Lilet Never Happened (2012)

A look at child prostitution in Manila.

Director:

Jacco Groen

Writers:

Jacco Groen, Roy Iglesias (co-writer)

Stars:

Sandy Talag, Johanna ter Steege, John Arcilla

5 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Sandy Talag	...	Lilet
Johanna ter Steege	...	Claire
John Arcilla	...	James
Angeli Bayani	...	Rosing
Dorothea Marabut-Yrastorza	...	Tessie
Jermaine Patrick Ulgasan	...	Dino
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Timothy Castillo	...	Nonoy (as Tim Mabalot)
Grace Constantino	...	Madame Curing
Grundy Constantino	...	Madam Curing
Antonette Garcia	...	Millie
Dorothea Marabut	...	Tessie
Marife Necesito	...	Alice

Storyline

The film Lilet Never Happened is a character driven story about Lilet, a maladjusted Philippine street-girl, who becomes Manila's most famous child prostitute. International social worker Claire desperately tries to safe Lilet from the sex industry but she falls again and again. Though Lilet gets many opportunities to quit, she stubbornly chooses the hard way.

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Plot Keywords:

social worker | prostitution | child prostitution | snow white | waitress | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site

Country:

Netherlands UK Philippines

Language:

Filipino Tagalog English

Release Date:

10 January 2013 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

Lilet, której nie bylo

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film and Music Entertainment (F&ME), Springfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Winner, Outstanding Achievement in Acting-Global Feature, Sandy Talag for Lilet Never Happened (2012), Oaxaca Film Festival 2013.

User Reviews

On the surface, it's easy to misunderstand.

The plot of this movie is about child prostitution in the Philippines. I'm sure when this movie is advertised it was advertised as being about the crusade to end child prostitution.

But after watching the movie.. I am moved to say something that will not necessarily endear me to other people. In fact, most of my friends would even hate me for it. So here it is: I do not care about child prostitution. It literally does not bother me that underage girls in poverty stricken parts of the world are out there prostituting themselves for cash. It does not offend me that men want to sleep with very young innocent-looking girls. And finally, it does not even concern me that the practice is widely overlooked by law enforcement.

I must sound like a cold uncaring bastard. But really I'm not. I DO want it to stop. But I believe that solving the problem must happen in a different way. Try solving poverty first. Try creating better education. Try giving people a reason to cease their bad habits and better themselves. Try giving them hope for a future.

Do I claim to know how to do this? Not necessarily. But stepping in and arrogantly saying, "This is bad and we have to change it" is more often than not a pointless expression. It leads nowhere, it changes nothing. Very often our audacious fervor to save them does nothing more than insult them; lowering their very desperate attempts at survival to the level of a base evil. Then we presume to save them from it. The fact that people, even young people, are having sex does not bother me. What bothers me is that they are poor, uneducated, fearful and hungry, and desperately trying to make their lives meaningful in a world that offers them no guidance.

This movie did not seem to me to be about child prostitution at all. It seemed to be more about trying to make a child see that her future depends on her actions. How do you convince a child to walk a different path in life when everyone she knows, everyone she either loves, respects or hates, is on a path to poverty and pain? This was the real point of this film. Lilet's prostitution seemed like it was a fairly small part of the big picture.

The movie was very good. The acting and filming and music all came together pretty seamlessly. I just felt that the published plot lines and topics were rather misleading. What I found in this film was not a challenge to the practice of child prostitution, but rather a brilliant look at the life of a young lady who was trying to decide which path to walk to her future.

If we want to end child prostitution, we must show them the way, and walk it with them.