Nunal Sa Tubig Essay

1. Logline A story of a community living on Laguna de Bay where the main source of living is fishing and how the residents of this island is affected by progress, poverty, ignorance, neglect and the dark side of big businesses. 2. Protagonist One of the protagonists in the film is Mang Jacob. He was a war veteran who expresses grief over the changes in their island wherein the lake was getting polluted by nearby industries and many of the fish were dying. After looking back on how tranquil and serene their island was, he wishes that it could all come back. He condemns modern changes which cause more suffering than improvement in their island. 3. Obstacles The main struggle of the residents of the island is the fact that their livelihood was being highly affected by all the modern practices like the development of industries nearby. Though there were scenes that showed the island looking serene and static, behind that was the restlessness of the people and the contradictions of social realities that they were confronted with. The people in the island were struggling for a place and identity. 4. Theme The movie shows a contrasting theme of life and death, fertility and barrenness. It shows some ironies in life like the destruction of the environment being necessary to make way for progress or even contemporary changes resulting to more burden than improvement. 5. My take on the Film I personally can see the current state of our country with the situation of the people in the island in a sense that despite the efforts for improvement and modernization, a lot of things are taken for granted most especially our natural resources. Thus, making the movie socially relevant. On the technical side, the delivery of the film was interesting since the narrative was not told in a strictly linear way. Various scenes and occurrences were interspersed. Scenes of village life alternating with the events in the city made the film less boring and more attention-grabbing. Also, I like it that contrasts and ironies were frequently emphasize. Overall, the film was worth watching.