This graphic Fliipino exploitation film announces itself as something different in the opening scene,
in which we
see Simon, the village butcher, kill an ox by repeatedly hitting it over the
head with a hand ax, then butchering and beheading it. All the while, children
of the village are pleading with him not to kill their ox. Note that a real ox
was used.
The film was shot entirely in a remote village, and stars a former
Miss Philippines, Maria Isabel Lopez. She plays Tonya, a young woman acting as the village teacher
because their priest is away recuperating from pneumonia. She had
been in love until her former best friend (Sarsi Emmanuelle) took her would-be
lover, then left the village. Maria's dream man had been Simon the butcher, who
does double duty as the town's virgin slayer. Tonya has remained a virgin, and
seems pious on the outside, but is a caldron of lust on the inside, and
still wants Simon. When Tonya's former friend returns from Manila, where she
has been turning tricks and leading the high life, she has an American in tow,
but it
doesn't take long for her to go after Simon again, which leads to a tragic conclusion.
Silip was produced in a Golden Age of Philippine Cinema which came about
because Imelda Marcos, wife of the President and a former actress, wanted cinema
to have a larger footprint in the Philippines, and prompted her husband to
withdraw all censorship. The sudden
uncharacteristic burst of freedom led to
a group of
particularly graphic films called "pene"
films, because they featured actual penetration on screen. Silip is one of the
best, if not the single best of the pene group. Don't confuse these films with the
low-budget American films shot in the Philippines during the same era. Yes,
Silip is an exploitation movie, but it also
provides a genuine window into life in a remote Philippine village, reveals the influence of the Catholic church
there, and demonstrates the natural and healthy obsession with sex that the church tried to
suppress.
Before now, this film has only been available on a poor quality bootleg in very
badly dubbed English with Greek subtitles. Mondo Macabro has located the
original print, completely restored it, and is releasing a two disk special
which includes interviews and a choice of either the original Tagalog soundtrack with an amazing
musical score and optional English subtitles, or a poorly dubbed English track with a
cobbled-together free music score. The language selection menu strongly
and unsurprisingly suggests you view it in Tagalog.
If you are not familiar with our grading system, you need to
read the
explanation, because the grading is not linear. For example, by
our definition, a
C is solid and a C+ is a VERY good movie. There are very few Bs
and As. Based on our descriptive system, this film is a:
