Insiang

Introduced by Phillip Lopate, followed by book signing

Dir. Lino Brocka. 1976, 95 mins. Philippines. DCP. With Hilda Koronel, Mona Lisa, Ruel Vernal. Filipino director Brocka’s breakthrough feature is a gritty melodrama and tautly constructed character study set in the slums of Manila. Young Insiang leads a quiet life dominated by household duties, but after she is raped by her mother’s lover and abandoned by the young man who claims to care for her, she exacts vicious revenge. Insiang is a savage commentary on the degradations of urban poverty, especially for women  

“The film’s psychology is intricate and subtle,” Lopate writes. “Still, it is the tactility of desire and matter that leaves the deepest impression.… Insiang may not have been as explicitly political as many of Brocka’s later movies would be, but it insinuated a clear politics about the urban poor, merely by depicting their living conditions. This Filipino reality was one the dictator Marcos would have definitely not wanted the world to see. At the same time these slum dwellers are never presented as mere victims; they possess agency and enormous, if spiteful, vitality and a willingness to engage with one another, inflicting pain or tenderness and the situation arises.”  

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). There is a $1.50 transaction fee per ticket for all online purchases. The cost of admission may be applied toward a same-day purchase of a membership. 

Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission.