Kisapmata

De Leon's film amply confirms the power of the work currently being done in the Filipino cinema. Based on a real- life murder scandal dating from 1961, its carefully handled story of incestuous obsession, bolstered by strong performances, builds to a climax which would be melodramatic in less skilful hands. But on the way it also paints a frightening portrait of terrible family tensions, edge-of-insanity patriarchy, and Catholic repression which makes its wider social implications abundantly and devastatingly clear.