‘Isang Himala’ is a nuanced reinvention of a timeless story

The core of the 2024 Metro Manila Movie Competition (MMFF) entry “Isang Himala” is blind religion. It has since been advised within the Ishmael Bernal-helmed “Himala” in 1982 and the musical introduced collectively by the unique screenwriter and Nationwide Artist Ricky Lee, Vincent de Jesus, and Ed Lacson Jr. Carrying the burden of its predecessors, it manages to marry movie and theater whereas reinventing its timeless story for a contemporary viewers.

Set within the fictional Cupang, “Isang Himala” places the highlight on Elsa (Aicelle Santos) and the way seeing an alleged Marian apparition turned her software to turning into the worshipped religion healer of the barren city. Additionally a part of Elsa’s story are Aling Saling (Bituin Escalante), Chayong (Neomi Gonzales), Orly (David Ezra), Nimia (Kakki Teodoro), Priest (Floyd Tena), Pilo (Vic Robinson), and Sepa (Joann Co).

From the start, it was clear that the ensemble was the strongest level of the movie. The 1982 movie highlights silences to seize the thriller of Elsa, and the way her supposed grandeur affected the lives of the residents together with her. The musical movie lets go of the silence within the Ishmael Bernal-helmed film, utilizing musical numbers and intentional expressions of the characters so as to add extra weight to their respective tales. What was speculated to be a reluctant flip to religion therapeutic turned out to be a coy request by Elsa towards Orly to seize her in hopes of constructing the residents of Cupang consider that she is, certainly, the city’s miracle.

Aicelle Santos in a scene from MMFF 2024 entry “Isang Himala.” Picture: Courtesy of CreaZion Studios

Different noticeable adjustments within the movie have been shifting the desert setting of the 1982 movie right into a mining city, and growing older Elsa to 29 years previous (as Nora Aunor’s Elsa was 24 years previous). Though these adjustments appear small, it was ready so as to add extra which means to how Cupang’s residents have been the suspects and victims of the city’s impoverished state. On the identical time, making Elsa older is sensible since an individual having extra sense of their actuality would have the innate potential to show the city the other way up.

From the start, it was clear that the feminine characters would carry the movie’s emotional weight. Escalante, Teodoro, and Gonzales have been the proper foils for Santos’ supposed untouchable nature. The feminine actresses have been in a position to translate their commanding presence as theater actresses into gut-wrenching characters fitted to the massive display screen.

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Basic story and proficient ensemble apart, it was additionally the close-ups and angles of cinematographer Carlo Mendoza that performed a vital function in capturing how Elsa was in a position to manipulate Cupang into turning her into an “immortal” being. It additionally allowed the viewers to really feel the burden of the city’s blind religion with out straying from the spectacle that theater is thought for.

However whereas the ensemble solid, cinematography, and a focus to element have been the strongest factors of “Isang Himala,” it suffers from enhancing selections in sure scenes that pin the message to its viewers, as a substitute of presenting it whereas permitting the viewers to interpret its core on their very own. Some moments additionally felt dragging as musical numbers could be prolonged to let the story transfer ahead, as a substitute of including a dialogue or silence, or realizing the proper time to cease a sure scene.

Aicelle Santos in a scene from MMFF 2024 entry “Isang Himala.” Picture: Courtesy of CreaZion Studios

It’s comprehensible to wrestle with the pacing as “Isang Himala” follows a two-hour and 25 minutes-runtime. However there’s a distinction between imparting a strong message by way of various lengths and piecing collectively a string of performances to drive a message dwelling.

Nonetheless, “Isang Himala” is a powerful movie that was in a position to increase into the character’s backstories with out sacrificing its core. Diokno carries a number of strain to create a formidable physique of labor that pays tribute to the unique materials and maintains a definite tone. Filmgoers don’t have to look at the 1982 movie and musical to know its story (however they need to).

It stays one of many strongest entries on this yr’s stacked lineup, because it was in a position to separate itself from its predecessors whereas establishing itself as a movie that holds extra weight. Will it seize the hearts of the general public? Hopefully, it can.