The film, Himala (Miracle) was directed by the late Philippine National Artist Ishmael

Bernal and written by multi-awarded screenwriter Ricardo Lee. It was released during the period

considered as the second golden age of Philippine Movies, December 25, 1982 to be specific.

This film deals with the social issues of poverty, religion and fanaticism. It is a

commentary to the living conditions of the Filipino people and their faith and beliefs. The movie

is based on a true incident of a teenage girl in Cabra Island in the province of Occidental

Mindoro between 1966 and 1967. Ishmael Bernal gives us a microcosm of humanity in the small

town of Cupang. He contends that many people in our country are still deceived by persons who

claim that they can give you miracle. The director also wants to point out that miracles are

everywhere; we don’t need to search for that because we ourselves can make it. By means of our

faith, there can be a miracle.

It shows Filipino spirituality’s different sides. Of course, there are believers and non-

believers, and none of which is considered right or wrong since they have the freedom which to

believe. As I have said, it shows that people are willing to sacrifice their whole lives work just to

secure their spot in heaven without acknowledging the facts. There is also a good side to Filipino

spirituality, as showcased by the priest, who believes in God but still is a rational thinker. People

should believe the real meaning of religion and not some false prophet’s views on the matter.

Miracles are a controversial issue, and talking about its truthfulness will more likely

trigger a debate. Some of us believe in miracles. They said that miracles do happen through

God’s will. We, some of our members believe that miracles are real. It will happen if God meant

it to happen. We compared it to the existence of God. We never saw our creator but we believed

that there is God. For us believers, as long as you believe in one thing, it is not impossible to

happen. While other members argue that there’s no miracle. For them, miracles depend on the
way of thinking of people. Everyone can say that there is a miracle but there’s no clear evidence

about it.

Himala is arguably one of the best Filipino films ever made. It is well-made on major

counts acting, writing, and direction but, more importantly; it asks questions that really matter. In

a country overwhelmingly spoon-fed with Catholicism, "Himala" questions the institutions and

truths we've created and challenges us to do the same. It's a serious commentary on how myth

serves its purpose when truth is too hard to swallow.

The whole film is focused on faith. It depicts the ease of Filipinos to believe religious

claims without evidence and thinking logically. Poverty is also visible in the film, showing kids

eating stale meat and enacting a cholera outbreak.

The movie is all about a girl in a province who claimed that she saw the Virgin Mary in a

hill, crying. She also said that Virgin Mary talked to her and told her that the people in their

village should ask forgiveness and regret for their sins. Along the way, the people believed her

when she started healing sick people on their village and even outside of it.

It was set on the town of Cupang wherein the town was beggared and under famine. It

was apparently because of the curse drawn to the people due to kicking out a leper many years

ago. This led to the drought that the town was still suffering until the manifestation of the Virgin

Mary to Elsa at the hill where her foster mother first found her. It was also shown the suffering

of what the town was going through due to the lack of resources.

To introduce the movie, the director used a gloomy mood to emphasize the eclipse that

was happening to the town. Elsa, the main character, was first shown during the eclipse going to

the hill to pray to the Virgin Mary. Elsa was always teased for not being a natural child. Some
characters wouldn’t even think of her as a girl or a person due to her strange and mysterious

behaviour. What’s most appealing about this character is that she could see what she wanted to

see and do what she wanted to do without the approval of anyone else. She was also described as

someone who wanted to become a lawyer, a doctor, a president thus the character having the

character of someone who was intelligent. Though, she had to accept her condition especially

being poor. When the Virgin Mary supposedly shown herself to Elsa, she was given the power to

heal not only the wounds of the body but also the wounds of the soul. Thus, attracting the

attention of heaps of tourists and media. Through this, a non-believer director went to the town

himself to document what Elsa does because he firmly believes that the camera does not lie. This

is one of the movie’s ironies—the director whom strongly believed that Elsa was only up to an

agenda was moved and changed by the faith leader. As the movie progresses, Elsa angers many

people especially the church and doctors.

The theme of the movie centralizes on complexity of such a simple movie. It tells us of

the life of different perspectives during the context of the movie. One is the life of Elsa, a person

who had her own ways of worshipping the religion. Another is the life of those non-believers

wanting to uncover the miracles of what she was doing. It also focuses on the life of Nimia, a

person with the problem of poverty leading her to go leave Cupang to go to Manila to work as a

prostitute. The main character along with her apostles, living only on donations started to drop

their daily living to focus on just healing thus creating conflict between the members of their

own families. The curious director started to interview Elsa to know her underlying objectives.

