INSIANG -- The truth, the real and the classic by: Uel Ceballos

photo clip from the movie Insiang

Set in the slum area of the country, Insiang was opened with the montage of a depressed location in its different shots and angles. Lino Brocka had shamelessly shown here the Philippines in its worse poverty-stricken state. It was released in the year of 1976 during the Martial Law period (under Marcos regime). Just when the first lady Imelda Marcos stood firmly to her beliefs of “the truth, the good, and the beautiful” and thereby claiming the duty to act as the star to light the poor men’s way, Lino Brocka and Mario O’ Hara boldly made a film that demonstrated the Philippines in its ugliest and worst condition. Insiang not just challenged Imelda’s principle but slapped hardly the administration as the film frankly stated the real circumstances in the country.

photo clips from the movie Insiang

Insiang told the story of a pretty young woman who strove hard to get the affection of her mother. Her father left them for another woman and her mother so bitter and infuriated had diverted her grudges onto Insiang. The film was made richly with interesting conflicts and it was bombarded with poverty issues,which included the effects it had on each member of the society. The story of Insiang was made with attention-grabbing plot that would hold you still on your seat up to the last minute of the movie. This dramatic film strongly stirred sympathy for Insiang who was harshly challenged by fate, which left her seeking for revenge.

Hilda Koronel as Insiang

Actress Hilda Koronel had given us here a knockout performance, as she not only excellently portrayed the character but proven as well that no other actresses in her generation would be more fitted for the role but she alone. Kudos to the whole casts and to the production team, whom with all their joint efforts had made the film a big hit that Insiang became the first ever Filipino film to go into the Cannes Film Festival. Its entry to Cannes did not win the favor of the Marcos but the administration barred instead the showing of film in France. Small wonder why the Marcoses wouldn’t want to show off the film in the festival where other foreign countries would be present – Insiang described Philippines in ways that didn’t complement to Imelda’s own version of “the truth, the good and the beautiful”. However, just as the movie was brazenly produced and shown in the Philippines, there was nothing indeed to stop the production team especially by that time that they had already gotten the attention of one of the most prestigious films festival in the world. In spite of the prohibition of Marcos to bring the movie to France, the producer had bravely sneaked the disc by carefully hiding it in her baggage and flying Insiang to the Cannes Festival.

It has been three decades now since Insiang was first released, but until today, you can still see those same sceneries that you have seen demonstrated in the 1976 movie. It seemed like Philippines has still a long way to go before it could finally lessen if not eradicate the issues of poverty.

For this classic Filipino film that blatantly discussed the society’s issues even if it could mean threat and danger to the lives of the whole production team, let’s drink to it with the perfect rate of 10 shots of espresso!

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Movie details:

Title: Insiang

Director: Lino Brocka

Writer: Mario O'Hara, Lamberto E. Antonio 

Casts: Hilda Koronel, Mona Lisa, Ruel Vernal, Rez Cortez

Dog Tooth and the Classical Hollywood Cinema by Benj Ramos

image from impawards.com

There have been changes on the ways the film makers tell their stories. For commercial purposes maybe or just merely the influence of time, but one thing is for sure, film makers express their masterpiece in a not-so-contemporary ways.

Dog Tooth (Kynodontas) has been one of the films that deconstructs the "normal way" of film narration. Through its out-of-the-box scenes, the director, Yorgos Lanthimos, challenges the current (and even the contemporary) form of storytelling.

The continuity editing that are present from the classical Hollywood cinema is also visible in Dog Tooth. However, it lacks casual explanations. There are no explanations as to why a certain scene is happening. On the other hand, classical Hollywood films vividly present the story's cause and effect. 

This 2009 Greek film has shown the intersectionality between the contemporary form and the surreal/modern form. When it comes to cinematic space and time, we know that it runs chronologically. Although at times we feel that there are missing scenes, and it jumps from one situation to another without visual justification, the film still let us identify time through day and night and with no flashbacks and other conventions of time story telling.

In the classical Hollywood cinema POV, eyeline matches and shot-reverse shots act as a help to give the audience the story telling we expect. However, gives us headless shots, awkward head rooms, and weird mis-en-sine.

On the other hand, the films conformity to classical Hollywood cinema is present on characters. The family has been consistently abnormal from the beginning to end. We know that the parents are aware of their actions, and they were introduced to the film as who they are. Just like the classics, it is loyal to introducing the characters to satisfy the audiences' need of trait and character references.

Despite all, this Cannes winner revolves around the story of children who were raised differently by their parents. They remained ignorant and looks at the world in a way you can't imagine. They were saturated in false beliefs, deception and urban legends. This Oscar nominee for best foreign language deserves my 8 espresso shots for a peculiar film wizardry!