Anak

Executive Producers: Charo Santos-Conico, Malou N. Santos
Producer: Trina N. Dayrit
Screenplay: Ricky Lee, Raymond Lee
Director of Photography: Joe Batac
Editor: George Jarlego
Cast: Vilma Santos, Claudine Barretto, Joel Torre, Amy Austria

Human labor is the top export of the Philippines: construction workers to the Middle East, nurses to the USA, garment workers to Saipan and domestic helpers to Hong Kong. This diaspora provides the backdrop for this feature from television director Rory Quintos.

After ten years working as a domestic helper in Hong Kong, Josie Agbisit (Santos) returns to Manila, now a stranger to her children. When her husband died five years ago, her employers refused to let her leave to attend his funeral. Never having realized their mother's work predicament, her children still harbor a grudge against her.

Quintos' experience in Filipino soap opera is combined with a keen sense of the feature film form, resulting in an unwavering treatment of social reality. The movie is also another vehicle for veteran actress Santos to showcase her virtuosity. The clarity of beats and the range of emotions that viewers saw in THE DOLZURA CORTEZ STORY (SFIAAFF, 1995) are exhibited here once again.

As the various layers of moral conflict lead to the movie's final confrontation, the concept of a nuclear family, once a stronghold of Filipino traditions, is redefined in an age of globalization and displaced humans.

Michael Magnaye

Check out "Anak's" offical web site at:
www.abs-cbn.com/starcinema/movies/anak/index.html