Believing that Elsa is only an actor and without healing powers, the director also believed that

she was only there for attention. This led to the development of the film where even the

influential personas went on to see Elsa’s capabilities. The theme is Miracle, if there is a true
miracle or none. After we watched the movie, we were convinced that the theme of this is all

about society’s problems such as poverty and crime, and of course a miracle. The movie shows

us that we ourselves can make a miracle by means of faith. We don’t need anyone or somebody

to have a miracle, because if we believe, there can be a miracle.

The director argues the different perspectives of the villagers about the showing of Virgin

Mary to Elsa, as well as the different belief of these people about religion, faith and saints. The

movie was enthralling because we, the audience, was actually clueless while watching. We don’t

know who to believe, we doesn’t even know who among the characters were telling the truth. So

it was like a mind blowing scene when Elsa decided to tell the people in the film that there is

really no miracle. It’s all in the mind of the people; they believe who and what they want to

believe. He also explores the different beliefs of many people as stated in the paragraph before. It

tells us of the life of the unfortunate people living under poverty to depend on faith instead.

When creating a movie like this, the director aims to send a message of different perspectives

and points. What I can visualize is that through this plot the movie tends to lean on the

perspective of Elsa. The movie was without a doubt a type of drama that focused on the

challenges and obstacles that characters went through. Another character that was introduced

was Chayong, she is Elsa’s confidant. She became one of Elsa’s followers living a chaste life

creating problems with her lover. She was also seen as one like Elsa, someone who was seen as

only a creator of stories. The drama circulated around the story of conflict between personas.

Seeing this, the movie created relativity to what the modern life is dealing with right now.

The main points in the film are the beliefs of the people in the village of Cupang. But I

think the director, or the writer of the story wanted us to show that we, Filipinos, were like the

villagers of Cupang. We believe easily on superstitions, on things that weren’t even factual. It
was because in the simple fact that we were faithful, too faithful that we believe others so easily

when they talk about godliness. Next point of the movie is to be logical--during the healing of

Elsa everyone created his or her own skepticisms. The movie only wanted us to believe that what

Elsa was doing was only blinding faith; creating self-delusions and making Elsa seem the giver

of miracles. This is the meaning of fanaticism, to create extremism and to create agendas that

will make a cult-like following. The film likes to focus at the seemingly illogical decisions

impoverished people make for the sake of being devout. The town is almost desperately poor.

Makeshift hostels are put up to cater for foreigners and their indiscretions, but personal fortunes

are sacrificed to stay holy. Nimia gets criticized for putting up what is essentially a strip joint,

but in a desolate area where nothing seems to grow, it puts food on the table for those who work

there. Though the film may seem against religion, it doesn't take pot shots at the Church.

Remarkably, one of the film's most sane characters is the town's priest (Joel Lamangan who is

today a successful Filipino director), who is also skeptical of Elsa's gifts. Whatever his reasons

are for doing so, the words he imparts to his flock are restrained and thoughtful.

To conclude, the director ends with Elsa’s speech elucidating the definition of miracles.

As Elsa says “There is no miracle! The miracle is in the hearts of people, in all our hearts! We

create our own miracle, or own curses, our own Gods.” She was never given the power to heal

nor has she never seen the apparition of Virgin Mary. This showed potency and the capability to

move the audience. It was on the part where Elsa admitted that there is no such thing as miracle.

The miracles were all false. We also considered that scene as a climax of the story. I like the part

where Elsa decided to tell the truth to the people. But unfortunately in the end, it doesn’t seem

like they believed her. They are too blinded by their faith. The director achieved the goal of

leaving the film as a hanging one. Yes, the storyline may be considered finished when Elsa
admitted her lies to the people, but the people did not believe her still. They still worshipped

Elsa, even when she’s already dead.

What we like about the film is its capability to move an audience, its strength to show the

power to believe, to create our own imagination and to be fooled by an agenda. On the objective

side, what I dislike about this is its lack of creative camera motions. Overall, despite of the

movie’s shortcomings the film showed what it wanted to show. As seen in the film, the

characters had their own beliefs and I firmly believe that this is what we should learn from this

movie. To have our own disposition and composition of what we believe in and to never be

fooled by deception. Given the example of the director, who believed that it was all an act was

also beguiled by the following. Another example is Nimia, the supposed whore and sinner was

also tricked by the acts shown by the main character.

The movie is interesting, the ensemble of complex and intriguing characters, the

effectively austere semi-documentary camera work, the richly textured scene, and the haunting

musical score make this movie different from other cliché plot of some movies.

