Misteryo sa tuwa

A simple barrio infested by the Huk (rebel group in that era) in the 1950's witnessed a plane crash. The people rushed to the crash site and three men, Johnny Delgado, Tony Santos Sr and Ronnie Lazaro got lucky and found a suitcase full of money. But what happened next is anything but luck for the three. The town mayor was approached by officials to find the money but they were not able to. A witness who saw the three told the mayor and they concocted a plan to get the money.

This movie was among the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines production at the time. Not only does it deal with greed, it also shows us that money brings out the evil in men. It also shows the irony of our political system even in the 50's; the mayor who was elected by the people is the bad guy and the Huks get blamed for the mishaps even if they are not the real culprits. P

Watch out for the ear cutting scene, this is way ahead of Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. My favorite quote, "Kung Kailan tayo maraming hawak na salapi, at saka tayo nagkaroon ng mabigat na problema" (it's when we got a lot of money that we also got a big problem)

The 50's setting is believable, the barrio is so remote that people just walk going to where they need to go, there was no electricity, they just live simple lives. Except for the shootout towards the end, which I find too convenient, the story and script is solid and should go down in Philippine cinema as one of its gems.

OT: This is incorrectly translated. Misteryo sa Tuwa literally means Mistery at/in "Tuwa". "Tuwa" as a word also translate as joy, which might be the reason there is some confusion with the translation.

After an airplane fell in some mountain in Quezon, a bunch of villagers dashed to the mountains and tries to get everything they could get. Three men luckily found a bag full of money, and decided to keep it to themselves and begin life anew. When a local councilor heard of this, he tries to snatch the money away at all cost.

Very good and quite forgotten at that. I think this is primarily because Abbo De La Cruz never really had another big film in general AND most of its star are famed character actors who are more famous as sidekicks of much more popular actors of that time. This was one of the Marcos' Experimental Cinema films that shows a rather higher production value at the time (ie use of actual airplane during the crash scene) with heavy themes.

Gladly, this was not a victim of the "exploitative" drive of that era. It did not seep the common thread of joining sexploitation with its theme. This was just a film about a bunch of villagers AND while there is sex, it is not used as a primary push for the narrative at all.

Performance wise, this strays heavily with almost all the films I had watched that includes poverty of Marcos time. Especially because, its much positive overall(which is such rarity in top films of that era), and again sex is not a factor. Its about people who just wants to get out of their situation and survive. In addition, the acting here is sublime but is not that mannered. Its the most natural of its era bar the Abaya films BUT I guess its grim violence during its mid-section really made it less favorable for TV showing.

The only huge negative for me, is that I felt the ending quite rushed but this is a great film.

Sadly, the ABS restoration has some problems. Some of the print clearly shows deterioration beyond restoration but I am glad to at least be able to see it. This was a great surprise that I think people should watch.

Highly Recommended.