MANANITA (ANG MGA HULING SANDALI NI TESSIE QUINTANA), Pilipino Magazine, March 12, 1969

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MAÑANITA

...ang mga huling sandali ni Tessie Quintana 

at ang isang awit sa Cursillo na mahal niya...

ni Romy Galang

FEBRERO 25, ala-una ng tanghali.  Sa isang silid ng St. Martin de Porres Ward ng Manila Medical Center ay nasa loob ng oxygen tent si Tessie Quintana.  Hirap na hirap siya sa paghinga.  Ikasampung araw na niya iyon sa ospital.

Kumilos ang nagbabantay na doktor.  Inalis ang oxygen tent at oxygen mask ang ipinalit.  Itinakip iyon sa ilong at bibig ni Tessie.  Lumuwag ang paghinga niya.  Idinilat ang mga mata at isa-isang pinagmasdan ang mukha ng mga nasa silid.  Naroon ang kanyang tatlong anak na sina Freddie, Albert at Mylene.  Naroon ang kanyang dalawang kapatid na babae.  Naroon ang kanyang kabiyak na si Johnny Reyes.  Naroon din ang mga narses.  Naroon din si . . .

Dahan-dahang inalis ni Tessie ang maskara ng hanging tumatakip sa kanyang ilog at bibig.

"Nasaan ang Mama?" tanong ni Tessie kay Rebecca.

"Umuwi siya upang matulog.  Ilang gabi na siyang puyat sa pagbabantay sa iyo," tugon ni Becky.

"Ipasundo mo siya . . . baka hindi na niya ako abutan," hiling ni Tessie.

Lumapit kay Tessie ang doktor at akmang ikakabit na muli ang maskara ng hangin.

Hinawakan ng pasyente ang kamay ng manggagamot.  Umiling at sinabing hindi na niya kailangan iyon.  Hindi nagpilit ang doktor.  Kilala niya ang ugali ng kanyang pasyente.  Mahirap suwayin ang kagustuhan niyon.

Bumaling na muli si Tessie kay Becky.  Nanghingi ng isang sigarilyo at isang boteng serbesa.

"Makasasama sa iyo ang magsigarilyo at uminom," tutol ng doktor.

Ngumiti si Tessie.  "Doktor, kung ako ba'y hindi manigarilyo at uminom ng serbesa ay hahaba pa ang aking buhay?"

"Hindi, pero hindi ka naman mahihirapang huminga," sagot ng doktor.

Tinipon ni Tessie ang nalalabi pa niyang lakas at dahan-dahang umusad na pasandig sa kama.  Akmang tutulungan siya ni Becky pero tumanggi siya.  Kaya raw niya ang kanyang katawan.  Inilibot niya ang kanyang paningin na tila namamaalam sa mga nasa loob ng silid.

Ilang araw bago dinala sa ospital si Tessie ay naglibot siya sa set ng mga ginagawang pelikula ng kanyang mga kaibigang artista at direktor.

Noong unang linggo ng Pebrero ay dumalaw siya sa set ng "Dolpe de Gulat" sa La Mesa Dam.  Masaya siyang nakipagkuwentuhan kina Dolphy, Direktor Chat Gallardo, Pilar Pilapil, Max Alvarado, Katy de la Cruz at iba pang artista.

Dinalaw rin ni Tessie ang set ng "Kumander Balisong" na sa La Mesa Dam din ang siyuting.  Kalahating oras siyang nakipagbiruan kina Eddie Fernandez, Paquito Diaz, Von Serna, Direktor Armando Garces at iba pa.

Nagtungo rin si Tessie sa Premiere-People's Studio s Caloocan.  Matagal siyang naging bituin ng maraming pelikula ng dalawang kompanya.  Ito ang naging pangalawa niyang niyang estudyo.  Ang una ay ang LVN Pictures na siyang nagbigay sa kanya ng pagkakataong maging bituin at reyna ng pelikula, tulad ng pagiging reyna ngayon nina Susan Roces at Amalia Fuentes.  Lalong nagningning si Tessie bilang bituin nang siya ang mapili ng FAMAS bilang pinakamahusay na bituing babae ng taong 1961 dahil s pagkaganap niya sa "Alaala Kita."

