Manila is a social drama film, shot with a great realism. It's about the human degradation, the exploitation of women, of the laborers (to a more extent the oppressed or poor people) in the Filipino capital. It follows Julio who went to Manila in order to find his girlfriend who's been taken by a madam with a promise of a job in Manila.
In fact, the city is presented as a place of corruption, social alienation, prostitution, poverty, a capital…

In short, what I liked in this film are :
- the natural set - the story of the film happens in 16th century in the "Cévennes" (south-center of ), the sound, the lights, the landscapes, the architecture are taken from natural set, we are really far away from the artificial blockbusters, lots of close-ups mainly on faces (which contrast with the wide shots on the landscape), lots of cuts due especially to a special kind of editing, action often…