Is Nora waiting for her own himala?

If there is any single Filipino celebrity who has consistently yet unintentionally courted controversy through the decades and amazingly survived, it can only be Nora Aunor.

The history of Philippine cinema from the ‘70s to the present would be moribund and dull without her unpredictable and unique presence. If there is anyone, too, who has crossed intellectual and class barriers with such astonishing and irreproachable aplomb, again it would have to be her.

At the announcement that a rare footage dubbed Sa Likod ng Himala was up for screening at the UP Film Institute through its alliance with a group of Noranians, our interest was sparked that an august part of the academe could join hands with a fan club. Of course, this was in celebration of Himala winning the Best Asian Film of All Time on-line award of which Nora (Guy) was the star. Still, it was like marrying oil with water which once more this minute dark-skinned Filipino had made possible. We quickly accepted the invitation to attend the screening.

The material was a short black and white eight-millimeter behind-the-scenes coverage of the declaration of Elsa (Nora) that there was no miracle (Walang Himala), her assassination, and the ensuing stampede in the desert of Paoay, Ilocos Norte. It contained scenes never before shown publicly with National Artist Ishmael Bernal directing Aunor, giving instructions to the makeup artist and the director of photography Sergio Lobo. It brought back memories of the three months we spent in the desert 26 years ago as a neophyte with a newfangled title of line-producer.

Shortly after the coverage came the engaging YouTube remix of Dense Modesto’s Walang Himala which jarred us back to the Z generation’s world of the Internet, texting, terrorism, and the dying planet. Then came the CNN material on the awarding in Australia where the film was adjudged Best in Asia, then an open forum with Himala scriptwriter Ricky Lee and ourself.

The event was interesting to us in that it attracted a mixed crowd of intellectuals, film buffs, and the new generation of Noranians who enthusiastically applauded our remarks underlining the movie’s importance, but sat immobile during the screening, respectful of the moments unfolding before their eyes.

ICON (International Circle of On-Line Norarians) was initiated by Leonel Escota of New York as a Nora Aunor yahoo group with a base of less than 50, which grew under ICON in 2003 to 800 membership of which 150 are active.

How apt, we thought, that Nora or Guy would go beyond the screaming hair-pulling generation of the ‘70s to the technologically adept Gen Z. The CNN APSA Viewers’ Choice Award trophy shared space with the Himala poster and other memorabilia. Viewers took pictures but none wiped their handkerchiefs in reverence as Guy’s fans did during her reign of mass hysteria when her photograph would share space on the altars of fans beside the saints. Should that have happened today, that would have been an aberration.

Yet, till today, a stigma continues to haunt even the Gen Z Noranians that they choose to call themselves closet-Noranians. “Some Nora Aunor admirers are not willing to troop to theaters, be seen by other people and be called bakya, a term associated with Ms. Aunor. Unfortunately, this is part of the colonial mentality of Filipinos. Nora Aunor is bakya while Meryl Streep is classy. Logical?“ asks Bonaue on the Internet.

We call ourselves closet Noranians, explains ICON moderator Marlon Antolin, because coming out in the open would endanger our jobs. “We continue with our project, focusing on the artistry of Nora Aunor, and not the gossip about her — the drugs, habitual tardiness, sexual preferences. That is her personal life and is not our concern.” There is certainly nothing bakya about that attitude.

However, as we look forward to more projects of the ICON like the screening in 2006 of classics Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos (1976) and Bulaklak Sa City Jail (1984), both directed by Mario O’Hara; and the first Icon Awards for supporting actresses who have worked with Nora like Perla Bautista, Marissa Delgado, Bella Flores, Anita Linda, Caridad Sanchez, and Gloria Sevilla, we know the path will not be smooth and easy.

ICON as well as other schools and organizations have expressed interest in showing Himala before their special audiences. We are positive that festival programmers abroad will be interested in re-screening the film. When Himala won the CNN award, we queried Imee Marcos as to the current ownership of the film produced by the ECP (Experimental Cinema of the Philippines) then under her leadership. She sent us the following reply through the Net.

“ABS certainly thinks it owns Himala, as well as the other ECP films. I noticed a recent re-issue of Oro on DVD, I think from Unitel, again carrying the ABS logo.

“However, Cirio (Santiago, recently deceased) who apparently replaced me at ECP or whatever government entity took over in 1986, told me a number of times that he had somehow ‘saved’ the ECP films. He said they hadn’t actually been sold to ABS and that it was merely a custodial arrangement entered into for the safekeeping of the films.

“I have, on a number of occasions, asked for a copy of the documents covering the turnover of the ECP movies to ABS, but to no avail. I suppose until legal action is taken, we are resigned to ABS ‘owning’ Himala, Oro, Misteryo and Soltero?”

Of course, like anything that has ever remotely involved Nora Aunor who is controversy’s magnet, this is not the end of the story with regards to rights. The recently screened footage on the making of Himala was shot by students of Virginia Moreno at the time that she was director of the UP Film Center, before it became the UP Film Institute. Ishmael Bernal was very close to her and the Film Center and coordinated the shooting of the said footage. Eventually, Bernal donated all his intellectual property rights including his films, books, scripts to the center through an agreement brokered by the UP Law Center.

To whom now does the docu footage on Himala belong? Moreno is positive that it certainly doesn’t belong to the institute and will seek legal opinion on the matter.

It is just too bad that Bernal passed away on June 2, 1996, on the exact day that he was to pick up his French visa with Moreno and his bosom buddy George Arago and go to Paris for the screening of Manila by Night. He could have cleared up the matter easily.

Meantime, the saga of Himala continues, and like we have said, it is merely proof that while it didn’t attract as much attention during its time, even getting “snubbed” by award giving bodies, it has survived the test of time. It was a product ahead of its time. Just like its star, Nora Aunor.

(E-mail me at [email protected].)