Ang karera ni Tessie sa tanghalan at pelikula ay isa na sa pinakamahaba.  Wala pa siyang sampung taong gulang noong 1942 nang sumikat siya bilang batang mang-aawit sa Cine Palace (sa kinalalagyan ngayon ng Palace Theater).  Isa pang batang artista ang malimit niyang makatambal:  si Berting Labra.  Bituin na rin noon sa tanghalan si Johnny Reyes samantalang si Efren ay telonero pa.

Maraming kapwa-artistang dapat pagpaalaman si Tessie.  Bago siya pumasok s ospital ay alam na niyang hindi na gaanong tatagal ang kanyang buhay.  Katunayan, maraming buwan nang lumampas ang taning sa kanya ng mga espesyalista sa kanser.  Ang kulang sa kanya ay ang panahon upang mapuntahan silang lahat.

Nang nasa ospital na si Tessie, ipinagbilin niya sa kanyang ina, mga kapatid at mga narses na papasukin kaagad sa kanyang silid ang sinumang artistang nais dumalaw sa kanya.  Kung sakaling magkataong siya'y natutulog, ipinamanhik niyang gisingin siya upang makausap ang mga dumadalaw.  Nasunod naman ang kanyang kahilingan.  Maraming artistang dumalaw kay Tessie sa pagamutan.  Maging ang mga dati niyang tagahanga ay dumalaw rin.

Nagpasindi ng isang sigarilyo si Tessie.  Hinitit niya iyon nang buong-kasiyahan.  Hiniling niyang buksan ang malamig na bote ng serbesa.  Tumalima naman si Becky.  Parang uhaw na uhaw na nilagok ni Tessie ang serbesa.  Napailing na lamang ang doktor.

"Ngayong ako'y nakapanigarilyo na at nakainom ng serbesa, gusto kong magbilin sa aking mga anak," mahina na ang tinig ni Tessie.

Lumapit sa kama ang kanyang tatlong anak.  Ang bunsong si Mylene ay iniupo sa kama.  Hinimas-himas ni Tessie ang buhok ng bata.

"Freddie, ikaw ang panganay.  Sa iyo ko ipinagbibilin sina Albert at Mylene.  Pakatandaan mo ito:  kahit na ano ang mangyari ay huwag kayong maghihiwa-hiwalay.  Magsama-sama kayong tatlo.  Ipangako mo, Freddie.  At kayo naman, Albert at Mylene, huwag ninyong iiwan ang Kuya Freddie ninyo.  Susundin ninyo siya," bilin ni Tessie sa mga anak.

Hindi ito ang unang pagkakataong hiniling ni Tessie sa kanyang mga anak na manatiling magkakasama.  Sinabi na niya ito noon pa mang hindi siya napapasok sa ospital.

"Ipinangangako ko, Mama," gumagaralgal ang tinig ni Freddie.

Si Freddie ay natanggap kamakailan bilang kawani ng Philippine Air Lines.  Kumuha na siya ng isang apartment na magiging tahanan nilang magkakapatid.  Ang makakasama nila ay dalawang katulong na matagal na nilang kasama sa bahay.

Pagkatapos magbilin sa kanyang mga anak hiniling ni Tessie sa mga mahal sa buhay na nasa loob ng silid na sabayan siya sa pagdarasal ng rosaryo.  Siya ang namuno.

Hindi napigilan ng mga nasa loob ng silid ang pagluha.

"Bakit kayo umiiyak?  Ako ay masayang-masaya sapagka't alam kong malapit ko nang makaharap ang Panginoon.  Hindi ba dapat ipagsaya iyan?  Natutuhan ko sa Cursillo na ang pagkamatay ng isang tao ay nangangahulugan lamang ng pagtungo niya sa kabilang buhay," paliwanag ni Tessie.

Noong nakaraang taon, nang malaman naming malala na ang karamdaman ni Tessie, nagtungo kami ni Direktor Armando Garces sa kanyang inuupahang apartment sa Sta. Mesa.  Ibinalita namin kay Tessie na kami ni Manding ay kapwa Cursillista at tutulungan namin siya anumang oras na naisin niyang mag-Cursillo.

