Ina Ka Ng Anak Mo (1979)
Home Notes on Ina Ka ng Anak Mo
Isagani R. Cruz, TV Times, January 20 -26, 1980 - also Movie Times
Ina Ka Ng Anak Mo is Brocka in his element - intense emotional conflicts within a limited family structure. Lolita Rodriguez, in her attempt to commiserate with her son-in-law Raul Aragon, has sex with him. True to what one writer has called the Myth of Filipino Fertility, the one-time sex act leads to a child. Rodriguez' daughter Nora Aunor cannot forgive the betrayal and even takes the adulterers to court. In the end, however, Aunor adopts as her own child the baby who is, curiously enough, both her brother and her son.

Filipino movies are nothing if they do not have confrontations, and
Ina Ka ng Anak Mo has one confrontation after another. The best one occurs when Aunor sees Rodriguez and the baby for the first time. Aunor silently moves from shock to hurt to rage to hysterics.The scene is spoiled only at the end, when she bursts out that she will see the pair in court; in the heat of such passion, no Filipina will think of impersonal legal proceedings. More characteristic would have been a search for a weapon or for an exit door.

Brocka specializes in acting vehicles. Aunor clearly deserves the Best Actress Award. In fact, she deserves it more than Rodriguez, if only because she is younger and has less experience. Before
Ina Ka Ng Anak Mo, only Charito Solis could stand up to Rodriguez; now Aunor is on par with both veteran actresses. Even Aragon, not one of our best actors, gives an adequate performance opposite the two women; his success must be largely due to Brocka's direction.