Manila in the Claws of Light (Criterion Collection) (1975) on DVD

Actor: Hilda Koronel, Rafael Roco Jr.
Director: Lino Brocka
Genre: Drama
Year: 1975
Studio: Criterion Collection
Length: 125
Released: 6/12/2018
Rating: Not Rated (MPAA Rating)
Format: DVD
Misc/Special Features: Subtitled, NTSC, Widescreen
Language: English
Subtitles : Yes

DESCRIPTION:

Lino Brocka broke through to international acclaim with this candid portrait of 1970s Manila, the second film in the director's turn to more serious-minded filmmaking after building a career on mainstream films he described as soaps. A young fisherman from a provincial village arrives in the capital on a quest to track down his girlfriend, who was lured there with the promise of work and hasn't been heard from since. In the meantime, he takes a low-wage job at a construction site and witnesses life on the streets, where death strikes without warning, corruption and exploitation are commonplace, and protests hint at escalating civil unrest. Mixing visceral, documentary-like realism with the narrative focus of Hollywood noir and melodrama, Manila in the Claws of Light is a howl of anguish from one of the most celebrated figures in Philippine cinema.