The 1956 film, Anak Dalita (The Ruins) [literally, Child of Sorrow], is a rare gem from a bygone era: rebuilding lives in the painful peace of the postwar period. It is a cinema classic made by one of the more visionary filmmakers in the Philippines, Lamberto V Avellana (1915-1991).
The film was an atypical product for LVN Pictures, Inc, which released the movie. LVN’s usual output comprised romance and fairy tales with singing and dancing, some historical epics, with stereotypical personas and plots, modeled after the Hollywood super-productions at MGM. Reflecting local customs and mores, their appeal was often limited to those within the islands.
A few socially relevant films rounded out the roster, including this movie. With its grim tone and gritty depiction of ordinary people’s struggles, and touching on universal themes, it would resemble more the contemporaneous Italian neorealist cinema exemplified by Vittorio de Sica’s The Bicycle Thief (1948) or Roberto Rossellini’s Germany Year Zero (1948); or, closer to home, Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali (1954) from India.
The title clip establishes place and mood. From a damaged stone church tower in the Spanish-era walled city of Intramuros, the camera pans slowly down to the busy, ragtag scene below. A slim feminine figure in a skin-tight, sequined dress and a gamine-like hairstyle appears, walking wearily home after apparently working through the night. With her striking mestiza (mixed-race) looks, makeup, sleek cocktail dress and careless, proud, almost defiant, strutting, Tita cuts an incongruous figure against the plainly dressed local folk of humble means and mood, and makeshift nipa dwellings built on cathedral ruins.
Thus opens this tragic thriller about people just trying to survive in the aftermath of war: a bemedaled Korean war veteran who comes home to sadness and frustration; the tough prostitute with a generous heart who falls for him; her industrious kid brother; and a rich hustler who offers Vic a solution for his money woes — but at what price?
Another teaser.
Bemedaled war vet Victor has just lost his mum and the use of one arm, gets drunk and combative, is taken home and looked after by Tita.
WATCH FULL MOVIE:
(Video/audio slightly enhanced with iMovie)
SCRIPT
Longtime Avellana associate Rolf Bayer wrote the brisk script, with input from story consultants Estrella Alfon and T. D. Agcaoili. True to its realism ends, the dialogue uses everyday language sprinkled with a smattering of literary Tagalog. It deftly avoids both the highly poetic speech as well as the simpler vernacular typical of the traditional Filipino movie. There is much dramatic tension driven by character and plot twists, with a semi-satisfying resolution at the end.
PERFORMANCES
A magnetic interplay between Rosa Rosal’s authentic and moving turn as the feisty but golden-hearted, optimistic Tita, and Tony Santos’ contrastingly glum Korean War veteran Victor elevates this work above the usual movie standard. In his debut role, the young Vic Bacani does fine as Ipe, Tita’s younger brother.
To his credit, Avellana mostly keeps a tight rein on the tendency towards sentimental melodrama onscreen. Acting here is less stilted and histrionic, and more natural than that in the usual studio outings.
STORY
While bits of social realism are woven into the tale, film noirish plot elements keep viewers engaged, as the tone turns darker and more suspenseful into the second half.
Given the conservative mores of those days, the inclusion by Avellana of unconventional social settings and a few scenes of sensuality was a daring move. However, these were not gratuitous, but actually germane to the film’s “grown-up” story.
BOX OFFICE
Not surprisingly, Anak Dalita fared poorly at the domestic box office. Perhaps, local audiences still dealing with post-war trauma only wanted to be diverted with singing, music and romantic fairy tales, and not saddening sober reality on movie screens — which is fair enough.
AWARDS
Among professional cinephiles and critics, however, the movie would garner a Golden Harvest Best Picture Award at the 1956 Asia Film Festival held in British Hong Kong [also, see this].
Today, Anak Dalita is recognized as a cultural treasure among the Filipino film classics.
RATING
4 - 4.5 stars (out of 5), especially in the context of Philippine filmography.
