Insiang and the Nature of Revenge
Busy streets, colorful dresses being hung, and errands to be run. The world of Lino Brocka's 1976 film Insiang is vibrant and full of life. Set in Tondo, a slum in the Philippines during the Marcos Administration, Insiang is a politically charged and harrowing portrayal of patriarchy, maternal ignorance and rape culture. Brocka provides not only a social commentary but a character study that questions the payoff of revenge. The vivid cinematography lets us into the condensed and impoverished community that holds our titular character; Insiang and her mother, Tonya. Insiang is demure yet kept on a tight leash, and adept at keeping her and her mother's life afloat, listening and obeying orders without resistance, and finding little refuge in her friends or others.
Contrasting the loud and lively world-building Brocka provides is Insiang's inner world and personal life. Insiang's world is cold and based on survival. Living under her overbearing mother, who despises her daughter after her husband has left with another woman, she must navigate her youth through harsh and unforgiving circumstances. When her mother's younger new boyfriend, Dado, a drunkard, moves in, tensions in the house rise as the three navigate this situation.
"Enough, Tonya, your mouth is like a machine gun," says Dado. As we first see him defend Insiang against Tonya, it is revealed that his motives are murky and malicious. Insiangs' own love interest, Bebot, is a stylish, attractive young man sporting curly hair and his mother's earrings. Bebot is desperately in love with Insiang, allured by her beauty and demeanor. His efforts, though, are wasted. Insiang hesitates to love, likely due to her parents' separation and her mother's unforgiving hold on her. She is afraid to extend herself to others and end up like her mother.
The rest of the movie pans out tragically, with Tonya and Insiang grappling with the reality they've fallen into, one that Tonya has created from the scraps of a broken marriage. And one that will turn its tables as the strained mother-and-daughter relationship falls apart and ends in violence.
Dado begins to advance himself onto Insiang, forcefully assaulting her. In tears the following day, Insiang informs her mother of what happened. Tonya, at first, believes her daughter but is convinced by Dado that he is not to blame, and his urges are brought on by temptation. Although this is not true, temptation performed by Insiang is enough for Tonya to turn her glare back onto her daughter, victimizing her even more by denying the truth and callously punishing her.
To find safety, Insiang turns to Bebot, and the two share a cheap hotel together; consummating their relationship, they make love. What seems to be a much-needed solace and comfort for Insiang transforms into a bleak emptiness. The morning after, she is left alone, waking up with nobody beside her and pleads with the hotel owner for a message from Bebot. But there is no message and no safety. Bebot, like Dado, has used Insiang, and she once again has nowhere to turn. Revenge is in the water, and the tide is about to roll in.
Tactfully, Insiang uses one of the only tangible tools she has as leverage, her sexuality and begins a fraudulent affair with Dado behind her mother's back. Dado reveals he loves Insiang and does not desire Tonya sexually. Hilda Koronel while playing the titular character, does this with a meek ferociousness. Maneuvering through her plan of revenge with sly. Often saying volumes with one glance.
The first revenge is on Bebot; initially, we see Bebot as a shoulder for Insiang to cry on, and as one of her friends says, "He's the only one who can save you." Now that shoulder is cold, and he says nothing when seeing her after they attempt to flee and their consummation. Insiang convinces Dado to beat up Bebot on her behalf, further pushing the two apart from each other and finalizing the fact that they will never be together.
Dado gets a job offer and plans to relocate and leave Tonya and Tondo behind, bringing Insiang with him instead. Before this can happen, Tonya catches onto the affection shared between her daughter and her lover. She confronts Insiang about this, and their conversation erupts. Dado walks through the door. In a fit of rage and passion, Tonya stabs Dado, killing him. Insiang watches, showing little to no emotion; she has planned this all. Tonya killing Dado was her second calculated act of revenge.
The third revenge in this film is Tonya's eventual time in prison. Insiang is now free from the forces that held her down, her mother, and her abusers.
In the final scene, Tonya asks Insiang if she is happy, assuming her daughter must be overjoyed with what she has done. This is not true; Insiang hugs her mother as tears begin to well, holding her close, attempting to recover that maternal love she has been denied throughout this whole film and once again she is met again with an icy reaction from her mother. Although Insiang found revenge, she has not found satisfaction or freedom and must still persist as a woman living in a society where she can never truly be free, so why did she do it?
The opening frames of this movie graphically shows pigs being readied to slaughter. Dado violently guts these pigs pridefully; enjoying this, practically savouring this brutality. This harsh symbolism can be seen as symbolism portraying women living under patriarchy and, in a less broad sense, the troubling circumstances and ways Filipinos felt living during the Martial Law Regime. The nature of revenge in Insiang is survival. Still, after achieving her plan, Insiang is not free from the society she inhabits and will likely get hurt again without proper ways to escape this cycle.
This whole film could be seen as an act of rebellion and, in a way, an attempt at revenge against the president of the Philippines at the time, Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda Marcos, who was pushing intense censorship during this time, and wanted this film never to be seen as it did not portray the Philippines in the way she'd enjoy, and require it. Eventually, Insiang would go on to play at the Cannes Film Festival in 1978 and was met with critical acclaim. Producer Ruby Tiong Tan even had to smuggle the film rolls in her luggage for the film to even be shown at the iconic festival.
To have the first Filipino film at Cannes be such a raw and visceral portrayal of Brocka's outspoken views against the Marcos administration and the heavy effects of women living in the patriarchal systems built around Filipino culture at the time was a feat. The film is lauded today as one of his best works and a pillar of Filipino Cinema. Although working through the censorship constraints, Brocka's direction is firm. It is filled with emotion and a gritty sense of realness, allowing the world to get a snippet of what life was like for so many, letting audiences simmer in Brocka's intent and acutely look at Filipino history and the plight of women.
Revenge can be cathartic and provide an emotional release, but will it answer your problems? In Insiang, I would say no; it has only added one more layer of disdain between Insiang and Tonya. Although Insiang smirks as her mother stabs her abuser to death, the movie does not end with her satisfaction. Instead, she must return to Tondo, the confines that she once shared with her mother, however now alone, to fend for herself. Is she better off alone?
Maybe yes, but the same dangers are not entirely removed from her life, painfully insinuating that true freedom cannot be found without broad reform to the systems that are built around you.
This isn't to say revenge can't be a solution, or it is a waste of narrative. But in storytelling perhaps it is representative of a smaller push towards achieving what you want or need even if done through violent, or unconventional means. Leaving you not too far from where you started but being able to begin moving forward.
In the current year of 2025, dominating governments and the patriarchy are both beginning to slowly find power and acceptance. It is awe-striking how ahead of its time Insiang feels, as it mirrors so many cultural and societal problems on the rise today. Although these opposing forces seem to be crawling back, it is dire to not respond with apathy, and instead maybe a bit of well calculated revenge, by means of surviving.
Brocka and Insiang pushed back against external forces through revenge and rebellion. And sometimes, the most potent revenge a person can commit is just surviving. Continuing to carve space for oneself and one's beliefs while attempting to live a whole and valuable life. We can't know if Insiang found peace and happiness, but we can hope that her vigor to live and to fend for herself has not been lost and that this may result in her one day finding a life worthy of her. And we can look back at the film as a bold piece of artistic refusal against an authoritative, arguably fascist government. Being one of the small cogs in the eventual removal of Marcos from the government just 10 years after the film's release