Maynila sa nga kuko ng liwang

Maynila sa nga kuko ng liwang is a great film and very enjoyable despite its age. I really like how they started the movie with multiple shots over the busy Manila I believe that the purpose of these shots is to show the viewer that the main setting would be more of the less fortunate and Filipinos struggling with money. Then we meet Julio, who is about to work for a construction company, the only thing we know about him is some flashbacks of a girl who is presumably his old lover. For me this is an interesting approach because personally if I know very few things about a character I can lose interest but the film did great is that It had an element of the flashback of Julio’s old lover, which is enough to keep me in the story. The whole construction story angle really opened my eyes it dealt with poverty in the Philippines I also like how most of the side characters talked about studying which for me is a way for the filmmakers to tell the Filipino youth to stay in school and have a chance at a better life. To me showing the busy Manila ties in well with the construction storyline because it shows that Manila is not as glamorous as what the province thinks because it was revealed that Ligaya only left the province to have a better life but Manila was actually not what they think it is. Then with knowing the past of ligaya we are truly invested with Julio’s search for ligaya in which we can sense his desperation and how he is slowly losing his mind which for me is an easter egg for the end of the film. Then there was a scene in which the construction head is letting people go, which for me the filmmakers did well because after every name said you can sense the hopelessness of every worker and the desperation of their name not being said it also helps that multiple scenes of the movie that the construction head is seen as a merciless and unforgiving boss and when Julio’s name is finally called we are left heartbroken and clueless for what is next for the film.

For me the prostitution plot is not really part of the main story and is just for laughs and the only thing it contributes to the main arc is the Julio struggling with money. That being said I believe that it did a great job of giving us a breather when it comes to having heavy scenes like when he was about to sell his body the cat is always in the way making a funny scene. It is very important because the rest of the film is very heavy and that having breaks can play with the viewer’s expectations when it comes to the tone of the film. The film when it comes to Ligaya gives us great mystery because like Julio we don’t know what happened to her. The only thing that we know is that a girl from Manila took her and that she escaped and she went missing and from my understanding is that that girl works in some Chinese shop. Julio is always in that Chinese shop and when he finds the girl he is suddenly stopped by a guard. He is suddenly giving a book with Ligaya’s writings which the guard stole which makes Julio more desperate and buys a screwdriver which is also an easter egg for the ending. This scene plays with our emotions and that like Julio we are clueless when it comes to Ligaya’s whereabouts and when we see a glimmer of hope to find her but we are left with nothing and lose even more hope because the writings of ligaya is now stolen. Then we finally meet ligaya what I love is that Julio had to chase ligaya to the church this adds suspense for us viewers and when they meet we are left with a sigh of relief. We then learn more Ligaya and are shocked that she is now married with an abusive husband and she has a child. The filmmakers did a great job with the emotional aspect, because we can sense the fear especially when Julio was pushing an escape and she is really scared by this idea that makes us the viewer scared for her also but she decides to escape. Then we are also waiting for her to escape with julio but when she doesn’t we are left with an open mind we are also clueless why she didn’t come and are left with multiple possibilities of what could happen by the writers. Then we found out she was killed by her abusive husband and what I like about these scenes is that we see Julio’s face and we see the desperation and anger of that character, and we see him go full circle giving up in life and won’t care as long as he gets his revenge. He then stabs the husband which makes him crazy that is hinted on the whole movie his desperation to find Ligaya and him getting a screwdriver so this was always going to happen and The filmmakers did a great job with easter eggs and hints for these scenes. They also played with our expectations and that when he found ligaya that it was going to be a happy ending like normally in the movies but for this one it didn’t happen and we are left shocked besides the hints because of expectation. The final scene is a chase down in which all we can sense his fear with him running and finally trapped, and great camera shots with his face and his grabbing his weapon. When he finally dies, we can see his face and his death telling the viewer the end of his life and the movie and make us leave the movie with a heavy heart.