Himala (1982)

There hasn’t been any Filipino film in the 80’s that I have watched that made me think in awe like Himala . Surely, it is one of the greatest things that happened in the Philippine movie industry and will be remembered by the Filipino people for a lifetime. Himala tells the story of a girl named Elsa who claimed she has seen the Virgin Mary when visiting a hill. She then performed many miraculous healings in her barren town for free but during her journey in fulfilling what the Virgin Mary has told her, her talents was used by the people who reside in the town to earn money and raise fame for themselves. A film maker named “Orly” (Spanky Manican) ventured the town in search to find something no other film makers have ever stepped into. During his stay he met Elsa and filmed her ritual healings until he got the film he is talking about. He filmed Elsa and Chayong being raped on the hill were Elsa saw the Virgin Mary. After this, he seeks help to the town priest and told him that it’s his decision if he wants it to be exposed. Later in the film, Chayong committed suicide because she couldn’t take fact that she was raped and at the same time Pilo left her to go to Saudi Arabia. An outbreak of Cholera has begun terrorizing the children in the town and the villagers then seeks Elma’s healing but is already waning. Elma then reveals in the end to the villagers that there is no miracle and the miracle is in the hearts of the people, they are making their own miracles. Elsa was shot dead by an unknown person in the Miraculous Hill during her final statement to the towns’ people.

The film was great and it expressed the reality on what is happening on an underdeveloped town in a third world country. The realism that is shown by the characters in the film is superb. It brilliantly shows how one character acts when faced in certain situations. Just like when Pilo got involved in the killing of a Chinese millionaire (Mr. Chua) because he wants to escape the poverty he is in. the technicality shown in he film was not that spectacular but not poor either. Although the problem in the 80’s was the lights, it managed to pull out the scenes neatly and effectively. What I admire in Ishamel Bernal’s film is that the symbols shown in the film are expressed deeply like when Pilo stabbed Chua’s assistant and saw the Virgin Mary Necklace drenched with blood which clearly signifies he has made a mortal sin. Another symbol was when the blind father talks about the town being cursed and it will be only removed when the towns people welcomes the leper that they banished from a long time ago. He also said that the leper was the Virgin Mary in disguise and there will come a time that the leper will be replaced by a fraud Virgin Mary that will produce miracles for the people but is not the real Virgin Mary. It clearly says that the fraud Virgin Mary is Elsa and what she did to the town was not alleviate their pain instead she created evil among the hearts of many.

I can say that the film has something to do with the Marcos Regime. From what I have observed, it clearly shows the people believing in a miracle and thinking that their lives will be better are similar to the Filipino people at that time who believes that poverty will lessen and miracles will happen if Marcos is in power. It is a sign of protest and can be seen when Nimia told Orly she returned to the town because there is no life in Manila and only miseries befall her. This shows that ‘manila’ being the national capital, cannot do a damn thing about the people who reside in it. The film was really superb no wonder why it gathered many awards.