Isang Himala

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The godforsaken town of Cupang is shrouded in darkness in the midst of an eclipse, the superstitious townsfolk immediately attributing the phenomenon to divine forces. Tired at the end of a full day’s work, young lass Elsa (Aicelle Santos) hikes up the hill and sees a bright light shining down upon her, later on claiming that the Virgin Mary has appeared and spoken to her. The parish Priest (Floyd Tena) is dismissive, but the people rally behind Elsa when she “heals” a young boy’s asthma with a mere touch. It doesn’t take long before Cupang becomes a pilgrimage site. Elsa’s childhood friend Chayong (Neomi Gonzales) serves as her de facto girl friday while their once friend turned bitter enemy Nimia (Kakki Teodoro) also benefits from the sudden windfall by putting up a cabaret to cater to the carnal desires of residents and tourists alike. Elsa’s mother Saling (Bituin Escalante) is happy with the blessings, but worried at the same time thinking about the fallout should people find out that the miracles they believe in might not be miracles after all.

Cult leaders. Faith healers. False prophets. Isang Himala is the film version of the 2018 musical theater piece which in turn was based on the 1982 Ishmael Bernal classic. Yes, THAT Nora Aunor meme. The storyline is the same but this musical takes you on a wild journey documenting the rise and fall of a faith healer by dissecting the life cycle of a cult: 1) divine hallucination; 2) blind fanaticism; 3) media coverage/mass appeal; 4) commercialization of faith; 5) pressure from naysayers and experts; 6) the usually tragic downfall of the cult symbol. Isang Himala is all of these, but with a lot of singing, which makes it all the more surreal.

Whoever the producer is did a good job by retaining almost all of the original actors involved in the theater production. This is a risky gamble because who in his right mind will watch a musical? And worse, a musical with no big names on the cast list? Like, seriously? Unfortunately, this is the sad reality in the landscape of Philippine cinema. If you want to watch this musical, I suggest you do so in the next few days because I doubt this would have enough box office legs to last even just up to next week. It doesn’t help that the runtime is a whopping 2 hours 20 minutes. In any case, this is a must-watch for any musical theater fan. Why so?

One of the downsides of staging this at the Blackbox Theater in 2018 was the bare-bones production. The set, or lack thereof, was really left to the audience’s imagination. As such, everyone who has seen the theater version must have been quick to anticipate a film version to shoot on location. It seems that Diokno et al decided to use artificial sets that resemble real-life locations but obviously just put up on a soundstage, with CGI taking care of the background. The result looks like a cross between theater and film, like what a theater piece would look like if shot on camera without the limitations of a single stage setup.

Yes, it’s weird like that. I would summarize it as a play filmed like a movie, but that’s ambiguous. During the pandemic, a lot of stage plays and musicals were released as recordings of those then live performances for consumption on the small screen, but we all knew that those were all in a theater somewhere with just one stage. Isang Himala offers an experience that I imagine would be what it’s like if modern theater evolved into a multiple stage setup with people moving around to follow the characters through different angles and perspectives. It is difficult to describe, so kudos to the director for coming up with something so different.

Since the actors are legit thespians whose mettle has already been tried and tested onstage, that everyone can sing well is considered a bare minimum with the combined talent of the ensemble. Having said that, Santos has a real shot at the Best Actress race in this film fest, although I would have to single out Teodoro, as strong competition in Supporting considering the impact she has made with her character given the more limited screen time she has.

This musical is annoying to watch because of the idiocy and superstitious beliefs involved. It's 2024, guys. However, watching it with an open mind is actually educational if you are interested in figuring out how cult mentality works, getting into the headspace of intellectually-challenged masses who have nothing much to lean onto but their faith alone, which leaves them vulnerable as prey for predators who quickly take advantage of their numbers for their own gain. You might think this is passé, but all you really have to do is look around you and you'll notice how this is as relevant as it has always been.