Himala (1982)

Directed by

Ishmael Bernal

Genre

drama film

Country

Philippines

Runtime

2h 04m

Rating

8.0 of 10 from 21 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young woman in a rural Philippine village claims to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary. Her story draws crowds of pilgrims and sets off a chain of events that exposes faith, desperation and human frailty.

earnestspiritualcontemplativeatmosphericquietly intenseprovincialobservationalsomber

What happens

Himala ('Miracle') is a 1982 Philippine religious drama film directed by Ishmael Bernal and produced by the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines. It stars Nora Aunor as a young woman living in the province who claims to have seen a Marian apparition. The film story and script written by Ricky Lee was inspired by a series of alleged Marian apparitions experienced by schoolgirls from 1966 to 1972 on Cabra Island in Lubang, Occidental Mindoro. The film premiered at the 1982 Metro Manila Film Festival, where it won Best Film and Best Actress for Aunor, among other awards. It then became the first Filipino film to be included in the Competition section of the Berlin International Film Festival. In 2012, on its 30th anniversary, Himala became the first film to be restored as part of the ABS-CBN Film Restoration Project, with a premiere at the 69th Venice International Film Festival as part of the Venice Classics section. While getting positive reviews upon on its initial release, Himala is still widely considered today as one of the greatest Filipino films of all time. Nora Aunor garnered worldwide popularity and is best known for her performance in the film as the purported seer and healer Elsa. Her portrayal is considered by most Filipino critics as one of the best of her career. On November 11, 2008, Himala won the Viewer's Choice Award for the Best Film of All Time from the Asia-Pacific Region in the 2008 CNN Asia Pacific Screen Awards beating nine other films voted by thousands of film fans around the world. The ten finalists were chosen by critics, industry insiders and actors. Himala was later adapted by Lee and Vincent A. de Jesus as a stage musical in 2003, and into a musical film titled Isang Himala in 2024, which is an entry for the 2024 Metro Manila Film Festival. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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