Insiang (1976)

Directed by

Lino Brocka

Genre

drama film, rape and revenge film

Country

Philippines

Runtime

1h 35m

Rating

7.1 of 10 from 67 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young woman lives with her bitter mother in a poor Manila slum. After her mother's much younger boyfriend rapes her, she plots her revenge against him and her own unfaithful lover.

tensebleakunsettlinggrittyrawslow-burndespairingvisceral

What happens

Insiang (Tagalog pronunciation: [inˈʃaŋ]) is a 1976 Philippine drama film directed by Lino Brocka. Its screenplay, written by Mario O'Hara and Lamberto E. Antonio, is based on O'Hara's teleplay of the same name. Set in the slums of Tondo, Manila, the film stars Hilda Koronel as the eponymous character: the young daughter of a resentful mother (Mona Lisa), whose much-younger lover (Ruel Vernal) rapes her. After her assault and the betrayal of her own lover (Rez Cortez), Insiang seeks revenge. A representation of urban poverty, the film explores themes of betrayal, revenge and despair. It is the first Philippine film to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival, and to use Tondo as a shooting location. A box-office failure, Insiang received good reviews from critics (some of whom regarded it as one of Brocka's best). The film's rights were transferred to the Film Development Council of the Philippines in 2015 by producer Ruby Tiong Tan for the council's discussion with Martin Scorsese's The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, about its restoration. The restored version was selected for screening in the Cannes Classics section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and played at a number of other film festivals. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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