Almost 50 years later, 'Nunal sa Tubig' remains depressingly relevant

'Nunal sa Tubig' turns 50 next year and yet, for many rural communities in the Philippines, things haven’t changed a bit.

- YVETTE TAN

I recently watched “Nunal sa Tubig” (A Mole in the Water), whose digitally restored version can be viewed on YouTube.

Written by Jorge Arago and directed by Ishmael Bernal, the 1976 film revolves around the small fishing village of Sta. Fe located in the middle of Laguna de Bay. It stars Daria Ramirez as Chedeng, the daughter of the barrio’s healer and who herself is a midwife in training; with Elisabeth Oropesa as her best friend Maria, the daughter of a fisherman; and a quite frankly sus looking George Estregan as Benjamin or “Yamin,” a motorboat operator that the two women do not know they are both involved with.

The film was restored through the efforts of ABS CBN’s Film Restoration Project using the only existing copy of the film, which was discovered in the Fukuoka City Public Archives in Japan, which explains the Japanese subtitles. More than 250 restoration artists spent around 3,600 hours restoring the film to its current condition.