start of term break: yaya buong araw. -_-

it's official, third year-second term is now over! long break, oh yeah! :D

Himala - My SS017 Term Paper

Himala

The highest-grossing movie in the 1980s Himala is a 1982 Ishmael Bernal box-office-hit film that starred the “Superstar in Philippine Entertainment Industry” Nora Aunor, who portrayed the character role as the “miraculous” Elsa. The movie revolves around the story of Elsa who proclaimed that she was seeing the appearances of the Virgin Mary, thus making her an instant hit and most-talked-about girl in the God-forsaken town called Cupang. This film shows how Filipinos tend to believe that there are miracles happening and made them hypnotized by her. Himala also depicts how religious or not the people of Cupang in terms of how devoted they are to the Virgin Mary.

The story started with a scene when there was a sudden solar eclipse in a local town and people-professed cursed drought land called Cupang. Some villagers predicted that it was the end of the world and some of them started praying. Elsa, a young lady who also witnessed the eclipse from the gloomy town, went to the deserted hill to pray. While she was praying, a light glowed; and she apparently proclaimed that the Virgin Mary had appeared to her. Then she told to her adoptive mother and even the local priest the story about the said “appearance” of Mary. She then formed an alliance with some of her friends Chayong, Sepa, and Mrs. Alba and called themselves as the apostles of Elsa. Elsa, together with her apostles, started her healing mission in their place and healed the local villagers. The news about the miraculous healing of Elsa was spread around and people from different places, including the tourists, visited the deserted town to be cured from their sicknesses.

Conflicts among the characters started when the characters of Orly and Nimia were introduced. The curious Orly, an aspiring filmmaker, arrived at Cupang to gather information from Elsa’s closest friends for him to produce a documentary about the miraculous life of Elsa. Nimia on the other hand, a balikbayan prostitute and one of Elsa’s childhood friends, went back to Cupang to establish a cabaret or nightclub house for the tourists. Later on, these conflicts had even got worse when the apostles of Elsa forcibly closed the cabaret. Nimia confronted Elsa, blaming her for the business closure. This was the scene where Nimia reversed the situation and told Elsa that she was the one who was sick and not the people who were her followers. Another conflict that worsened the story was when Orly witnessed and documented Elsa and Chayong were being raped by two high-on-drug men on the barren hill. Orly then confessed to the priest, though he was not Catholic, the incident on the hill. This was a scene where Orly faced his conscience and tried to forget for a while his desire to use the clip for Elsa’s real-life documentary.

Worst conflicts happened on the story and one of them was the cholera outbreak that caused many townspeople in Cupang got poisoned and killed. Chayong, who was saving her virginity before she got married, took her life by hanging herself because of the rape incident on the barren hill. Elsa blamed herself in all of the bad incidents happened to other people, thus concluding her healing mission. Her pregnancy from the rape (the people thought that she was the new “Immaculate Conception” due to her having of a child without a father) and at the same time an instant once-in-a-while heavy rain in their town once again regained the beliefs of the Cupang people in miracles and believed that the curse had left the town.

The confession of Elsa to the public on the barren hill brought a strong impact to everyone, thus served as the climax on the film. Elsa finally confessed that there were no miracles but these were in the hearts of each of the townspeople in Cupang. The denouement then followed when Elsa was shot in the middle her speech. The chaotic people then ran in panic and this led to stampede that killed several innocent people including the children. In the end, Elsa died in her adoptive mother’s hands. Sepa, her friend, announced that she was a saint. Then the people on the barren hill started praying to the Virgin Mary for the soul of Elsa to rest in peace.

The “appearance” of the Virgin Mary to Elsa made a great impact in Cupang. Why? This made the character of Elsa changed from being ordinary barrio lass to famous faith healer. Elsa brought a lot of changes and a collective hysteria to the people in their town. In terms of the people’s religious faith, the people tend to believe that Elsa was the Cupang’s “Virgin Mary” and somewhat served her as their god (the scene showing “Elsa loves you” served as a proof.) This highest-grossing movie was one of the best films ever made because it talked about the religious beliefs of the people to the Virgin Mary, since many of the Filipinos were devoted Catholics. It proved that people must claim to themselves that there are no miracles but they do happen in their hearts.

ka-twitter ko si "ying"! saktong love of siam pa pinag-uusapan namin. ang cute niya e, haha. :">

sarap ng feeling na nagsolo ka sa mp ng it114p, hahahaha. :))

happy 4th anniversary, love of siam. :)

ang biglaan, natutuloy: SPTSBXSU reunion. :)

nag-reunion ulit kaming magkakabarkada! HAHA.

well, how that was possible? it started with this tweet:

Source: Twitter - @zomgitslia

then we three all agreed since holiday naman kinabukasan nun. then naisip namin na isama rin namin sila nala, nok at migs. so i posted on our sptsbxsu group wall nito:

Source: Facebook - SPTSBXSU

kinabukasan, umaga pa lang magkachat na kami nila nala and nagcomment siya sa post ko (as seen above). we were asking kung pwede sila (kasi alam ko namang hindi sila papayagan). nag-isip na kami ng mga palusot na pwedeng sabihin niya sa parents niya. then chat-chat lang talaga, at nakachat na rin namin sila julia at nok. nagpipilitan kaming makasama ang lahat. in the end, natuloy kami gawa nang pinayagan sila ng dad/tito nila.

then hapon na (bandang 2:30pm), text-text naman pagkatapos. tinetext namin sila kung nasaan na sila and vice versa. ako, si julia at mga kapatid ko ang nauna sa sm. then we saw na hindi na showing ang in time. so umakyat kami sa 2nd floor then pumuntang movietime. nagbabasakali pa rin kami na (baka) showing pa rin yun. one week na pala ang nakalipas, then ka-text ko si nala at malapit na raw sila. hinantay lang namin sila dun (kasi na-text ko na nasa movietime kami). then nasa sm na rin sila, maya-maya nagkita-kita na kami.

