Synopsis: A Badjao midwife unable to bear children for her husband consents to him taking a second wife. She scours all of Tawi-Tawi looking for a suitable bride.
Thy Womb tells a very slight story about a woman’s devotion to her husband, the movie ending just as it sits on the brink of getting really interesting. The drama never quite rises to the heights one would expect from such an emotionally loaded premise. But its slightness doesn’t detract too much from the overall quality of the picture. Graceful filmmaking combines with a terrific performance from the much-missed Nora Aunor to produce something quietly moving.
Thy Womb might leave people wanting more, the film ending on too ambiguous a note. Ambiguity can be a very good in cinema, but in this case, it feels as if the movie didn’t really know where to go. There’s plenty of drama left over to explore, and it’s a bit of a cheat to not to go there. Having said all that, the film is still quite worthy of an audience’s attention. It is well crafted and beautifully acted, and even in its slightness, it possesses a sense of grace absent from so many of our films.