BEYOND THE FILM ITSELF:
ON THE TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
The original film source of the video clips reveals an unhealthy, unrestored state: tinny and murky sound, muddy hues, dust and scratches, and a jittery picture. Some owe to the less advanced film equipment used in the difficult post-war period. And yet, these issues fail to conceal the artistic merits of the film.
FILM PRESERVATION, RESTORATION EFFORTS
Unlike the case with the US and other wealthier countries where cultural heritage is valued, most Philippine administrations have neglected to look after the country’s own arts and culture sector, including its film legacy. While there exists a 40-some-year-old organization that has gone through various incarnations over the years and is now called the Film Development Council of the Philippines, few funds are set aside for the preservation and restoration of old Filipino films.
With the usual nitrate- or acetate-based film stock continuing to deteriorate while stored in a humid, tropical country without expensive, 24/7 climate-controlled conditions, the vast majority of the old reels have languished in a sorry state for decades. Most have now degraded to a point beyond rescue. It has been left to private initiatives to take up the yeoman’s task of film conservation and repair.
Philippine media giant ABS-CBN established its Film Archives in 1994 and spearheaded the expensive effort to digitize, and when feasible, restore, selected extant non-digital movies within its reach (at first, with help from Italian and Japanese companies). Sadly, the (wholly unnecessary) “COVID” shutdown and recent contrarian politics have put a damper on this project. (The harsh reality is that only a quarter of some 8,000 total films made in the last century have been found with usable copies; the rest appear to be lost forever.)
FOR THOSE SO INCLINED,
If you’re a curious and intellectually adventurous sort, and have nothing else to fill your time, do consider giving this film a look. Any comments and questions on any aspect are welcome. Despite its blemished state, the film may turn out to be a worthy watch for you, too.
Excellent summary about this film (taken from this post, slightly edited):
The film was made by the great director Lamberto Avellana and was produced by LVN Pictures. The story of a Filipino soldier who fought in the Korean war (Tony Santos) and the kindhearted prostitute (Rosa Rosal) he passionately falls for, it’s also a portrait of post-war Manila. It allows us a peek into the world of people who lived in poverty amongst the ruins of Intramuros at that time (“The Ruins” is the film’s English title): the gossip mongers, the bystanders, a young mother breastfeeding her child, drunkards, sabungeros [cockfighters]— imperfect individuals who may have nothing much but who know exactly what they’re worth.
With the plight of the poor as it’s theme, actors who were not exactly box-office draws as leads, and without a single song and dance sequence, the film almost did not get the green light from LVN grande dame Narcisa de Leon, or Doña Sisang. She always knew what kind of movies made money — and this wasn’t one of them. Good thing her son Manuel’s belief in the project was so strong that “Anak Dalita” got made.
It was most likely a good thing, too, that the director Avellana was not the type to build elaborate sets to tell his stories. The guy liked to keep it real. According to his daughter Ivi Avellana Cosio, who remembers being in the Intramuros set twice as a teenager, her father used whatever was existing in the location. For the wooden houses used in “Anak Dalita,” he just asked the residents if the production could use their home — and the dwellers would just move into a neighbor’s house for the length of the shoot. Just as real backdrops appealed to the director, so did real people — he invited select characters from the ruins to play bit roles, maybe even say a line or two, and they would say yes.
Of course, nobody really says no to Lamberto Avellana. “He could get his actors to do things they normally wouldn’t do,” recalls Avellana Cosio. For example, to walk the pretty high ledge of the church ruins with a small child, with the ledge probably not even more than 10 inches wide. “Papatayin yata ako ng tatay mo eh,” [“I think your dad is going to kill me!”] Avellana Cosio recalls Santos telling her jokingly.There were, of course, times when he just couldn’t get what he wanted — then he knew he just needed to be inventive. Like when he was trying to get the right reaction from Vic Bacani who plays Ipe, the kid brother of Tita (Rosal). Bacani, being a non-actor before “Anak Dalita”, didn’t quite know how to feign being hit by a bullet from his back. After several tries, Avellana snuck behind the boy and just when he was going to get shot, the director threw a pebble in the direction of the child’s back and got just the right response from Bacani.
