UP Film Institute fetes best film of all time "Himala"

I thought the cocoon shape thingie was a flower vase misplaced on the table. I later found out it's the trophy from CNN APSA.

I went to the "Sa Likod ng Himala" event in UP Film Institute's Ishmael Bernal Gallery, Dec 16 and saw Ricky Lee, The Ricky Lee of Philippine Cinema standing infront of me.

Ricky Lee wrote the screenplay of "Himala ('Miracle') which was gloriously adapted to the big screen by the late National Artist for Film Ishmael Bernal.

The Institute paid tribute to the 1982 flick for bagging the CNN APSA Viewers Choice Award for Best Asia-Pacific Film of all Time last month in Queensland, Australia.

The UP Film Institute also screened behind the scenes footage of Himala that ran for some 20 minutes. At some part, the grainy documentary had the feel of an actual eye witness account of a shooting incident. The spritely filmmaker Bernal was so moved, he was heard commenting "ang galing ng ano... realistic!"

Screenwriter Ricky Lee and producer Bibsy Carballo in an open forum said they felt "vindicated" with their work being proclaimed "best film" not by an award-giving body but by nameless individuals of cyberworld who felt the movie deserve such distinction.

"Himala" failed to please most critics when it was first shown in 1982 citing the work was "ahead of its time." [Vilma Santos was cannonized on that awards season as Grand Slam Best Actress for the movie "Relasyon," same director-writer tandem]. Critics however saw the light and embraced the beauty of "Himala" in later years.

The best film which "tells the story of Elsa, a barrio lass whose visions of the Virgin Mary changed her life and caused hysteria in a poor, isolated village" bested cinematic heavyweights like Akira Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, Wong Kar-wai and Ang Lee (...such names so often seen on pages of Time magazine) from a list made by CNN critics and industry insiders.