"Alam ninyo, simula nang ako'y magkasakit ay naging relihiyosa na ako.  Dinalasan ko ang pagsisimba, pagnonobena, pagkukumpisal at pakikinabang.  Sa palagay ko'y malapit na malapit na ako ngayon sa Diyos.  Ipaaalam ko na lang sa inyo kung ako'y handa nang mag-Cursillo," paliwanag ni Tessie.

Ilang linggo pagkatapos ng pagdalaw naming iyon ay nag-Cursillo si Tessie sa Lipa City.  Masayang-masaya siya nang lumabas sa Cursillo House.

"Gayon pala kasaya ang Cursillo.  Akala ko'y puro dasal.  Ang harana kanginang madaling-araw at ang awiting "Mananita" ay hindi ko makakalimutan habang ako'y nabubuhay," wika pa niya.  "Biro mo, kung saan-saang malalayong lugar pa nanggaling ang daan-daang nangharana sa amin."

Ganyan din kahalaga sa maraming Cursillista ang "Mananita."  Pangalawa lamang ito sa popularidad.  Ang una ay ang "De Colores."

"Kung sinuman sa inyo ang gustong umiyak, maaari bang lumabas?  Ayaw kong pabaunan ninyo ako ng luha sa aking pagpanaw," pamanhik ni Tessie sa mga nasa silid.

Nagpahid ng luha ang mga mahal sa buhay ni Tessie.  Pinigil nila ang pag-iyak at pinilit ngumiti.

"Ganyan ang gusto ko," nasisiyahang wika ni Tessie.

Hinuni-huni ni Tessie ang himig ng "Mananita".  Kapagkuwa'y inusal ang mga titik...

"How beautiful is the morning

as we come and waken you

with God's early morning blessing

with pleasure we sing to you ..."

Tumigil sa pag-awit si Tessie.  Hirap na hirap siya sa paghinga.  Hinimas niya ang nagsisikip na dibdib.  Lumapit sa kama ang mga mahal niya.  Isa-isa silang pinagmasdan ni Tessie.  Pagkatapos ay ipinikit ang mga mata.

"My Jesus, mercy . . . my Jesus, mercy . . . Jesus . . ." usal ni Tessie na tutop ang dibdib.

Ganap na ala-1:40 ng hapon, Pebrero 25, nang bumalik si Tessie sa sinapupunan ni Bathala.  Pumanaw siya sa gulang na 37.

Dalawang gabing pinaglamayan ang labi ni Tessie sa simbahan ng Mount Carmel sa Quezon City.  Libu-libong tagahanga at mga kapwa-artista ang nagbigay-galang sa kanyang bangkay.  Punung-puno ng mga bulaklak ang santuwaryo.

Tanghaling-tapat noong nakaraang Huwebes, Pebrero 27, nang ilagak ang katawang-lupa ni Tessie sa isang libingan sa Loyola Memorial Park.  Hindi napigilan ng kanyang mga mahal sa buhay ang pagluha samantalang ipinapasok sa nitso ang kabaong at tinutugtog ang "Mananita."

"Bakit kayo umiiyak?  Hindi ba ang sabi ng Mama huwag tayong iiyak? usisa ni Mylene sa mga nakapaligid sa kanya.

Lalong bumalong ang luha sa mga mata ng mga nakapaligid sa bunsong anak ni Tessie.

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Sinulat ni Romy Galang

Pilipino Magazine, March 12, 1969

ZAMBOANGA IDYLL (The Weekly Nation, 1966)

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ZAMBOANGA IDYLL

By Marietta L. Velasco

...lush tropical land of the fairest maidens and the sweet orchid-scented atmosphere, where the coast is fringed by palms and ferns, and where the sun meets the horizon in transporting glory.

ZAMBOANGA is a quaint and exotic name that conjures many images -- alluring maidens, enchanting paradise of variegated flora, colorful Moro vintas, kris-bearing juramentados, fabulous pearls.

