Fiction

INSIANG

Lino Brocka
Philippinen 1976
95 min
V'09

Lino Brockas Insiang is a candid look at slum life, that ugly social reality we always turn our eyes away from out of ignorance, apathy or shame. It is a dramatization of the evil effects of poverty on a place and its people. Specifically, it is a tale of rivalry, vengeance and corruption, the decline of a young girl from naivete and innocence to cruelty, immorality and malevolence.
The role of Insiang is played by Hilda Koronel with such depth and brilliance that no awards for this year will be complete without the stiff competition she offers. One of her competitors should be Mona Lisa who plays the role of her passionate mother Tonia and rival in love, full of fiery emotion and icy sensuality. The conflict is basically a triangle involving the mother and daughter who furtively share the love of the slum goon and Dado, played by Ruel Vernal.
Dado shacks up with Tonia, but in a moment of tenderness and genuine sincerity, confesses to Insiang his deep feelings for her. With his looks, his power, his physical strength and his earnestness, Brocka makes it easy for us to accept how Insiang can possibly fall for a man who had earlier raped her. Insiang is vulnerable, and he is the only person in her lonely tormented life to give her the protection, the attention and the affection that other people have failed to give her. (...)
Slum life is not for anybody because the slum eats its own children, as it has \"eaten\" Insiang. Unless one is a social worker, builder or messiah, he does not deserve the slums especially when he has an alternative, because poverty in the slum is not just economic, but intellectual, cultural, moral and spiritual as well.
(Mario Hernando, \"The Philippine Daily Express\", 1976)

Credits
  • Hilda Koronel - Insiang
  • Mona Lisa - Tonia
  • Ruel Vernal - Dado
  • Rez Cortez - Danny
  • Marlon Ramirez
  • Nina Lorenzo
  • Mely Mallari
  • The Peta Kalinangan Ensemble
  • Tommy Yap
  • Mario O'Hara
  • Lamberto E. Antonio
  • Conrado Balthazar
  • Rudy Baldovino
  • Augusto Salvador
  • Minda Azarcon
  • Fiel Zabat
CineManila
35 mm
col
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