Manila in the Claws of Light

The linchpin of Filipino cinema, Lino Brocka's pièce de résistance has been received a well- deserved BluRay treatment, MANILA IN THE CLAWS OF LIGHT is a searing social critique told through the jeremiad of a young fishmonger from a provincial island, Julio Madiaga (the newcomer Roco purveys a deeply affecting performance as a new-in-town tenderfoot) arrives in the big city to search for his childhood sweetheart Ligaya (Koronel), who has been roped into shady prostitute ring from their hometown, only to be overcome by a society infested with moral turpitude and unspeakable vice, belonging to the lowest of the social rung, Julio is inexorably driven to a breaking point when he can only resort to the most radical method to express his fury and desperation, and his ultimate denouement is ominously preordained through the accretion of his violent impulse.

Brocka hones a critical eye in presenting the film's urban jungle milieu, shot in actual loci: the harsh conditions of those construction workers, one of them, Atong (Salvador, Jr.) with whom Julio befriends, lives in the squalid shanty with his younger sister (Mendoza) and their bed-ridden father (a landowner expelled out of his own property by wealthy foreigners), adjacent to polluted water, believe it or not, he is in a well-off situation (before the sorry fate catches on with his family); a chock-a-block local market where bargains for goods soon sour into personal attacks and that particular building where Julio suspects Ligaya is interned by a Chinese Filipino Ah-Tek (Yap), the rare seen ringleader, and its neon-lit signboard.

His pittance is shortchanged by the sleazy honcho and dangled by the intrusive oldest profession, sacked mercilessly when he is no longer needed, Julio witnesses accidental death befalls on the construction site, the indignant fate befalls on Atong and his family, still, he is too wet behind the ears, succumbs to the skulduggery of a policeman imposer on the street. The crescendo of injustice is which lends this film its cachet and its undimmed relevance, the whole drama probes an unyielding peer into the miasma of unrelieved depravity (just to plumb how pandemic this kind of pathology can reach with a deplorable cri-de-coeur), mirrored through Julio's nostalgic erstwhile memories (ultra-snappy edited), which we all but realize there is no way back.

An unexpected sortie in the rough trade virtually becomes the most benevolent segment among a concatenation of threnodies, where Julio reluctantly dips his toes with an epicene punter, which imbues a purely libidinous concern without any creeping malevolence, that is prevalent elsewhere. But, not everyone can find his feet in that line of business, the bar is quite high, actually. An non- judgmental take on the often pejoratively depicted subculture does flag up Brocka's unflinching resolution to spark more social commentary than he would be allowed.

Eventually, a chance meeting (a rather oddly conceived occasion wanting more context) reunites the star-crossed lovers, and Hilda Koronel recounts Ligaya's ordeal with palpable poignancy in the lengthy close-ups, only to be tritely weighed down by her inextricable maternal attachment, and spoils their final chance of a happier finale.

Upholstered with a perturbing score from Jocson, MANILA IN THE CLAWS OF LIGHT is as harrowing a story as one could envision, but under Brocka's stylish execution, it brims with an urgency to provoke, to shock, to jolt viewers into condemnation, only if he could have curtailed his exasperating anti-China slant, viewed 40-odd years later.

Over four decades later, Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag (1975) holds up as a tale of a city mostly unwilling to provide opportunities for its poorest inhabitants.

Julio Maldiaga (played by Bembol Roco), a man from the province, struggles to make ends meet in Manila, switching from one source of income to the next while dealing with all misfortunes that Manila presents his way. What keeps him going is the desire to reunite with an old flame, Ligaya, who moved to the city from their province in search of a better life.

Similar to Filipino film classics of the era, Lino Brocka's masterpiece does not hesitate portraying Manila as irredeemable--a city filled with exploited construction workers, prostitutes left with no choice but to sell their soul, thriving informal settlers, and people above their socioeconomic class who get to dictate how the world works. The angst against the Marcos-era social order is evident here, as Brocka shows the demonstrations in the streets, as well as anti-government slogans in the walls, as a backdrop of the decaying Philippine capital.

The final scene proves little has changed since Brocka's work came to life on the big screen in 1975. The Julio Maldiagas of Manila in the 21st century are often than not presented with the same demise: a literal dead end, with all the wrong decisions a person and Manila made for himself coming back to bite him.

As always with a film like Manila in thr Claws of Light, context counts above all. This is a story that has a setting in the Phillipenes of poverty and a crushing sense of 'got to get by on the skin of my teeth', not to mention the exploitation of... Everyone, whether it be through work by day, by night, human and sex trafficking, the works (only drugs seem to be absent here, but im sure where were on the margins if not out in the open). The sense of repression in this society makes Italian neo-realist cinema seen quaint, and that is a strength of Brocka's film because he is putting up a lens through how he sees it: this is horrible, this is punishing, and the only thing that can be a light is if people care about one another.

