The late Marilou Diaz-Abaya is a name fondly remembered in Philippine Cinema: even someone barely cognizant of Filipino cinema in the late nineties and early 2000's should recognize some of her best known later works such as Jose Rizal (1998) or Muro Ami (1999). For the most part her films addressed social issues while still appealing to a mass audience.
Today we'll be talking about one of Diaz-Abaya's earliest films, Moral. It's her second collaboration with screenwriter Ricky Lee after 1980's Brutal. Moral was followed up by another classic film, Karnal (1983), which won best film in that year's MMFF. A sequel to Moral, Noon at Ngayon (2003), was released in the twilight of her career.
Moral begins with a wedding, which should be a happy occasion for all, but the film immediately cuts to gossip, criticizing the wedding and placing bets on the eventual separation. It's a reflection of the relatively conservative yet malicious societal viewpoint at the time (which, at least in some part persists even today.) But the film turns the tables on that by showing Joey (Lorna Tolentino,) who struts in and doesn't care what other people think. It's clear that this movie isn't going to play by the rules.
Over the course of a number of years, Moral examines Joey's life and the lives of her friends: Maritess (Anna Marin), the bride in the opening scene, is a talented writer stripped of her agency and turned by her husband into a baby making factory; Sylvia (Sandy Andolong) is a single mother who is still in love with her ex-husband, and Kathy (Gina Alajar) is an aspiring singer who wants to rise to the top.
The film asks us through its title song: "ganyan na ba ang makabagong moral?" (Is this the new morality?) And in the seventies and eighties, the role of women in contemporary society was changing fast. The ideals of the women's liberation movement in the sixties and seventies were slowly trickling into the rest of the world. Women were taking a stand on equality, reproductive rights, and they were breaking stereotypes and conservative thought. Men and women both were exploring their sexuality in new and progressive ways. As these ideals still have a way to go in contemporary Philippine society, Moral's subject matter is still timely to this day. It's also notable that this female viewpoint was appropriately helmed by a woman - compare it to Hollywood of that era, where female directors were scarce.
All of the characters in the film have complex motivations and aspirations, though none epitomize the film's themes and message more than Joey: she does not conform to gender expectations (her chosen name is even unisex) she does not follow the rules, and is sexually liberated. It's said that Ricky Lee wrote the character as male and the results are pretty fascinating.
Besides being a film with progressive and feminist overtones, it's surprising how much the film addressed LGBT relationships back in the day, considering how ridiculously conservative a country we can be. And having taken place near the tail end of Marcos' regime, the sociopolitical commentary extends to that as well.
The restoration job of Moral is pretty impressive. The restoration was done on a 35mm uncut version of the film, (apparently censors removed around 20 minutes from the commercial release) and it was in pretty bad shape, as mold had degraded the print significantly. Despite that, the picture quality looks decent in high resolution. If you've seen this film 35 years ago, you may consider revisiting this restored cut, as there are a lot of new things to appreciate, not to mention this is Diaz-Abaya's original vision for the film.
It's easy to see why Moral is considered a modern masterpiece. It's a fantastic film that remains relevant even today. With both Karnal and Moral restored, here's hoping Brutal gets restored next.
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