Ang Babaeng Humayo (The Woman Who Left)

   Ang Babaeng Humayo (The Woman who left) starring Charo Santos as Horacia is a film about a woman planning to take revenge on her ex-husband after she got released from a 30-year prison sentence. I've watched this film for the purpose of our research on how Philippine cinema portrays transgender characters, and one of the characters was a transwoman portrayed by no other than John Lloyd Cruz as Hollanda. It is my first time experiencing and watching Lav Diaz's film, knowing that most of her films are horrendously long.  Matching the genre of the film with a monochrome feel and look adds more drama to the film, and with the long awkward static shots, it is surprisingly effective and impactful to me at least. Horacia was framed for a murder that she didn’t commit and it was all because of her ex-husband who paid Petra (The real murderer and the one who confessed which sets Horacia free) While Horacia had the chance to live out the rest of her life out of prison, she plott...