Class Act: The Restraint of 'Sisa' Offers Satisfaction of a Different Kind

 

Class Act: The Restraint of 'Sisa' Offers Satisfaction of a Different Kind

Hilda Koronel conveys a history of trauma with just her eyes.

by Philbert Dy

Published on Mar 5, 2026

 

(SPOT.ph) Sisa opens with text explaining America took the Philippines from the Spanish, and dealt with any local resistance with a scorched earth policy. The film takes place in a Reconcentrado, a concentration camp meant to separate Filipino civilians from the insurgent forces. Into one of these camps strides a mysterious woman played by Hilda Koronel, who seems to have been driven mad by the horrors of the war. She is given the name “Sisa,” after the character from Noli Me Tangere, and she is made to serve the needs of the camp.

 

The movie doesn’t spend a lot of time on the pretense that Sisa is crazy. Practically from the start, the movie makes it clear that this is a form of subterfuge that allows her to move freely into this guarded territory. Through her, we meet the other residents of the camp: Delia (Eugene Domingo), who is worried that her thirteen year old daughter Nena (Angellie Sanoy) is becoming too close to the Americans; Leonor (Jennica Garcia), who is ostracized for sleeping with the American commander of the garrison; and Ofelia (Tanya Gomez), whose husband was imprisoned for being a spy.

 

A lot of anger, but also restraint

 

There is a plan being enacted, but it largely takes a backseat to the affairs of the camp, where the children are being taught English, and the women seem to exist as servants, in spite of the American promise of freedom. At one point, the women are meant to be pleased that their captors are throwing a ball, and they’re invited to attend. They’re given Western-style gowns donated from Manila, and they are made a sort of spectacle: a pack of savages in finery, supposedly meant to integrate into the American way of life.

 

And so it feels as though the film lights the fuse early, but lets it burn for a very long time. There’s a lot of restraint at play here, as it often feels like more could be happening. There is a lot of anger at play, too, and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to want to see Sisa taking a more active role in taking revenge on the oppressors throughout the film. But the film chooses a more artful path, and while it doesn’t quite provide the same visceral satisfaction, there is merit to the choice. It is, certainly, the classier path, and it largely befits the craft put into the movie.

 

And there is indeed a lot of craft in Sisa. Director Jun Robles Lana, with the aid of director of photography Carlo Mendoza and production designer Jaylo Conanan, fully reflect the madness of war with deliberate artifice. The film calls attention to its own falseness with shifting aspect ratios and a general design that defies the conventions of historical accuracy. Teresa Barrozo’s score is haunting and powerful, and might be enough in itself to recommend the movie as a whole.

 

The eyes of Hilda

 

Of course, Hilda Koronel provides a powerful center to the movie, holding attention on screen with just her eyes, conveying a history of trauma that barely needs to be spoken. Eugene Domingo and Jennica Garcia are great in their respective roles as well. There is a weak link, though: all of the actors playing Americans just don’t rise to the occasion. One might interpret this as part of the knowing artifice of the film, but it’s hard to say that it wouldn’t have been beneficial to cast stronger actors in those roles.

 

Personally, I wanted Sisa to be a little bloodier. Its restraint is admirable, but I think there might have been an opportunity here to break away from the respectability of the historical film and really just deliver on the visceral pleasures of the oppressor brought low through violent means. But clearly, Sisa has other things on its mind; higher minded values that speak of violence that go beyond the edge of a knife, or the sting of the bullet. And it employs incredible craft to do so, delivering satisfaction of a different kind.

 

Rating: 4 stars (4/5)

 

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