JENINE MARICAR BARNACHEA

The movie Himala is all about a girl in a province who claimed that she saw
the Virgin Mary in a hill, crying. She also said that Virgin Mary talked to her and
told her that the people in their village should ask forgiveness and regret for their
sins. Along the way, the people believed her when she started healing sick people
on their village and even outside of it. It is set in a dry village, almost looking like
a desert because it had never experienced rain for a long time. The village is called
Cupang. The people in Cupang believed that their village is cursed because a long
time ago, they had kicked out the Virgin Mary disguised as a leper. They also
believed that someday, the Virgin Mary will come to Cupang again and it scares
them that if She comes back once again disguised, no one would know her and the
people might kick her out for the second time.

The main character is Elsa. She is the girl who claimed that Virgin Mary
showed herself in the hill. Elsa was known to be a girl who has many dreams, that
is why when she told her foster mother what she saw in the hill, she never believed
her. That is until the people claimed that their sickness went gone because Elsa
healed them. Elsa continued healing people’s sickness and in return, the people
gave her money. The theme for the movie Himala is the superstitious belief of
Filipino’s and them being dedicated fully to their religion. The people have been
fully dedicated to their religion that everything that is happening around them,
they consider it as a blessing from the Lord, or a curse. They are being dependent
on the faithfulness they have that even the famine and the sickness in their village
is interpreted as a “curse” of the Virgin Mary disguised as the leper whom they had
kicked out. But as it is said in the Holy Bible, faith without work is dead.
The writer argues the different perspectives of the villagers about the showing of
Virgin Mary to Elsa, as well as the different belief of these people about religion,
faith and saints. The movie was enthralling because we, the audience, was actually
clueless while watching. We don’t know who to believe, we doesn’t even know who
among the characters were telling the truth. So it was like a mind blowing scene
when Elsa decided to tell the people in the film that there is really no miracles. It’s
all in the mind of the people, they believe who they want to believe. Little did they
know that they are deceived by a false prophet.

The main points in the film is the belief of the people in the village of
Cupang. But I think the director, or the writer of the story wanted us to show that
we, Filipino, were like the villagers of Cupang also. We believe easily on
superstitions, on things that weren’t even factual. Because of the simple fact that
we were faithful, too faithful that we believe others so easily when they talk about
godliness.

The director concludes the movie on the part where Elsa admitted that there
is no such thing as miracle. The miracles she made were all fake. I also considered
that scene as a climax of the story. I like the part where Elsa decided to tell the
truth to the people. But unfortunately in the end, it doesn’t seem like they believed
her. They are too blinded by their faith. The director achieved the goal of leaving
the film as a hanging one. Yes, the storyline may be considered finished when Elsa
admitted her lies to the people, but the people did not believe her still. They still
worshipped Elsa, even when she’s already dead.

You must watch this film because it represents the life of the people who
doesn’t have anything to hold on to their life, but faith. It also compasses the idea
that people must be faithful to God, but we should never omit the fact that in our
lives, we will meet many people who will make us believe the lies they made, and
then they will act as if we owe them for telling those lies.