Philippines 2002
110 minutes
Tagalog with English subtitles
35mm print

This film, the Philippines’ submission to the 2002 Oscars, relates the sexual relationship between a Japanese captain (played by Kenji Marquez Motoki) and a local fisherman’s wife.

Captain Hiroshi’s Filipina lover dies while giving birth to their daughter.  He soon runs out of powdered milk to feed his infant, and as a man, is quite helpless. Conveniently, he encounters Pilar (Mylene Dizon), whose husband, Diego (Jomari Yllana), is being tortured by Hiroshi’s soldiers as a suspected guerrilla. Pilar, who begs Hiroshi for Diego’s release, ends up working in Hiroshi’s household as a wet nurse for the infant. They soon become lovers, while Diego, on his release, predictably joins the guerrilla underground.

This story is of forbidden love during WWII, and also a depiction of the Brutal Japanese invasion of the Philippines.

Director: Gil Portes