The redemption of Magnifico

The 34th Gawad Urian to be held on May 17, Tuesday, at the Marriot Hotel Ballroom will be a major event in the sense that aside from the regular awards (Best Picture, Actor, Director, etc.), there will also be an awarding of the 10 Best Films of the Decade. Here in alphabetical order are the Top 10 Films from 2000 to 2010 as selected by the members of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino:

Babae sa Breakwater by Mario O’Hara

Batang Westside by Lav Diaz

Ebolusyon by Lav Diaz

Kinatay by Brillante Mendoza

Kubrador by Jeffrey Jeturian

Lola by Brillante Mendoza

Magnifico by Mario J. de los Reyes

Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros by Aureus Solito

Serbis by Brillante Mendoza

Tuhog by Jeffrey Jeturian

Three Best Performers of the Decade were also chosen by the Manunuri and they are Cherry Pie Picache, Gina Pareño and Coco Martin.

Sponsored by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), this year’s Gawad Urian presentation will be mounted by Cinema One under the helm of its head Ronald Arguelles. Telecast will be on May 22, Sunday, yes, on Cinema One.

I can imagine the event to be a gathering of the local film industry’s best and brightest minds. Each one of these Best Films of the Decade winners had their own colorful tales to recount during pre-production and even after, especially during their sojourns in festivals abroad.

An account I can share with you is Magnifico’s Cinderella-like story — its failures and its triumphs. Read on below:

In 2003, the Film Ratings Board (FRB) was abolished and was replaced by the Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB) that gave higher incentives to quality movies that was either graded A or B. (Graded A films were given a hundred percent tax rebate, while those that got B were allowed to retrieve 65 percent from the taxes collected by the various cities and municipalities all over the country based on its income at the box-office.) Magnifico was the first to go through the grinder.

The CEB members (freshly sworn-in by President Arroyo) were eager to set the yardstick for graded A movies. They thoroughly dissected and discussed this Maryo J. de los Reyes film and didn’t feel generous enough to give it a hundred percent tax rebate.

The prints submitted to the board to begin with had a yellowish tinge to it and somehow that got in the way during the CEB screening.

Magnifico, however, had its supporters among the CEB members and the three staunchest were Lourd de Veyra (now a TV5 anchor), Ian Monsod (son of Mareng Winnie to Kapuso viewers) and this writer. We pointed out that whatever defect the prints had could still be corrected — which true enough were remedied in time for the film’s premiere several days later.

For some reason, the three of us also felt that Magnifico was bound to end up being named Best Picture of the Year. Although that was only January and was quite early to be making predictions, somehow we were sure that it was the type of movie that would reap honors in awards races.

In the end, we were still outvoted and Magnifico was given a grade of B. This decision would haunt the CEB way till the time of Christine Dayrit, who assumed the chair in 2005.

Under Dayrit’s dynamic leadership, the board became more generous in its sincere desire to help the cash-strapped local motion picture industry. But whenever faced with the decision whether to give a film an A or a B, the perennial question that would always crop up is: If Magnifico only got a B grade, why should this other film be given an A?

The ghost of Magnifico only stopped haunting the CEB after most of its supporters had already left the board. I was among the last to leave and I would always bring up the Magnifico case if we were in doubt about giving a film an A. Of course, I would relent eventually because the thrust of the CEB under the present FDCP is to totally throw in its support to local movies. Anything to help local producers.

Magnifico, meanwhile, as predicted, was declared Best Picture the following year by all the awards bodies. The film also annexed with it a grand-slam Best Director win for De los Reyes.

In the international scene, Magnifico and De los Reyes also brought honors to the Philippines by winning in various film festivals abroad. The film and its director won top prizes at the Berlin, Hawaii and the Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic) International Film Festivals.

Written by Michico Yamamoto, the material of Magnifico was originally submitted to the 2001 Film Development Council of the Philippines screenwriting contest, where it won the grand prize.

It is the story of a boy (Jiro Manio), who spends his short life in this world spreading kind deeds to others — from providing a wheelchair to his cerebral palsy-stricken sister (Isabella de Leon) to finding a cure to the hoarse voice of a cantankerous cemetery caretaker (Celia Rodriguez). Magnifico is a film that brings back our faith in the goodness of man.

After almost a decade, this film, produced by Madame Violet Sevilla to the tune of P27M (budget for promotions included), manages to stand the test of time — with all the positive values it espouses still relevant to the present-day scenario.

Aired every now and then over Cinema One, Magnifico remains impressive as a film and continues to tug at the heartstrings of most viewers.

The film that merely got a grade of B at the CEB had long vindicated itself after getting validated by all the award-giving bodies as the year’s best. Eight years after its release, it earns another laurel as one of finest in the past decade.

The cast members of the movie also went through their own journeys. Gloria Romero is now a Kapuso — via Munting Heredera — after being an ABS-CBN talent since 1987 (actually way even before martial law). Celia Rodriguez, slim and statuesque as ever, is practically never out of projects on primetime TV where the action is. Albert Martinez tried his hand at directing — the ambitious project Rosario.

Lorna Tolentino’s personal life took a painful twist. From caring a cancer-stricken in-law in Magnifico (Romero), in real life she nursed till the very end her beloved husband Rudy Fernandez, who also died of pancreatic cancer. Now a widow, she goes on with life appearing on a Channel 2 soap and proudly plays stage mother to sons Rap and Renz Fernandez, who have both joined showbiz.

And Manio? He is now an unwed father.

I have no idea, however, what happened to Madame Violet. Maybe she is back to doing private business. Unable to recover her investment in the film, I can’t blame her if she decided to turn her back completely on the industry she tried to help.

 She may have gotten burned producing films, but surely she can tell her grandchildren that in her brief stay in the movies, she was able to produce a project that is now regarded as one of the best of the decade. Wherever you may be, Madame Violet, thank you for Magnifico. Congratulations for the magnificent job.