Internationally acclaimed Filipino director Brillante Medoza presents a new film that deals with the aftermath of the hurricane Haiyan, which caused over 10,000 casualties in Tacloban in 2013. As the film centers on contemporary collective trauma, Mendoza takes a rather objective approach to build feelings of loss and pain in a slow documentary style description, quite unlike the provocative tendencies in his previous work. When a family burns to death while sleeping in a tent, the community’s hidden emotion of unfinished mourning reveals itself. A restaurant owner, Bebeth, collects funds for Renato, who lost his family, and struggles to help the typhoon victims. In the process, we learn that she also lost her child. In order to maintain daily life, people became emotionally barren for having been deprived of time to grieve. Religious faith is destroyed, poverty fails the effort to rebuild, and helplessness grows into piles. The film ends with a phrase from the Bible: “A time to tear down, a time to heal.” However, it does not promote false hope. Actual emotions are delivered through an abridged editing, handheld camera, religious symbols, and legendary actress, Nora Aunor’s performance. (CHO Hyeyoung)