The film follows Clara Valdez (Charo Santos-Concio), dissatisfied with her career as a fashion writer, as she tries her hand in the world of investigative journalism. The first assignment that landed on her lap is the case of a woman named Monica (Amy Austria) who has fallen into a state of catatonic mutism after having killed his husband and his party mates. What follows is Clara's inquiry of sorts to get to the bottom of the murderous act.
It is commendable for Director Diaz-Abaya and writer Lee to devote their energies to explore marital rape and abuse, a subject matter that still is topical. What made this one special was that the laws designed to protect Filipina women against their vile spouses were a bit hazy in the late '70s, so this movie is a kind of a cinematic cause célèbre. It's just unfortunate that the story ended up becoming a half-baked attempt in upending the Filipino society's gender and sexual politics with its shaky foundation of underdeveloped and asinine characterizations. And conflicting tones in the narrative didn't help as well, only created a jarring feeling especially for one that is supposed to condemn domestic abuse.
And there's Clara's lover Jake (Johnny Delgado), for instance, which turned out to be a flawed character that did not help present the existence of a more enlightened Filipino male that's more receptive to Clara's ideals regarding the switching/sharing of gender roles. The character came off as a facile and a bit flippant. So heavy on the male bias, and very off-putting such a lopsided swipe on the Filipino patriarchy. The awfulness of the sweeping generalizations that were not only restricted to the dialogue certainly didn't help. Nobody needs to pressure anyone in presenting solutions to sort out such problems in a movie. It certainly could have been grand if there was a character that could have addressed ways to shift the antiquated conservative mores prevalent during that time. A missed opportunity, that one.
And then there's the notorious rape scenes, a migraine-inducing devil's fart those. The fact that the emotional anguish captured was too graphic even though it's not that heavy on violence or nudity, it is damn too effective for the film's good that ends up exploiting a sensitive subject matter that it is supposed to condemn. A bleak affair, all emotion, a sadist show that just left the aggrieved character cornered. There's even a scene in the movie where this exploitation for the sake of film and print revenues is discussed, but that was just nothing more than a facetious affair which is a shame because finesse and comprehensive knowledge of psychology are a must-have whenever attempting to make a bona fide legal drama which is supposed to be this one.
A zeta-minus.
It is commendable for Director Diaz-Abaya and writer Lee to devote their energies to explore marital rape and abuse, a subject matter that still is topical. What made this one special was that the laws designed to protect Filipina women against their vile spouses were a bit hazy in the late '70s, so this movie is a kind of a cinematic cause célèbre. It's just unfortunate that the story ended up becoming a half-baked attempt in upending the Filipino society's gender and sexual politics with its shaky foundation of underdeveloped and asinine characterizations. And conflicting tones in the narrative didn't help as well, only created a jarring feeling especially for one that is supposed to condemn domestic abuse.
And there's Clara's lover Jake (Johnny Delgado), for instance, which turned out to be a flawed character that did not help present the existence of a more enlightened Filipino male that's more receptive to Clara's ideals regarding the switching/sharing of gender roles. The character came off as a facile and a bit flippant. So heavy on the male bias, and very off-putting such a lopsided swipe on the Filipino patriarchy. The awfulness of the sweeping generalizations that were not only restricted to the dialogue certainly didn't help. Nobody needs to pressure anyone in presenting solutions to sort out such problems in a movie. It certainly could have been grand if there was a character that could have addressed ways to shift the antiquated conservative mores prevalent during that time. A missed opportunity, that one.
And then there's the notorious rape scenes, a migraine-inducing devil's fart those. The fact that the emotional anguish captured was too graphic even though it's not that heavy on violence or nudity, it is damn too effective for the film's good that ends up exploiting a sensitive subject matter that it is supposed to condemn. A bleak affair, all emotion, a sadist show that just left the aggrieved character cornered. There's even a scene in the movie where this exploitation for the sake of film and print revenues is discussed, but that was just nothing more than a facetious affair which is a shame because finesse and comprehensive knowledge of psychology are a must-have whenever attempting to make a bona fide legal drama which is supposed to be this one.
A zeta-minus.