Romantics have called this world of tropical enchantment by many names.  It is the City of the Flowers, the Pearl Center of the South Seas, the Friendliest City of the World.  It is no wonder that when the late Fernando Poe Sr. was in quest of a setting for a motion picture, he chose Zamboanga.  Zamboanga, the film which starred him and the luscious Rosa del Rosario, became one of lthe most memorable motion pictures of a generation ago.

Zamboanga is approximately 50+ miles from Manila, or 2/12 hours by plane.  It sits on the westernmost part of Mindanao, an overnight's sailing by kumpit from Jolo.  Which is why Moro traders who are in direct contact with Borneo-smugglers find flourishing commerce in this land.  

Nature has lavished on Zamboanga a gracious blend of myth and legend where east and west, ancient and modern merge.

While the port is a modern hub of activity where pleasure-seaking seamen find haven, not far away is a Moro village with its ancient mosques and peaked-roofed dwellings which bear the lasting stamp of the Muslim way of life.

The lush foliage that covers the area is a motley of colors redolent with the heady perfume of exotic blossoms.  Most homes are surrounded by gardens.  How can anyone forget the delightful lure of fragrant orchids and wild ferns, blazing flame trees and age-old acacias?  Or how do you wash out the delectable taste of its strange fruits ...the mangosteen, the durian, and the mangoes?

"Don't you go, don't you go to far Zamboanga, where you may forget your darling far away ..."  This familiar school ditty sings the praise of Zamboanguenas, the fairest of the fair maidens of the south.  The Zamboanguena herself shows unmistakable traces of the country's historical past.  Through her veins runs the blood of generations of Malays, Spaniards, Americans.

A few minutes walk from Zamboanga City itself is a breathtaking seascape of palm fringed beach.  Here the waves deposit seashells that are lovelier than any that could be found anywhere.

A Moro village lines another stretch of the coast.  Here Moro seamen sell pearls, and shells, and corals, French perfume and Scotch whiskey, not to mention the ubiquitous "blue seal."

Among the memorable scenes of Zamboanga seas are that of the Moro vintas with young Muslim boys waiting to dive for coins tossed into the blue waters by tourists.

Such is the allure and beauty of Zamboanga that it has imbued young Fernando Poe Jr. with the obsession to do a movie about the place as his father had done 30 years ago.  The dream is about to be fulfilled.  Work on the motion picture is under way.  With Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces in the starring roles, Zamboanga will be shot in its entirety in Eastman color.

The story is that of a highly adventurous young man who becomes enamoured of the beauteous daughter of a venerable Moro panglima.  The girl happens to be betrothed to the son of a very influential datu, played by Vic Silayan.  Lito Anzures plays the part of the sultan's son.

The film is being directed by Efren Reyes.  Emil Mijares provides the music.

The others in the cast are Pilita Corrales, Johnny Monteiro, Victor Bravo, Pablo Virtuoso, Dencio Padilla, Vic Varrion and Johnny Long.  Also featured are Pedro Faustino and Totoy Torrente who incidentally, were in the old Zamboanga film.  Ana Trinidad, best child actress for 1965, plays Susan's young sister.

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SUSANANG DALDAL (1962)

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"SUSANANG DALDAL" 

Release Date:  March 15, 1962, Life Theater

Production:  VP Pictures

Director:  Romy Villaflor

Stars:  Susan Roces, Dolphy, Panchito, Eddie Gutierrez, Jean Lopez, Lito Legaspi

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KONSIYERTO NG KAMATAYAN (1961)

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"KONSIYERTO NG KAMATAYAN"

Release Date:  March 13, 1961, Dalisay Theater

Production:  Premiere Productions

1st Episode:

"AVE MARIA"

Stars:  Cesar Ramirez, Cecilia Lopez, Jose Garcia

Ruben Rustia, Adorable Liwanag

Direction:  Abraham Cruz

2nd Episode:

"SUMPA NG KALULUWA"

Stars:  Edna Luna, Lauro Delgado, Chiquito

Vener Vizconde, Teroy de Guzman, Teresita Mendez

Lito Anzures, Benny Mack, Vicente Liwanag

Dely Atay-Atayan

Direction:  Teodorico C. Santos

3rd Episode:

