SUMMARY
The irrational tyranny of a retired policeman over his abject wife and family emerges as a powerful force in this story of incest, abuse, and pervasive, internalized fear — apparently based on a true case history. The ex-policeman’s daughter Mila
(Charo Santos), two months pregnant, is allowed to marry her boyfriend Noel (Jay Ilagan),
a mild young man of chubby proportions — but Mila’s father does everything he can to make the wedding difficult. When the mother (Charito Solis)hears that her husband has given his permission for Mila to marry, she is shocked and preoccupied. Just after the wedding, she pretends to be sick, forcing the newlyweds to spend the night in her — and her husband’s — house. It quickly becomes clear that the father is not going to let his daughter leave the house again — and his ruthless dominance is unbalanced enough to indicate that a showdown will be inevitable. Meanwhile, flashbacks and dream sequences provide some clues as to who fathered Mila’s baby — an injustice in itself that merits some sort of retribution.
CRITIQUE
Thinking it was filmed way back 80’s and with the technology that time, this movie made me amazed, I was surprise that with all that they have back then can make a very good film. Storyline wise, Mike De Leon wrote the story in a very good way which showed sex, lust and violence in a straight-forward manner but with delicacy and sensitivity to the audience. It’s one of the best 80’s films that I have watched. If you have seen kisapmata, you’ll know that it was some incestuous type of story. But honestly, many will not be struck in watching this film today, because there are a lot of film stories that are way better with this story. And incest is not like a new phenomenon. According to Researchers that most often, perpetrators of incest are more likely to be males, although it cannot be denied that there are also evidences that showed, females or mothers sexually abuse their child. But in spite all that, women are still considered sexually harmless by the society. But I think this film was a success in way back in its own time.
In terms of technical, with all the shifting of the cameras, it was very flawless for me, and the lightings was almost perfect, they have used it very well done, in terms of intensifying the mood of the film which I can say make it more effective. With the lighting in the scenes which only shows the shadows or only part of the characters faces/ body it really embodied something, such as darkness, agony, fear and resentment. In spite of being a good movie, mistakes are always there, in my own opinion, I can say that there are still small mistakes in the technicalities like the sound effects, they kind of overdid that, maybe just to heighten the viewers tension, but it disappoints the viewers, for not showing what could possibly be done in the sound effects. And in the transition of the film, I think transition shouldn’t be notice in any film however in the first part of the film kisapmata, they made a sliding transition which appeared to be the opposite of the principles in post production. But it should be consistent. Consistency is one of the factors that makes a film beautiful.
