Silip: Daughters of Eve (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)The movie opens with one of the major characters, Simon Kalabaw (played by Mark Joseph), clobbering a buffalo over the head with a poleax in the presence of distressed, crying children. The butcher pounds away until the animal collapses, slits its throat, eviscerates it, and decapitates it.
After this extremely disturbing scene, the movie unfolds to portray the lives of several people in a small Philippine village, played by a cast of talented actors. Tonya, played by Maria Isabel Lopez, is a chaste woman and a fill-in for the town's ill Catholic priest; she is the substitute "teacher" who inculcates in her pupils abstinence and purity, and who warns the girls of the dangers of yielding to their sexual desires for men, whom she calls devils. Selda (Sarsi Emmanuelle) is her antithesis, a woman who relishes and indulges in carnal pleasures. Simon, the icon of masculinity, is revered by Selda; by his girlfriend (Myra Manibog), who can't tame his waywardness; and by Tonya herself, who struggles to repress her desire for him because of her religious beliefs. Even Pia (Pia Zabale), a girl of about twelve, is obsessed with Simon.
Silip is filled to the brim with nudity and simulated (though convincingly realistic and highly erotic) sex; both Maria Isabel's and Sarsi's graceful feminine forms are a delight to behold. The violence in the movie is fierce and visceral, requiring a strong stomach on the part of the viewer.
But the movie does more than aim for cheap, exploitative thrills. It effectively underscores how the church pointlessly exerts too much effort on condemning sex instead of addressing far more important realities such as the selfishness, cruelty, and barbarousness inherent in humanity. Few are exempt from committing atrocities in this film.
The cinematography is excellent, the camera adeptly conveying the arid, barren quality of the sandy settings as well as a quiet, voyeuristic feel in many of the scenes. The widescreen picture is surprisingly good. Colors are realistic though somewhat soft, and detail is impressive for an aged film that has clearly degraded with time--as dust, specks, and scratches will confirm. However, these flaws are not significantly distracting. What is a little more intrusive are a pair of fixed cloudy spots in a few scenes and a dark-blue cast in a couple of scenes that appear to take place in the daytime. Fortunately these instances are brief. The two-channel sound is clear and unexceptional. Audio options include Tagalog with English subtitles and English dubbed. The latter is not at all worth considering.
There is a second disc with extras that include the following:
An essay titled "Silip and Filipino Bold Cinema"
An interview with the film director, Elwood Perez
An interview with the still lovely Maria Isabel Lopez
An interview with the art director, Alberto Santos
Cast and crew biographies
Mondo Macabro movie trailers
In short, this is a unique, well-shot film with intensely erotic moments and truly disturbing violence. It makes a clear statement about the dark side of the human soul and stays with the viewer well after it is over.

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In the tradition of Japanese "Pink" cinema comes this shocking, violent and sex-filled movie that caused an outrage when it was screened at the Chicago Film Festival.Starring the former Miss Philippines, the stunning Maria Isabel Lopez (in her most revealing role ever), SILIP - DAUGHTERS OF EVE is an eye-opening example of raw and savage filmmaking from one of the Philippines' most innovative directors, Elwood Perez. Set in the beautiful and remote countryside of Ilongo, the story tells of three young women and their struggle to come to terms with their own sexuality against a background of religious oppression and male brutality.Mondo Macabro is pleased to present a 2-disc edition of one of the most extraordinary movies ever released on DVD.SILIP - DAUGHTERS OF EVE has been a well-kept secret amongst collectors of arcane and extreme films, talked about in awed tones but rarely seen... until now!Presented completely uncut and uncensored, SILIP - DAUGHTERS OF EVE is the ultimate cult movie and guaranteed not to disappoint.

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