewer can say is, “Wow.”

Simply put, the film doesn’t look as good as it did 38 years ago – it looks better. And because the Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory had access to the original sound as well as the video means that we avoid the disconnect between restored image and sound of incongruent quality that characterized the “Oro Plata Mata” restoration. Remastered at the behest of Scorsese’s World Cinema Foundation and the Film Development Council of the Philippines, with the participation of original cinematographer/producer Mike De Leon, the film's restorers have outdone themselves.

Revitalized visual fidelity notwithstanding, “Maynila” still stands as a crowning achievement of Philippine cinema, telling the familiar story of probinsyano Julio Madiaga (Bembol Roco), a young construction worker taking on the big, bad city in search of his lost love, the improbably-named Ligaya Paraiso (Hilda Koronel), who has been lured into a life of prostitution. The incidents that befall Julio are episodic in nature, often jumping from one to the next as a series of unconnected vignettes as Julio makes his way to the inevitable confrontation with Ah Tek, the man in whose clutches Ligaya languishes.

As the film progresses, and Julio grows increasingly jaded and desperate in his quest, hardened by the obstacles in his way, the audience is presented with the numerous perils that come with trying to make it in Manila, a city shown to be as dark and foreboding as the people inhabiting it. Nowhere is this more apparent than when Julio compares his carefree existence in the province with his current situation.

To audiences perhaps more familiar with Roco as a movie villain whose intensity and baldness have become a signature, his performance – and impossibly young appearance – here will be a revelation of sorts. Unfettered by the baggage that his status would later bring, the naiveté that Roco displays (and quickly loses) in his big screen debut as Julio is one of the great Philippine film performances. Roco’s on-screen descent into madness is what drives “Maynila”; it’s not hard to see how the young, virtually unknown actor took the best actor trophy at the 1976 FAMAS Awards.

Make no mistake, “Maynila” is no walk in the park – this is a heavy story to take on the best of days, with sex (of all kinds) and violence playing vital parts in the narrative, and those expecting a fairy tale resolution would be better served watching something else. But therein lies Brocka’s main conceit in trusting that the audience viewing his films would have the intelligence and tolerance levels necessary to accept that his films, like life, didn’t always end on the best of terms.

De Leon’s legendary cinematography enhances what is already a substantial experience with visuals that do little to engender hope in the viewer. The shots on display and the textures that populate them complement the narrative, propelling it as much as Roco, and when the film ends with its final, haunting image, it is impossible not to be moved.

When “Maynila” was screened at Cannes in 1978, it was preceded by buzz that called it "dirty" – an adjective that one can only surmise had been meant in the nicest possible way, given the raves and accolades the film would go on to receive. Four decades on, “Maynila” the film may not be dirty, but the themes and situations it depicts sure as hell are.

With the release of Sean Ellis's “Metro Manila” and its own less-than-flattering view of life in our bustling capital, it becomes a somewhat disconcerting, if fascinating, exercise to compare the two films. After all, for all the talk of economic prosperity and progress that’s been made, precious little has changed over the last 38 years.

The mind reels at what Brocka would have made of it all. — BM, GMA News

The remastered "Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag" is currently showing at the University of the Philippines Film Institute (UPFI) Film Center, UP Diliman, Quezon City.

Mikhail Lecaros is a professional magazine editor and freelance writer. The views expressed in this article are solely his own.
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