The genuine cinematic skill of Bernal and the power of Aunor to attract the audience

came together to form a spectacle of a movie. Thus, it is apparent that the director attained his

objective to form a movie that will send a message and that is monumental. The director showed

the customs of Filipinos to believe solely on fanaticism and apparitions that has been going on

for many years.

Its achievement can be attributed to three main factors – its technical aspects, the lead

actress Nora Aunor, and the storyline. Himala succeeds in the commonality of its storyline. The

movie is far from being mind-boggling that pieces have to be fitted in order to understand it as a
whole. The story is explicit from the very beginning. It is about a poor community and the hope

that a lying lass has brought to it. Though the film is centered on the issues of religious faith and

faithlessness, it actually speaks about desires and yearnings. Elsa longs for attention and respect,

Orly the filmmaker for prestige, Nimia the prostitute for trust and happiness, the sick for healing,

Mrs. Alba and the businessmen for wealth, and the townspeople for hope and redemption. The

sad truth depicted in the film is how people grab even the smallest opportunity just to satisfy that

desire, but then suddenly breaks upon a little failure. And in the end, we invent things to fill in

every longing in our heart.

We also liked the movie because of its plot. Unlike in other movies that are set in

chronological order, this award winning movie used flashbacks to make flow of story more

interesting for the audience. The feeling that you will ask yourself while watching the movie,

“What will happen next?” It was very evident when Orly approaches the town's priest in the

local church's confessional. He tells the priest that he saw two drugged youths from Manila

raping Elsa and Chayong on the hill of the apparitions. Orly tries to unburden himself of his

tremendous guilt: instead of helping the two women, he continued filming the incident, as he

needed a scoop to boost his struggling career. As it is, the film takes time to pick up the pieces

again, and re-establish a chronological rhythm that progresses successfully to the climatic

assassination scene. The last gives ample evidence of Bernal’s mastery of form and situation. For

example, his establishment of atmosphere, his crowd control and simple remarkable editing. This

sequence together with the rain sequence, are most memorable.

The line-up of characters is considered one of its strength. They are the best of the best

most especially Nora Aunor. She portrayed the role of Elsa. She was very brilliant, an actress of

legendary proportions. She gave a sensitive and polished low key performance. But more than
her acting, she struck as someone ordinary but believable. She depicts the image of a common

Filipina, and along with her impressive talent, she knows how to draw mass sympathy. While

watching the film, you do not see an actress, but someone like a neighbour talking to you, like a

common person who can engage you in a natural but powerful way. Ms. Aunor has done

countless award-winning portrayals, but as Elsa is her best.

The film is now considered timeless, classic even because it can withstand time. It is a

universal struggle. Not only the Filipinos adhere to this problem but the rest of the world does

too. Religion scopes a huge population; many of them may face the same problems discussed in

Himala. This film became successful because somehow it mirrors the life of Filipinos. Some of

us can relate to the personalities of the characters as well as the conflicts they intend to solve.

The different characters in the movie represent a variety of sectors in society. Elsa, the

protagonist of the movie, is an image of a false prophet. Apparently she can heal the sick and

perform miracles but no proof of it can be seen throughout the movie. Nimia portrays the people

who do not believe in miracles. She may be considered a sinner because she was a prostitute in

Manila, not to mention she also set up a cabaret in the town of Cupang, but she only does this

just so she can put food in her stomach. She strives hard to keep herself alive. Chayong is Elsa’s

confidante, and she fully believes in Elsa’s healing powers. She personifies an innocent and

gullible person. Because of this blind faith, she gets assaulted and causes her to resort to suicide.

Mrs. Alba used Elsa’s supposed healing power to profit from the people, selling merchandise and

other paraphernalia. She is the epitome of an exploitative person, taking advantage of the

people’s gullibility and innocence and making money out of it.

 This film is unique because the director, Mr. Bernal, also called for the film to be

minimalist, direct to the point, and "straight to the soul" and discouraged unnecessary dramatic

effects and movements. For example, the characters of Elsa and Nimia stood still, with minimal

gestures in the scene where they argued. The scene was focused on the dialogue.

