The wife of Tuning, a Filipino print-shop worker, is pregnant and the couple deep in debt. Given the situation, Tuning signs a commitment not to participate in any labour movements. When a strike breaks out in his company, he does not join the ranks alongside his companions. The couple find themselves alone and without help. This drives Tuning to take part in a burglary…
“Lino Brocka is not a young-deserving-third-world director struggling with disdain against the poor (commercial) taste of his audiences. He is undoubtedly a fighter and a good filmmaker, but first and foremost a significant character, well-known in his country and the spontaneous leader of all those who, for some years, had been wanting to change Philippine cinema. Omnipresent and tireless, a man of theatre and television, he steals his films not only from “the system” (his films are generally unprofitable), but also from his own time.”
(Serge Daney, Cahiers du cinéma no.320, February 1981, Festival des 3 Continents, “Panorama of Philippine Cinema”)
