Diary entries forManila in the Claws of Light
Manila in the Claws of Light
March Around Cinema '24 (26/30): Philippines 🇵đź‡. An Philippine cinema exponent that until long ago was one of the most difficult to see, Manila in the claws of Light is possibly considered the country's greatest exponent, as is its director, both for the portrait at the time and for the subject matter, just as raw. Comparable to films of the decade such as Taxi Driver or Midnight Cowboy with the sober, mundane and everyday overtones of such a savage society (in a more metaphorical sense) and urban poverty, for the sake of justice, salvation, and at the same time serving as a social denunciation, without touching the pamphlet or the propaganda. In these aspects, Brocka brings a quite humanitarian direction to a Manila as wild and vulnerable as its characters, where exploitation and injustice is the daily bread. Fascinating feature film that does not lack merit, and deserves to have a place within the golden pages of cinema in general.
Manila in the Claws of Light
How horrific, to begin the world dreary in black and white, and add color to a mere construction wage worker. Or is it empathy? To give color to a life that tries and tries to scrape the surface of life? Excruciatingly real. You can almost breathe in the cement and cracked dust and dirt, choking on it through the incredible sound design, timely. There are moments when the film acts in fast transitions with fade-ins and fade-outs, blinking through the heat and fatigue. Empty stares when memory enters through the eyes. Hot flashes that glimmer with so much joy that they become fleeting as the film progresses, as our main character tries to make a life for himself in the big city of Manila. Halfway through the film, the film is queer and it was such a gentle surprise, a nice peek into the gay world in Manila in the seventies. Is queerness evil? Is it profitable? Is the queers body a means to a basic living? Is queerness a shadow cast over Manila much like the rest of the impoverished? The tired? The hungry? It all adds up to a contradictory end, how a citizen of Manila at the time is at once a the oppressed and the oppressor.
