Manila in the Claws of Light

Julio comes to Manila from the provinces. His fiancée Ligaya was taken to the city by a woman promising work, and there has been no word since. He looks for her. He has to live until he finds her: he works on building sites, is paid by the day, the foreman shorts the money, and he sleeps in shacks. The city grinds him down slowly. In the end he learns where Ligaya is. Lino Brocka directs. The source is Edgardo Reyes's novel. The film counts as the most important work of Philippine cinema and was made under martial law during the Marcos period. The subject is migration and labour. The absence of safety on the sites, the deaths of workers going unrecorded and the way daily wages are cut are shown in detail. Brocka films no picturesque part of the city; the outer districts of Manila, its markets and its night streets are the whole of the narrative. The tone is without hope and the ending is openly harsh; the narrative offers no way out. For a long time it circulated without a good print; it was later restored and shown again internationally. Lino Brocka fought censorship openly and was detained for his political position. Who it is for: viewers who follow the classics of Southeast Asian cinema and social realist narrative. Who it is not for: it is heavy, without hope, and the violence is direct.