Actors are usually the least of Avellana’s problems, however — maybe because he liked working with the same stars over and over: Rosal, Santos, Vic Silayan who plays the priest in “Anak Dalita,” Charito Solis, Leopoldo Salcedo and Leroy Salvador. He always drew excellent performances from these actors—that or they knew just what Avellana wanted from them.
The performances in “Anak Dalita” are so distinct from the acting in most movies of that period. The way the characters talk is closer to how real people talk. The way they react is how people react in real life. Nothing is excessive. That’s why it’s such a treat to watch Rosal take control but also have fun with her role Tita, who straddles between haughty vamp toughened by the world and softhearted woman in love. And what a thrill to watch her exchange lines with the fiercely masculine Santos who knew how to mine the few words he was given as much as the silences. They really light up the screen — and when they throw each other a look, they set it on fire.
“Anak Dalita” is also a concisely told narrative — without the meandering montages and, yes, musical numbers that characterize the films of that era (just when you think the kid was going to come up with a performance to entertain the community’s drinkers, the film moves on to more exciting things). Which should endear the movie to contemporary audiences with shorter attention spans, although there are a myriad of amusements the film also offers: seeing the Manila Hotel poolside of the 50s, and the Manila International Airport where an entire exciting sequence takes place. There’s Ms Rosal always looking smashing in the most tight-fitting dresses, and that ending — suspenseful, artistic, heartbreaking, bittersweet.
“Avellana’s best films are some of the finest examples of contemporary Filipino cinema,” says the book, “The Urian Anthology 1980-1989”—and “Anak Dalita” is rightfully considered among his best. It was the first Filipino film to win the Grand Prix for Best Picture in the Southeast Asian Film Festival in 1956, the first movie from the Philippines to get honored with an international award (Luciano Carlos previously won for Best Screenplay, and Gerry de Leon for Best Director).
🎦 HAPPY VIEWING! 🍿
BONUS:
ABOUT THE ART-SONG / KUNDIMAN (ANAK-DALITA)
The plaintive song, Kundiman (Anak-Dalita) (1917), composed by Dr Francisco Santiago (1889-1947), opens the film and gives the movie its title. It is a kundiman — a traditional Filipino art-song with a gentle rhythm expressing love (or possibly rebellious ideas in the guise of love) with a melancholic air.
Anak Dalita Lyrics
(English Translation below)
Ako'y anak ng dalita
Natigib ng luha
Ang naritong humihibik
Nabigyan ng awa
Buksan mo ang langit
At kusa mong pakinggan
Ang aking ligalig
Saka pagdaramdam
Ay, kung hindi ka mahabag
Sa lungkot kong dinaranas
Puso't diwang nabibihag
Sa dilim masasadlak
Magtanong ka kung 'di tunay
Sa kislap ng mga tala
Magtanong ka rin sa ulap
Ng taglay kong dalita
CHORUS
Sa dilim ng gabi
Aking nilalamay
Tanging larawan mo
Ang nagiging ilaw
Kung ikaw ay mahimbing
Sa gitna ng dilim
Ay iyong ihulog
Puso mo sa akin
AD LIB
Tanging larawan mo
Ang nagiging ilaw
Ay iyong ihulog
Puso mo sa akin
CODA
Ang iyong ihulog, ang iyong ihulog
Buhay, pag-asa, pag-asa
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
I am a child of sorrow,
Overwhelmed by tears.
This wailing soul here,
Has been shown some mercy.
Open the heavens,
And hear of your own accord
My troubles and my sorrows.
Oh, if you are not moved
By the sorrow I endure,
My heart and spirit are imprisoned.
In darkness I will be plunged
Ask if it is not true
Of the sparkle of the stars
Ask the clouds as well
Of the sorrow I bear
CHORUS
In the darkness of night
I lie here
Only your picture
Becomes my light
If you are sound asleep
In the midst of the darkness
Then cast down
Your heart to me
AD LIB
Only your picture
Becomes my light
Cast down, cast down
Your heart to me
CODA
Cast down, cast down
Life, hope, hope
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
#####
.
