I read with sadness the news that Mark Gil passed away today. I will always associate him with that classic Mike de Leon film Batch '81, arguably one of the best Filipino movies ever made!
I don't know if he won any awards for that role but it's one of the best performances of any Filipino actor ever! I rarely feel fear or a sense of uneasiness when I watch a Pinoy movie but I remember having this sense of dread while watching this movie, fearing for the lives and safety of the neophytes led by Mark Gil.
You have to remember that the movie was released during the height of the Marcos dictatorship and it was not difficult to associate the sadism and the brutality in the movie with what was happening in Philippine society at that particular time.
Anyway, his place in Filipino cinema is assured and his legacy continues as one of his daughters is a fine actress herself.
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