Hubad sa Ilalim ng Buwan

English Title: Naked Under the Moon

Good Harvest Productions, Color, 110 mins

Synopsis

After their fishpond business fails, the Pajaron family retreat to their ancestral home. Charcoal-making becomes their means of livelihood. Lauro, the household head, tells his family that they will be living a simple life from now on. He says it’s enough that they have something to eat, the two daughters are able to go to college and the family can attend mass every Sunday. It is later revealed that Lauro was a former priest and that his wife had seduced him. Despite having faced his responsibility to his family, Lauro never recovered from his forced detachment from his vocation. He lives an uninspired and unhappy life. He questions his existence. Clara, the wife, bears the burden of having shattered Lauro’s lifelong commitment to serve God and of being disloyal to him. The impending abandonment by her lover seals her fate and leads her to the ultimate act of self-destruction. Just like Lauro and Clara, Lerma has long been struggling and suffering in her quest for the truth. While sleepwalking at the tender age of seven, she was raped and almost bled to death. The case was never solved. In her dreams, the torment lingers. She continues her search. Agnes, the youn-gest, would find her seemingly stable existence shattered by the truth – that Lauro is not her father. –Berlinale

Cast and Crew

Reviews

Noel Vera, “Lav Diaz: retrospective of his early work”, criticafterdark.blogspot.com

Epoy Deyto, “Hubad sa Ilalim ng Buwan (1999), kawtskamote.blogspot.com

Vicente Ignacio De Veyra, “Lav Diaz Directs A Showdown Between Church and God”, Geocities

Lukas Foerster, Lav Diaz: mini-dossier, The canine condition