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.