Note: It May contain spoilers.
The 1988 Chito Roño film tells the story of a young middle-class couple Josie and Sammy whose lives turned upside down when the former was taken hostage by a bank robber named Angel. It turned out that Josie and Angel were secret lovers and the bank robbery and hostage were Josie’s fantasies.
This leads to the question of “how well do you know your spouse?” From Sammy’s point of view, he is completely in control of his life. He has a beautiful wife, a supportive mother, and a bright future as a medical student. He takes his time studying during the weekdays and keeps himself busy as a choir member during the weekends. His perception of a “perfect life” blinded any giveaway that his married life is at stake.
At the beginning of the movie, we see Angel and Josie sharing a quick passionate kiss that somehow leads the audience to believe that it is nothing but a random kiss from a stranger. Josie does not even react negatively to the kiss. The scene where a disappointed Josie over a sleeping Sammy explains her thirst for passion.
Out of boredom, Josie decides to act on her fantasy to be Angel’s hostage. However, she gets tired of hiding and decides to go back to Sammy. Angel, who is now heavily invested in their relationship, begs for her to stay.
Josie betrays Angel by giving a tip to the police. Angel is wounded by the police and Josie goes back to Sammy. Her statement has a lot of discrepancies but Sammy believes her story. Her mother-in-law is skeptical about the kidnapping incident but wants to sanitize it to protect the family name.
Later on, Sammy notices Josie’s discrepancies and feels doubtful about her Stockholm Syndrome. In one of their intimate moments, he realizes that Josie is imagining that she is making love with Angel.
A dying Angel confesses the truth to the police investigator. His submissive wife visits him and sees Josie peeping at the window. Out of her guilt, Josie decides to leave Sammy despite her pregnancy because she does not know the father of her child. With his failing grades, stress from Josie’s abduction, and knowing the truth that his wife has been carrying an affair with Angel, he decides to end his life.
At the end of the movie, we see Josie giving another version of her story–the truth.
Now I know why Jaclyn Jose is considered to be a good actress. She has this acting style that’s uniquely hers. She can play
the role of a victim and an antagonist. Her beautiful face will not distract you from her acting, it simply adds more character to it.
Of course, I didn’t know that this is the movie when she and Mark Gil fell in love with each other. It’s probably the reason why her scenes with Mark had this intense sexual tension as compared to her scenes with Anjo Yllana. Anjo Yllana was probably being groomed into a dramatic actor. I wonder why he stopped pursuing that path when he could carry the drama scenes well.
This film tells us that sometimes, we do not know what’s inside our partner’s mind. It also tells us that doing bad things results in bad consequences.
The World of Second Chances 