Noel Orosa (Agenda Magazine, 2000)

The ad campaign of Pinoy Blockbuster Channel features the top actors of Philippine cinema posing this question: “Pagdating sa pelikula, sino ba ang bida?” For those who grew up watching Tagalog movies in the 70s, 80s, and well into the 90s, there is only one answer – Nora Aunor, who still is, as countless television hosts have officially put it, the one and only superstar.

But perhaps the more important question is, “Pagdating sa pelikula, sino ba ang may katha?” Who is the ultimate author in Philippine cinema? Is it the scriptwriter? After all, the original vision comes from him. This answer rings true when one considers writers like Ricky Lee, whose meticulously planned and envisioned screenplays for Salome, Brutal and Moral can almost be considered as scripts with directorial treatments simply awaiting someone to execute them to the letter.

Or is the director the true author? Think of Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal, whose movies bear the unmistakable stamp of their identity, their personal vision. Others still, might consider the producer, or even the editor, as the true author of the film. But who would ever consider the actor? After all, aren’t most actors obedient pawns waiting for the hand that will guide them, thus, ultimately fulfilling someone else’s vision?

But then again, Nora Aunor, is unlike most actors.

Anyone who has a deep appreciation of Nora Aunor’s formidable body of work understands how it is possible for a mere actor to claim authorship of a cinematic piece of work. For Nora has always transcended her material, sometimes even the film genre itself. For instance, her unforgettable performance in Tinik sa Dibdib transformed it from being just another komiks melodrama with improbable twists-and-turns into a compelling tale of redemption. Her brilliantly comedic turn in Elwood Perez’s Lollipops, Roses at Burong Talangka saved it from being an escapist fairytale romance and turned it into an almost sophisticated comedy of manners. And the manner in which she inhabits the role of the oppressed maid in Atsay clearly demonstrates that her insights into her character are much, much deeper than that of her director’s. So deep, in fact, that Nora has become an icon for all atsays.

The ultimate example of Nora as auteur is in Himala in which she shares authorship with two other giants of Philippine cinema: Ishmael Bernal and Ricky Lee. Nowhere is this more apparent than in her famous sermon on the mount, in which she reveals that there are no miracles: “Walang Himala!”

In this scene, director Bernal obviously lets go, giving Aunor full command both of the screen and of his set to do with as she pleases, the way she envisions it. And Aunor does not disappoint him, delivering her minimalist performance with maximum intensity, thus claiming the scene as her own creation.

How apt that she played a visionary in Himala. For in the end, wasn’t she one of the visionaries who, along with Bernal and Lee, created this masterpiece? Aunor recounts this highlight in her career: “Nu’ng gabi, bago naming kinunan yung eksenang ‘Walang Himala’, pinag-usapan banin ni Bernie (Bernal) ‘yun. Sabi niya sa akin nuon: ‘Ito ang kukunan bukas. Bahala ka na kung anong puwedeng gawin mo diyan.’ So nag-eksperimento naman ako kung ano ang dapat kong gawin.” *

“Kinabukasan, apat na kamera yung nakatutok sa akin. Kailangan tuhog. (In other words, it had to be done in one take.) Kung ano sa palagay kong tama ‘yun ang ginawa ko. Tumama naman kaya hindi kami nagkaruon ng problema.”

“Kasi sa bawat eksena, ang nangyayari sa akin, sinasapuso ko kapag talagang gusting-gusto ko ang ginagawa ko. Kaya siguro minsan tumatama dahil nararamdaman ko eh.”

The result was pure genius. Amazingly, her performance in the movie, which most film-literate critics consider the greatest, was hardly understood at that time. “Na-nomina (ang performance ko) sa lahat ng award-giving bodies. Tapos wala man lang napanalunan kahit isa.** Bakit daw ako pananalunin, wala naman akong ginawa kundi dipa ng dipa.”

“Tapos sa huli na-realize nila na ‘yun ang pinakamahirap sa lahat: ‘yungum-emote ka ng wala kang sinasabi pero mata lang ang pinapakilos.”

“Kasi kailangan pag ikaw ang nanuod, naiintindihan mo kung ano ang ginagawa ng artista, ‘di ba?”

In the end, Nora’s legacy to Philippine cinema is a wealth of images that will never fade from our popular consciousness. Who can forget her eyes plotting murder over a kettle of boiling water in Bona, moments before she was to scald her idol to death? Or the horrific realization that her husband was her mother’s lover in Ina Ka ng Anak Mo? Or how she burned the stolen money with utter defiance in front of the crime syndicate’s mastermind in Condemned?

All these prove that, among her peers, Nora Aunor understood film the most. Film is image.

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* In Si Tatang at mga Himala sa Ating Panahon, Ricky Lee narrates that Nora’s monologue was given to her on the day of the shoot –not the night before as she yells it here.

** She did win one Best Actress trophy for Himala in the Metro Manila Film Festival, At