Lino Brocka died in a car accident 34 years ago today. Born Catalino “Lino” Ortiz Brocka, the filmmaker was raised in Nueva Ecija. He was trained in theater during his high school days and at the University of the Philippines – Diliman, but couldn’t get roles because of his “provincial accent.”
He eventually joined the Philippine Educational Theater Association in 1972 and directed plays, such as the Filipino adaptation of Nick Joaquin’s A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino, called Larawan. Brocka directed his first full-length film in 1970, Wanted: Perfect Mother, starring Dante Rivero, Boots Anson-Roa, and Liza Lorena. It was an entry to the 1970 Metro Manila Film Festival. A decent copy of the film is available through the Solar Films YouTube Channel.
Brocka went on to direct the defining films of Philippine cinema, some of which have gone on to compete in prestigious film festivals such as Cannes. When asked what the classic Filipino films are, most people would mention Brocka’s films: Maynila, sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag, Insiang, Tinimbang ka Ngunit Kulang, and Jaguar. In 2013, the Society of Filipino Film Reviewers polled critics, filmmakers, archivists, academics, and film workers for the Best Filipino Film of All Time list, which crowned Maynila, sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag as the top film. His other films, Insiang and Tinimbang ka Ngunit Kulang, were also in the Top 10.
Apart from his films, Brocka is remembered for his activism, which seeped into his films that spotlighted ordinary people living on the fringes of society, from people in the slums, night workers, and rebels.
“I am fighting for an atmosphere wherein I could make the films I’d like to make, with the least compromise,” Brocka said in the documentary Signed: Lino Brocka. “And to do that, you have to change the system. You can’t just confine yourself to the problems of moviemaking […] like censorship and taxes and all that. In the beginning, I did not get myself involved with the parliament of the streets. I felt and I thought that by not cooperating with the government, everything would be okay. My conscience was clear and clean. Nobody can tell me that ‘You cooperated with the government that did not respect human rights, a government that declared martial law and took away the rights of its citizens’ […] All that changed one day when I read about people being imprisoned because of the president’s decree called Preventive Detentive Action. I suddenly realized that it was not enough to act individually.”
As generations of audiences and cineastes emerge, as well as techniques in film preservation, many of Brocka’s films are now reaching more viewers and even markets abroad. Last year, his underseen film Bona, starring and produced by the Superstar Nora Aunor, was restored by the French distributor Carlotta Films and boutique film distributor Kani Releasing. The film was part of the Cannes Classics line-up that year.
In the same year, his crime classic Jaguar, starring Philip Salvador, was restored through the collaboration of the Philippine Film Archive and Cité de Mémoire in Paris. It premiered at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, France. It was the first film to be nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or when it competed in the 1980 Cannes Film Festival.
Just recently, it was announced that Carlotta Films and Kani Releasing are working once again to restore Brocka’s 1988 classic Macho Dancer, starring Daniel Fernando, Allan Paule, and Jaclyn Jose.
Remembering the National Artist for Film during his 34th anniversary, it is important to remember that Brocka was clear in the kind of artistry that fueled his practice. He was for the people and freedom of expression. He said, “You cannot separate what is happening in the country, the realities around, with the realities of filmmaking.”