“ANG LAKI MO NA, MIGS!”, bukambibig namin. we were like WOW, ang lalaki na naming lahat. we really missed each other talaga. then we walked na, talking and chatting about ganito-ganyan. basta ang dami naming kwento! i guess this is the first time na gumimik kami lahat sa sm (kasi dati hanggang waltermart lang kami, haha).

tapos we decided na lumipat ng robinsons place, baka showing sa kabila yung in time. so naglakad kami papunta dun. at first parang ayaw nung iba pero no choice, haha. ayun, tuloy-tuloy pa rin ang kwentuhan at kumustahan namin. later on we reached na yung mall, at showing pa rin ang in time dun. YEY! tapos ayun, umakyat na kami sa third floor sa cinemas. then picture-picture muna. after nun, we bought tickets na for the movie. sucks lang 5:45pm yung next showing and we’re late for the 3:30pm showing. picturan lang ulit sa 3rd floor.

then kumain muna yung iba sa siomai house. yung iba nag-gulaman lang (at isa na ako dun). nagkwentuhan ulit kami ganyan-ganyan and i took pictures ulit.

then we decided to play and sing sa tom’s world. do we have a choice kahit alam kong ang panget ng tom’s world dun? (ang sama ko!) ayun, naglaro lang kami ng basketball, time crisis, at nagkaraoke lang kami. julia sang, 100 ang score. i sang, 100 ang score, siya ulit, 100 ulit. (is that machine kidding us?) nagpipicturan lang ulit kaming lahat sa loob. (we’re seven and the room is good for three people i guess.)

magfa-5:30 na nun (akalain mo yun, nakatagal kami dun) at malapit na ang next showing. bibili na sana kami ng popcorn nang naisip namin na pwede naman kaming bumili na lang sa supermarket. from third floor bumaba kami sa ground floor. nagawa pa naming magpapicture sa escalator and here’s the picture:

SPTSBXSU, the movie. pang-poster na ang dating, right? WALANG AANGAL! :P

tapos we reached na yung supermarket. nagra-rush na kami sa paghakot ng chips and drinks. then ang haba ng pila! ilang minuto na lang, magstastart na yung movie. sabay baba ng mga pinaghahakot namin at dali-dali kaming pumunta sa mini-stop, sila levs, julia at nok ay nauna na sa taas. tapos yun, madali kami sa paghakot ng kakainin namin then we rushed upstairs. pinapalitan pa namin yung tickets namin (kasi ang bobo nung ticket seller). pumasok na sila vien at migs at nag-cr pa si nala so inantay ko pa. tapos yun, we’re the last to enter the movie house. 

nood-kain-inom lang kami sa loob ng sinehan, ang astig lang talaga ng movie. 

then natapos na yung movie. nag-enjoy kami. tapos nagpicture ulit kami ng buo:

SPTSBXSU, all grown-up! :) (sayang wala si kia.)

tapos ayun, pinapauwi na talaga sila nala nun. nakatunganga pa kami sa harap ng robinsons nun, iniisip pa namin kung pupunta pa ba kaming sm. in the end, we decided to go to sm sta. rosa at 8pm na (kasi minsan na lang daw kami magkasama).

naglakad ulit kami pabalik ng sm (kaya namang lakarin). kwentuhan ulit, tapos nagstostolen pic ako sa mga kasama ko.

we reached sm! tapos pumunta kami sa butterfly garden dun. pinag-iisipan namin kung kakain kami ng dinner dun or hindi. since gutom na talaga ang lahat, kumain kami sa kfc. nakaorder na sila nala at migs ng food nila. sila julia at vien na dapat pero walang chicken steak meal. short na kami sa money e so lumipat kami ng mcdonald’s. sila levs at nok umorder ng chaofan sa chowking. chicken fillet ang inorder namin nila julia at vien. iba-iba ang pagkain namin from different fastfood chain. we ate our dinner then picture-picture pa rin. pagkatapos kumain, still have 30 minutes before the mall closes, ako, si levs at nok pumunta sa national to check some books. yung mga babae at si migs nag-department store. magna-nine na nung bumalik na kami sa meeting place namin then ang tagal ng mga kasama namin. nagkita-kita na kami sa main entrance 2 ng sm. tapos umuwi na kami. 

grabe, ang hindi planado talaga ay natutuloy! 100 percent complete kami (although wala si kia kasi nasa pasay siya and we understand that). talagang nagagawan namin ng paraan ang imposible, haha. next time ulit! ;)