A glimmer of hope in the city jungle

Film review: Laman

Maryo J. de los Reyes’ current film Laman plays another variation of the common theme of many other movies, the best of them being Maynila Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag and Insiang, both made by Lino Brocka. The idea is that the city is a jungle full of beasts and hidden traps and danger, and that unwitting country folk who set foot on this hellhole are easy prey, like babes in the woods doomed to trip, be corrupted and destroyed.

The "babes" here are a young couple, Dodong and Lolit, classic promdis who are naive enough to think that the pasture in Metro Manila is greener than what they have in their impoverished island village. So they "graze" in the pasture provided by Dodong’s childhood friend Omar, who has become "citified" and has in fact become a hustler who survives as lover and factotum of a middle-aged woman called Nipsie.

Nipsie is useful to Omar not only because she is his employer (she runs a lechon house and milks her Japanese lover and benefactor) but also because she is his sexual outlet, though Omar is not beyond turning to the neighborhood kanto gay for occasional sexual release and petty cash when the situation so demands. But for sure, love is a luxury in this town.

Which is what the newly-arrived couple have–true love which in this environment is put to a lot of pressure. At bedtime, they make passionate love which is rather a scandalous affair in a fragile, rickety room because at the other side, all the moans and groans of love and the frenzied creaking of the bed could be heard. No problem for Omar who just sticks his ear to the wall while spanking the monkey.

Soon the situation has bred a dangerous and explosive "love rectangle."

Predictable the movie is not. Omar seduces Lolit and manipulates Dodong into joining a menage a trois. Dodong urges Lolit to return to the province with him but Lolit is trapped emotionally. Meanwhile, Nipsie offers Dodong another alternative to a better life.

All the while, the moviegoer is kept guessing what course of action each of the four characters will take. Will Lolit have a change of heart? Will Dodong just snap and make a tragic outburst? Will Omar get his just desserts? Will Nipsie succeed in "saving" Dodong?

The title has dual meaning. First it refers to flesh, this too-too solid thing we all know would melt. Then it suggests substance, that which separates serious, "meaty" films from slim, exploitative sexy peep shows.

The story which the director wrote and which Wally Ching has turned into a screenplay has it–laman. It shows the inevitability of corruption in a substandard habitat and the human reaction to a violation of a Commandment ("Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife").

At the same time, it touches upon such Filipino attitudes or values as bahala na and utang na loob (the nearest English translation we could think of is "debt of gratitude" but the phrase isn’t sufficient to place it in the proper Filipino context), and examines how these values fare in the face of betrayal and infidelity.

Breathing life to the quartet of characters are a competent set of actors who benefit from the director’s assured hand. De los Reyes himself must have been aware of the limitations and strengths of his actors so he has cast and guided them accordingly.

Lolita de Leon as the overly-endowed, retiring Lolit fits her role like gloves. The tenor of her voice, her accent, and awkward manner appropriately reveal diffidence, weakness, low social status. In contrast, Elizabeth Oropesa as the sexually aggressive Nipsie is bright and always engaging–hardly surprising considering she has always been a good, forceful actress.

Omar is the least sympathetic of the characters, the "villain" of the piece, so when Albert Martinez plays him with customary gusto, he is overstating Omar’s nasty quality (the guy is just a heel, not a great evil). But then again, maybe the actor, like his manipulative character, is only trying to build audience hatred for Omar, so that at the proper time, moviegoers would cheer or hoot.

In the role of Dodong, Yul Servo, erstwhile a wayward Filipino youth in Batang West Side, is convincing as the silly cuckold but manages to make him a consistently sympathetic character. Though Dodong is a man of contradictions – weakness and strength, insecurity and self-assurance, despair and hope – Servo makes him the one positive element in the entire movie, the light at the tunnel’s other end. The mud, ugliness, and treachery everywhere cannot weaken Dodong’s resolve, and though his feet may get wet and cold sometimes, his heart remains pure, his moral values intact.