User reviews

I picked up a copy of this on DVD while visiting Cebu, and it's a film that has stayed with me after just one viewing.

I live in Korea and there are plenty of Filipinos and Filipinas working here for little money to support their families back home. This movie was a good primer on the plight of overseas Filipino workers, though I'm sure many Filipinos have endured worse while working overseas.

I'd seen just one Philippine movie before "Anak," and I told the saleslady at the video store I got this film from to select a good movie for me instead of formulaic love stories and such. I'm glad she selected the DVD she did as I highly recommend this film.

It's sad so many Filipinos (10% of the population) have to go abroad to earn a living. The real villains are the corrupt government and social system in the Philippines as well as a runaway birth rate that dooms the people to poverty. I love the Phils and am a frequent visitor but I do see the causes of the country being a Third World country.

Where to begin ? Anak (or 'The Child' as it is known in the West) is an absolutely amazing movie, a movie so powerful that it deserves to be watched by everyone. The Story is set around Josie and her family, Many years ago - Josie had to leave her family and become a domestic over-seas so she that she could provide money to support her family, when Josies husband dies, Josie returns to her family to take over her job as mother, but when she returns, her family is anything but loving and welcoming.

The acting in this movie is magnificent, I had never heard of Vilma Santos until I watched Anak, however after seeing it I had to rent out some of her other movies, the emotion shown by Vilma, and the other actors is amazing and at times you really can find yourself believing that this family is real. There were times in the movie I laughed, times I cried, but I loved every second of it, and it blows almost every Hollywood movie out of the water.

Anak just goes to show that a movie dosn't need to have sex, drugs & violence, and also not be a Children's movie to be excellent and a must-see for the entire family

10/10

There are drawbacks in Anak, small aspects that could be left out or be more emphasized; but forget that petty cash because…

Just as I had forgotten the reason for making movies, that not all movies are justified merely as a moneymaking device where profit, spin off products and the inclusion of at least one major Hollywood movie star are dominant ingredients in the narrative formula; just as I had misplaced the argument for film production itself, Anak puts it all right again.

Quintos peels away every superfluous non-significant element and leaves us with a nucleus so pure, so strong and so universally true that it touches all of us. Separation from loved ones, sacrifices and the complexity of family relations are key components of the narrative that, propelled by brilliant acting, drives this highly realistic and touching story forward.

And realism and emotions are clues to what makes Anak such a gripping tale. In other, more conventional, 'touching' films I often feel left off with an awkward, almost embarrassed, feeling of having been tricked to tears by elementary storytelling mechanisms. But the feeling of a natural, almost improvised acting in Anak, conveys everyday life as well as the intense moments with an exceptional credibility which makes the overall narrative so strong it should leave its audience feeling that this is one of the primary reasons for storytelling.

The Philippine president praises the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) as hero. This is nothing more than delusive. The reality of OFWs is almost slavery exporting. In this film, Josie, the mother, was locked in the house while her master and his family were on long vacation. That was why she could not attend her husband's funeral! Total remittance from the OFWs, who send most of their earnings from such humiliating work, amounts nearly US$ 10B annually. This film raises a serious issue in Philippine society, however, I think most of Philippine politicians may not even recognize how desperate a country which relies on exporting their people for such slavery jobs.

They leave their family because they love family. Mother leaves her children whom she wants to embrace always, and works for them sacrificing everything. Children feel they are abandoned by their mother even they know their daily life is supported by her remittance. Mother's love ends up with broken relationship. What a tragedy! The life of the family looks not bad in Philippine standard. In fact their house is large enough even in Japanese standard. However, their father, who looks a good man, do not have stable job, if not minimal income which is hard to afford their life. In fact, even working abroad as a maid is a kind of status.

I don't understand why the mother does not cancel going to Hong Kong and choose yet another life, to live with her family with less income, after reconciliation with her daughter. Unless Filipinos decide to quit working overseas for little money, I think this country would not become better.

By the way, this is the first film I saw Vilma Santos. Her performance is superb. Few actresses can act both comical and serious sides of the same character.

I absolutely loved this film! At first I was a bit skeptic, but man....what great acting!! It seemed so real...not far from reality. Claudine did a great job as the snot nose brat of a daughter and Vilma was awesome as the loving, but misunderstood mother. It's a great movie...go rent it!!

i have watched this film several years back and when i finally landed in a place where there are millions of ofws, i felt compelled to write a review of it even though i believe no one would even bother reading it.

i have to be frank to say that the producers of this movie tried to beat the emotional punch of ofws, some 7 million of them in 2000, to make sure that they had a fan base that would solidly usher this movie to box office revenues and critical acclaims. but one could clearly see right through the motives of the producers that they intend on getting money even if it meant preying on the emotional vulnerability of ofws.

they have stuck on such an idea that they have discarded the essential points in movie making.

first, the dialogs and conversation flows were downright ridiculous.they were talking so fast as if they were in a hurry.

even if the movie casted very good actors, vilma santos, cherry pie picache, to mention a few, it just really cannot make up for a bad set of dialogs; it even made them appear laughable. just bad, shallow and unlife-like dialogs. the untalented writers even attempted to make the movie appear intense by drenching the dialogs with offensive and obscene expletives even in scenes that did not really need them. this shallow style of scriptwriting made this movie a lot more unbearable as there were unnecessary remarks in a lot of wrong places.

the character of the protagonist was poorly conceived, clichéd, just plain and vividly shallow. why would you despise your mother, who, from previous countless accounts of domestic helpers, had been enduring unimaginable working conditions in other country, just because she missed or unintentionally failed to reply to your letters. how shallow does that plot goes? if this description needed a metaphorical comparison, it should be that this story must have been written by a 4th grader for his short story requirement. i don't understand why such shallow (pardon the over-usage) concoctions pass out as a plot for a movie. maybe the producers also think of the audience as shallow and there was no need to go deeper. honestly in my opinion, they may be quite right. but it was not right to follow the audience's lead. the movie makers should always be the one raising the bar.

second, some angles were terrible. some perspectives were so focused on capturing the intense emotional portrayals of the actors that the important elements in the background were obliterated. again, bad directing. the director just doesn't know what he or she was doing or is it even correct to call her/him a director.

third, many scenes were superfluous and unrealistic. in a certain scene, the mother was grabbing the daughter and wouldn't let go of her for no reason even if the daughter had no plans of going anywhere. this bad situation was so forcefully implemented so that it would appear that they were wrestling. on top of it, the people cheered as if they were watching a wrestling derby. how shallow and mindless of a plot is that that it just made me cringe. we know that when people argue, especially if it involves someone who is a senior, spectators would tend to keep their mouth shut and retreat to the sides. the people involved in the writing of this script obviously do not know what the realities of human psychology and sociology are. they just wrote it so that they had something to write. truly, they obviously lacked the necessary education and talent. they did not even bother to do a little research. they just had the stupid idea in order to have something to call a story.

i still have yet to see a movie that doesn't capitalize so much on the manipulation of emotions for the purpose of amassing revenues. while it is true that movie making is also dictated by economic tides, it is also important not to leave out the essential and artistic aspects of making it. the Philippine cinema is not actually young but it seems to be doting and becoming more and more immature while many watchers have become more and more intelligent.