Allen Alzola

The Philippines, 1972. Mysterious things are happening in a remote barrio. Wails are heard from the forest, cows are hacked to death, a man is found bleeding to death at the crossroad and houses are burned. Ferdinand E. Marcos announces Proclamation No. 1081 putting the entire country under Martial Law.

To this day, Ishmael Bernal's movie Himala is still in our town, in our world. This will be reflected in the broader perspective of the majority, of the surrounding events. Beliefs still lie in the truth. Consciousness is still dominant at the level of illusion. The naive, savage, cruel, and selfish politics still prevail.

1957. Hernando Alamada, Filipino vaudeville great and a former socialist cadre, fulfills the last leg of his performing tour on the Mayflower cruise ship. He knows that the Philippines is experiencing a bitter transition yet again; the much-loved and popular president, Ramon Magsaysay, suddenly dies in a plane crash. He arrives in his poverty-stricken barrio, his country’s state and future burdening him heavily, and at the same time, a deep personal turmoil confronts him. He plods on an aimless journey. Akin to the Filipino ‘bodabil’, he finds himself on the gate of the theater of the absurd, a descent to burlesque, madness, to stark realities, and, ultimately, an ascent to his own redemption.