Review by Gary Tooze

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• Manila... A Filipino Film (Mike de Leon, 1975, 23:01): fascinating making-of documentary featuring interviews and behind-the-scenes footage
• Manila stills and collections gallery
• Visions Cinema: Film in the Philippines (Ron Orders, 1983, 40:12): Tony Rayns interviews Lino Brocka and other prominent Filipino directors.
• Signed: Lino Brocka (Christian Blackwood, 1987, 1:23:30): award-winning, feature-length documentary exploring the director's life and work
• The Guardian Lecture: Lino Brocka in conversation with Tony Rayns (1982, 62 mins, audio only)
• Illustrated booklet featuring a new essay by Cathy Landicho Clark, an archive interview with Lino Brocka and full film credits.

Two DVDs (one for each film)
 

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Description: Filipino director Lino Brocka was a force of nature in world cinema, his powerful work illuminating the harsh social realities of life in his home country. His films have been largely unavailable on DVD and Blu-ray but now, thanks to Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project, his two finest works have been rescued from obscurity and restored in 4K.

A fascinating portrait of life in Manila's corrupt, teeming urban jungle, Manila in the Claws of Light finds Julio, a 21-year-old rural fisherman, arriving in the Filipino capital to look for his girlfriend. Robbed of his cash, he struggles to survive drifting through the city in search of his beloved.

Insiang is the story of a girl who, having been raped by her mother's boyfriend, seeks comfort in the arms of her would-be suitor Bebot. Finding him little better than her attacker, she is forced to return home where she sets about exacting her revenge.

 

 

 

The Film:

Lino Brocka's films combine popular melodrama, political import, and intense realism with a vivid, economical style. Made on impossibly low budgets on the fringes of the Philippine film industry, his movies have an urgency and immediacy that spring both from Brocka's burning ideological commitments (he was one of the most outspoken critics of the Marcos regime) and his resourceful, imaginative approach to the exigencies of borderline production. Set in the Manila slums, this 1976 effort is centered on a teenage girl struggling to stay afloat in the overwhelming, dehumanizing poverty that surrounds her. Her mother, who operates a tiny fish market, takes in a local hood as a lover, but the thuggish pretty-boy is clearly more interested in Insiang. After he rapes her (in a single-take sequence astonishing in its curtness and brutality), Insiang plans her revenge—a revenge that is also a revolution against the unseen government that endorses the system of exploitation. With Hilda Koronel.

Excerpt from Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader located HERE

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

These films are part of Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project created in 2007 to help foster cooperation among filmmakers world-wide and to identify, preserve and restore endangered films representing diverse cultural heritage. BFI's package has two Blu-ray discs containing a pair of Lino Brocka's films; Manila in the Claws of Light aka "Maynila: Sa mga kuko ng liwanag" (1975) + Insiang (1976).

The restoration of Maynila: Sa mga kuko ng liwanagwa's made possible through the use of the original camera and sound negatives deposited by Pierre Rissient, on behalf of Cinema Artists Philippines, at the BFI National Archive since the early 1990s. The state of conservation of the negatives was critical. The negative was wet-scanned at 4K resolution. The digital restoration process required considerable effort due to the great number of issues affecting the negative: tears, scratches, warping, visible marks and halos. Color decay was also a significant problem. The film's cinematographer, Mike de Leon, attentively guided the grading phase and validated a positive print for reference.

The restoration of Insiang was made from the original camera and sound negatives deposited at the LTC laboratories by producer Ruby Tiong Tan. The negative was wet-scanned at 4K resolution and underwent extensive digital restoration. Portions of the film where the internegative was cut into negative were extremely damaged and two shots had to be replaced using a 35mm positive print preserved at the BFI National Archive. The color grading was supervised by Pierre Rissient. The original optical sound negative presented critical recording issues and required considerable effort to minimize the severe metallic hiss and distortion.

The image quality - both 1080P is surprisingly strong. The restorations look marvelous in HD. Manila in the Claws of Light may have had some density issues looking at the contrast. It's thick and flatter than Insiang and may have some digitization with more work required for the 4K restoration. Colors are rich and vibrant - the high resolution supports a film-like image with occasional depth. Both films are pristinely clean showcasing some hi-def detail in the infrequent close-ups. Insiang is a brighter and superior image, crisper and containing a bit of gloss. Texture is finely supported and this Blu-ray produces extremely pleasing visuals for both Brocka films. The screen captures below should give you a reasonable idea of the presentation video.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

Manila in the Claws of Light

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Insiang

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both films have linear PCM mono tracks in the original Tagalog language at 24-bit. The audio restoration seems adept as well with only a couple of imperfect sequences. The music in Manila in the Claws of Light is credited to Max Jocson and in Insiang composed by Minda D. Azarcon. The music is used very effectively and the uncompressed sound certainly adds to the viewing experience. There are optional English subtitles and my Oppo has identified it as being a region 'B'-locked.

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BOTTOM LINE:
BFI's Two Films by Lino Brocka is a fantastic package.  The Blu-rays provide a glimpse into a world cinema master story-teller that we have had limited exposure to - certainly in such improved, restored, presentations. This is a true treat and cinephiles should be eternally grateful for Scorsese's World Cinema Project and BFI.  I felt so privileged seeing these, highly impacting, films of a less-exposed culture. This is easy to put in the 'must-own' and 'don't hesitate' category for digital librarians who appreciate world cinema. Immense value here. Our highest recommendation! 

Gary Tooze

February 14th, 2017