Considered by many as one of the greatest Filipino movie, “Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag” combines a stellar cast and crew with a great story.
Julio Madiaga, a simple fisherman from the province, travels to Manila to find Ligaya, the woman he loves, after she went away with a mysterious woman promising a better future in the City. When he arrives, he becomes immersed in the city lifestyle and gets involved with its inhabitants experiencing extreme poverty, hard luck, and the overbearing need to grind for daily sustention.
Lino Brocka (“Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang”, “Inslang”) was coming off a hit with his previous film and was approached by the producers of this film to adapted the story “Sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag” by Edgardo M. Reyes. Brocka decided to make it a critic of the dictatorial regime of Ferdinand Marcos. He also included homosexual themes (which he always did) in the film and made the story more commercial so it would reach a broader audience. The films shows how a young naive man can be corrupted by the big city. “Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag” takes a cynical and hard look at the lives in the city which still resonate to this day because the situation hasn’t changed that much.
The beautiful images of the city and film in general were shot by cinematographer Mike de Leon, who became a famous director himself.
The cast included Bembol Roco, in his first film, Ligaya Paraiso, Tommy Yap and Lou Salvador Jr.
