Jessica Sarmiento

IP 368 B

Anak

We are all necessarily good people.  Even those who intend to be good but do bad and unethical acts are still good people.  It’s just the way you look at a person.  The movie Anak is a perfect example of this.   This film is about a mother, Josie, that leaves her family in order for them to have a better life.  Josie leaves behind a husband and three children, Carla, Michael, and Day Day.  Josie is considered an OFW or an Overseas Filipino Worker.  She works in Hong Kong where she babysits a couple’s child and house.  In Hong Kong, she isn’t appreciated.  Her employer doesn’t treat her well.  While she is away in Hong Kong, Josie’s children grow and become distant from their mother and a tragedy happens.  Josie’s husband dies.  This is heartbreaking news since Josie can’t go back to the Philippines.  This is also heartbreaking news for the children because they no longer have a parent in their life.  Carla feels that her mother abandoned them and she doesn’t care about them.  Anak is the perfect example.

Josie and Carla are characters in the movie that are good people, but in each other’s eyes, see the bad in each other.  Carla hates her mother for leaving her family, especially when their father dies.  So when Josie comes back to the Philippines for good, there is ignoring and bad behavior on Carla.  Carla does what ever she wants to make her mother mad and unhappy.  She has premarital sex, uses guys to make her mother angry and even brings them home.  At one point in the movie she even pushes Josie down.  However, when this happens, you can see the guilt in Carla’s eyes.  It’s like she’s saying, “what have I done?” with her eyes.  This guilt that Carla shows is the beginning of a “new” Carla.  When she and her mother finally let out what they feel, Carla realizes that Josie’s intentions of leaving her family was only inspired by love.  Love is what put the family back together.