The director Ishmael Bernal masterfully produced Himala using long single-shots. Right

from the start, Bernal has created a perfect setting for the film. He portrayed here a Third World

rural life against a backdrop of superstitious and fanatic small sleepy community. The movie

opens in a depressing darkness of an eclipse which sets the tone of the movie’s supernatural

theme. Bernal then slowly infuses the harsh realities and ugliness of backward village life. The

details are very rich and events were perfectly timed. Its subtlety and the unfolding of subplots,

along with intriguing visuals, draw audience from beginning to end. And in the final scene, when

Elsa was shot and the people still believed in her despite the lies, was enigmatic and awe-

inspiring. The real name of the place was in Baryo Calayab in Paoay, Ilocos Norte.

The movie is truly a classic but there are also some weaknesses. For Filipinos, the

dialogue though smartly written is far from genuine. With characters always speaking

sequentially, at times it feels like a radio drama play. (but compared to mainstream Philippine

cinema, it will feel like a breath of fresh air). Apart from Nora Aunor, the acting is almost

completely restrained, with hardly any emotional exclamations of any kind, until the end that is

(perhaps it is meant that way to serve a genuine horror at the film's climax). Several events serve

no genuine purpose than plot points (Why did Elsa do what she did at the beginning? Why did

Orly not act? How could the outrage at Elsa towards the end happen so quickly?), and the

explanations behind them, if any, are unbelievable.

 The message of the film is that to do not believe everything you see, for we may see a

slightly skewed image of the truth. The film brings to the fore the complex, harsh social realities

that face third world people and how such realities find their way in cultural expressions such as

religion. In the film, it was said that Elsa had healing powers, but not once did a person actually

thank her for healing her or a cured person appeared. This may tell us that Elsa never had healing

powers or that the people she was healing were in on the lie. We can also take away from the

film that if we are to believe in God, we should believe in God himself, not on any person

claiming to be a prophet because it can lead to deadly consequences, like the death of Sepa’s two

sons and Elsa’s death. The film shows us the reality of life, how we believe, and how we act.

This movie is very much related about our current situation, for example; the poverty in barrio

Cupang, in our current standing many places in our country is still on this stage, most of them are

in the isolated places and the common problem why they are experiencing poverty is because of

their beliefs and superstition. We would be looking for a lesson of morality or religion in this

work of Ishamel Bernal; we find it as a mixed message. What he provides us is inspired by

existentialism, an absurd theater of human condition. All is brilliantly summed up in the last

scene of the film. Pilgrims and devotees come together to the barren hill summoned by Elsa. She

steps on the stage and talks into a microphone for the first time actually addressing people. Her

message is strong, but not exactly what those sick and poor were willing to hear: When

something terrible happens, we blame it on a curse. When something good happens, we give

credit to the heaven, to the Virgin, we say it’s a miracle! I have something to confess. There are

no miracles. It is all inside us… We make miracles ourselves… We pronounce the curse… We

create the gods…

 I used to say, it is always important to face the truth. Now I realize we should not let the

truth blind us to a point where it dehumanizes. At times falsehood makes a better servant and can

do humanity more good. But whatever we’re given, truth or falsehood, reality or illusion what

matters is how we use it. – says the town priest during a sermon having changed his mind about

the miracle. This line also struck us because it is true. Some people are afraid to face the truth

because it dehumanizes them.

The director and the writer achieve their goals because in terms of awards, this movie

gains a lot. And if we’re talking about what the writer wants to point out, well I can say that the

writer achieved it because the movie delivered the message of the story clearly.

Today, as millennials we often forget the culture and traditions of those living in the

province back in the day. This movie reminds us of the living condition of the people in the

provinces under the condition of poverty. The movie focuses on the beliefs of fanatics most

especially Catholic fanaticism. The director did not focus on the fancy camera movements but

instead chose to show the talents of acting to further dramatize what the movie is really trying to

tell us.

We believe you should watch this movie because of its capacity to tell us of what we are

and what we need to change. It is to be watched because this movie was and will always be the

start of Nora Aunor’s signature speech. We learn a lot from the movie but without looking

deeper into it, you will only see the surface and not the ocean bed. This is undoubtedly a movie

that will forever be remembered so we persuade you to watch this movie to learn the differences

and traditions that we, Filipinos, will always have. It represents the life of the people who

doesn’t have anything to hold on to their life, but faith. It also compasses the idea that people
must be faithful to God, but we should never omit the fact that in our lives, we will meet many

people who will make us believe the lies they made, and then they will act as if we owe them for

telling those lies. This movie entails a lot about the religious belief and superstition of some

Filipino. I assure you that you will learn a lot about faith, of how strong is the faith of the

Filipinos and how they are easily convinced. It will also show you how the poverty affects the

behaviour of human. Himala is truly a great film that merits re-viewing and re-discovery,

especially by foreign audiences.