In the Navel of the Sea

Abaya builds up a convincing portrait of day to day life on a poor Philippine island, using local non-actors, an observational style and a simple, laidback narrative. There's a stunning moment when one villager is crucified to mark Easter, nails and all, though none of the villagers seems particularly impressed. Ethnographic interest aside, however, there's not an awful lot going on here. To his embarrassment, Pepito grows up to become a male midwife ('Sometimes when I look at a woman's face all I can see is a uterus!'), but his romantic longings touch on wider concerns about the future of this way of life. A bit too soft to hold the attention.