A Speck in the Water
(NUNAL SA TUBIGA)

In the impoverished village of Santa Fe in Laguna de Bay, a lot of inhabitants have left to live on the continent but some investors capi- talize on fish pens growing milkfish under the care of Mang Pedro. But one day, for some mysterious reason, the fish are dying. To save the situation, they decide to salt the fish and dry them under the sun. Benjamin, who owns a boat that shuttles passengers to town, has a regular passenger Chedeng, a student who is going to be a midwife soon. Chedeng has a close friend and neighbor, Maria, but unknown to each other, they are both having an affair with Benjamin. When Maria becomes pregnant, she becomes Chedeng’s first patient and a disastrous situation that ends in tragedy ensues. Through the portrait of these people trapped in the eternal cycle of love and hate, birth and death, Ishmael Bernal takes a dark look at the poor rural areas of the Philippines in the 1970’s.