Though the thrust of the story is if Julio will find his beloved Ligaya in Manila, we dont get to that resolution until two thirds of the way into the film. Primarily this is about how someone who is an outsider to the city as Julio is from a seaside village (though still very much of the culture and time and place), and so we are also those outsiders. This is not meant to be a subtle trip - the horrible boss of the construction workers, being paid 2.50 a day but on paper it's 4, often is munching on a cigar and has the boss ethic of any given sweatshop in history - but thats not really a detriment. We believe this setting because we believe the people. I assume most of these players are not professionals, and they do well under Brocak's direction and tight budget. So when Julio is out in the streets, or outside the building where hes mostly certain Ligaya is being stowed away, it doesn't feel like we are seeing something so set apart from a reality we can see. On the contrary, this is poverty and thr decimation of working class people everywhere.

Though criticism of the Marcos regime is not explicitly stated, it doesnt have to be. It's implicit in how so many of the people Julio comes across are mistreated (and of course some corrupt cops here and there who make no bones about stealing money and walking away help along the struggles), and of course for the women exploitation in the world of prostitution is exploitation of workers (just happens to be sex). Julio is as close as we can get to a moral compass - while his coworkers go one by one with a Booker he refuses, despite the pressure from the pump, for example - and his visions of the past are what he clings to. He doesnt see any life for himself without her, which makes for a good goal for the story, but is also his weakness - he loves this woman so much that nothing else can change for himself.

If I had a nit to pick some of the flashbacks, while effective when done in sorr of subliminal ways, become frequent to the point of repetition because what else would there be to put in this cut or scene (or it may be the flashbacks themselves don't vary, it's just the same image of Ligaya in the beach). And yet my one criticism is addressed in a way by the time the movie gets to her and the two are reunited. So many scenes, in scene after scene, almost it feels like a pattern deliberately where the idea is, "THIS is what is happening to this overworked/underpaid/tragic person being exploited by the ruling classes," and while it could easily dip into propaganda I dont see this as some negative in that Brocka's passion and intensity as a filmmaker, the commitment to realism, takes away a feeling of "this is an *agenda* as it"s about these people who exist. But all these scenes are really leading up to Ligaya, who was exploitated just about the worst of all - in one long take that seems to last for about seven or eight minutes, she tells her story to Julio in a bedroom, and it's wise to not cut away. We are here listening to her story, and unlike at other points there is no cutting away; we have to picture this for ourselves.

This is a sad and depressing story, but I didnt feel like it is a giant let down to watch because of the anthropological nature of how it's presented and how the melodrama escalates so believably. As Scorsese says in the intro on the criterion disc, this is a movie made for the people.

Regarded as the greatest Philippine film made, "Maynila sa mga kuko ng liwanag" (Manila in the Claws of Light) is one of the most poignant and accurate depictions of the plight of the poor in the urban jungle known as the city. A young and wide-eyed man from the sticks brings nothing but his simplicity and knaivety to the capital in search of his beloved after she was lured to the metropolis with promises of work and education. Once in Manila the protagonist finds himself in the hellhole of real-life scenarios where he struggles to get by in order to attain his purpose. Scenes unfold as fate brings this tale of promise and hope into a spiralling tragedy. One of illustrious director Lino Brocka's most highly regarded films the movie features his distinguished direction with a youthful Bembol Roco (in his first major role) and an attractive Hilda Koronel leading the helm as the star-crossed lovers destined to tragedy. The memorable ending is one of the great climaxes of filmdom and is one of the most stirring and affecting fadeouts in cinema history. With its depiction of grimy poverty, dimly-lit streets and establishments and gorgeous sunlight the movie is a moving glimpse in motion of Martial Law era Manila. Although there are talky slow parts that lag the flick this is a good view from start to finish. Moving and unforgettable this is one of the most accomplished portrayals of life in all its complexities and is one work of art that will stay with you for life.

In all the long, hit-and-miss years of Philippine cinema, no other movie made an impact as much as "Maynila". This movie is proof that low-budgeted movies can truly be maximized by a beautiful, thought-provoking story. `Maynila' is the tragic story of Julio (Bembol Roco), a small-town fisherman who went to the big city to search for Ligaya, his sweetheart (Hilda Koronel), losing his innocence and humanity in the process.

The acting was not superb, but the plot and storyline carried the cast all the way, making each character as memorable as the next. Julio's journey through the streets of Manila is real. The direction was extraordinary. The climax and ending of the story is as surprising as 'Fight Club' and 'Seven', but will leave you thinking and utterly breathless, applause in seat. Never has a tragedy been as beautiful as this.

Also, never will the Philippines experience a movie as beautiful as this. Never again.