The Filipino Screen: 2nd Golden Age of Cinema Revisited

CEBU, Philippines - The 1970’s was a turbulent time in the Philippines because this was the period of Martial Law under the Marcos dictatorship. But, as one artist once quipped, there is something about repression that makes one look for other alternatives and in the process, creates masterpieces.

After hosting the Russian and French film festivals earlier this year, Ayala Center Cebu Cinema recently presented a selection of Filipino film classics through a three-day screening billed as “The Filipino Screen: The Second Golden Age Now”. It featured award-winning and critically-acclaimed films that date back to the “Second Golden Age” of Philippine cinema which are the 70’s and the 80’s. The 1950’s is considered as the first Golden Age.

This recent film festival was part of “Bravo! Celebrating the Filipino,” a series of shows featuring visual arts, music, fashion and photography held at the Ayala Malls. The group behind Bravo decided to offer this time historical Filipino films that are considered relevant to contemporary audiences up to this day.

A lecture by director and University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman professor Patrick Campos and Director of UP Film Center Yason Banal followed the first presentation which was Ishmael Bernal’s “Himala.”

More than the film that gave us Nora Aunor’s immortal line, “Walang himala!”, this 1982 opus portrayed unique facets of our culture such as our obsession with pagan religious practices and the Filipino penchant of quickly turning into a money-making circus anytime opportunity strikes.

A vision of the Virgin Mary gives an ordinary woman, Elsa (Nora Aunor), miraculous powers, one of which is the ability to heal. This throws her and her town into the spotlight as hoards of people, including the sick and the media, arrive in the town. A filmmaker attempts to document the religious phenomenon and the reality behind it, later on witnessing something that may shatter Elsa’s saintly image.

While I have previously seen snippets of “Himala” on television reruns during Holy Week, I haven’t had the chance to view the film in its entirety until this Ayala screening. It was a rare opportunity to watch this and the other films on the big screen.

After “Himala”, I stayed around to view Vilma Santos’ 1984 film “Sister Stella L.” Here, the Star for All Seasons portrayed a nun who does counseling in Caritas for unwed mothers. She finds herself moved by the plight of workers so she leaves her work and joins the picket line of strikers, determined to fight for their rights even if she faces the same harassment and intimidation that they do.

The next day, I sat through the first few minutes of Kidlat Tahimik’s semi-autobiographical film “Perfumed Nightmare”. The audio for this 1977 film wasn’t very pleasant so I decided not to finish the whole thing.

The rest of the films shown were “Oro Plata Mata” (1982) by Peque Gallaga, “Ganito Kami Ngayon, Paano Kayo Noon?” (1976) by Eddie Romero and “Bayan Ko Kapit sa Patalim” (1985) by Lino Brocka.

This move to screen classic Filipino films should be encouraged since mall theaters would surely opt to run commercially viable movies over these oldies. While not a few so-called “intelligent” audiences often complain of being constantly offered the usual mindless studio flicks, it is sad to note that I could only count less than 10 warm bodies when I entered Ayala Cinema 3 where the screening was held.