"NOCHE AZUL"

Stars:  Alicia Vergel, Bob Soler, Renato Robles

Celia Rodriguez, Marilou Munoz

Direction:  Danilo H. Santiago

4th Episode:

"LUMULUHANG BANGKAY"

Stars:  Ronald Remy, Aura Aurea, Johnny Monteiro

Direction:  Cirio H. Santiago

 

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YANTOK MINDORO (1960)

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"YANTOK MINDORO"

(Adapted from "Sebya, Mahal Kita",CBN's top radio program 

sponsored by San Miguel Brewery)

Release Date:  January 30, 1960, Dalisay Theater

Production:  LVN Pictures

Direction:  Fred Daluz

Story & Screenplay:  Beer Flores

Music:  Polding Silos

Stars:  Pugo, Sylvia La Torre, Eddie San Jose, Bentot, Rosa Aguirre,

Val Castelo, Merle Tuazon, Nelda Lopez Navarro, Ric Tierro

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AKO'Y ALIPIN NG OPIO (1961)

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"AKO'Y ALIPIN NG OPIO"

Production:  Premiere Productions

Direction:  Efren Reyes

Stars:  Efren Reyes, Johnny Monteiro, Eddie Mesa, Leonor Vergara

Release Date:  March 20-24, 1961, Dalisay Theater

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FILM REVIEW: REVITALIZING ROMANTICISM (TATLONG KASAYSAYAN NG PAG-IBIG), The Weekly Nation Magazine, February 1966

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"TATLONG KASAYSAYAN NG PAG-IBIG"

Release Date:  January 19, 1966/Dalisay Theater

Production:  AM Productions

Direction:  Gerardo de Leon

Screenplay:  Pierre Salas

Music:  Tito Arevalo

Camera Direction:  Mike Accion

Stars:  Amalia Fuentes, Romeo Vasquez

 with special guest appearances of Tito Galla,

Nancy Roman, Mary Walter and Connie Angeles

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Read the full article:

REVITALIZING ROMANTICISM

Spotlight by Ophelia San Juan

The Weekly Nation Magazine, February 1966

TATLONG Kasaysayan Ng Pag-ibig, as its title suggests, is made up of three romantic stories.  Just how romantic they are may be gleaned from the essential contents of each story:  a young girl of college student age discovers love for the boy next door -- after both have gone steady with other partners; a very rich woman develops a strong passion for a very tainted playboy-gangster, and prepares to throw away her fortune and her high-society life for the chance to live with him; a girl of the night supporting an invalid boyfriend and his poor family is led to marriage and respectability by him when he learns of the sacrifice she is making for his sake.

The best realized, the last episode is clear, realistic, cogent, and cohesive.  Tina (Amalia Fuentes) is an unlettered waif who finds herself a hardworking, poorly paid, and often amorously assailed waitress in a Chinese-owned restaurant after a childhood of poverty and parentlessness.  When a student (Romeo Vasquez) drops in to take his unluxurious snack, Tina immediately begins to like him, to solicit his friendship openly and without much timid modesty.  An easy, casual relationship between the two ensues in which no word about love is said, no mention about a binding romance is made.  Yet when Vasquez injures himself and becomes a cripple as he is sideswiped by an onrushing truck, Amalia is unable to stand his plight:  she gives in to the Chinese restaurant owner's long-standing proposition for two hundred pesos, the exact price of a hospital room's down payment for Vasquez, and goes on to ply a prostitute's trade as she strives to give him worthy sickbed presents and, later, his sustenance as well as his family's (composed of a palsied, aging grandmother and a grade school-age sister).

Her self-sacrificing action may perhaps be explained by the fact that Vasquez's injury results from his own spontaneous, self-forgetting gesture to save her from the destructive path of the truck as she stands on the street calling his attention to a forgotten textbook -- in which case this becomes a logical and realistic entry in life's balance book of values; and again it may be an impulsive and recklessly romantic notion of a female in love to still give her idol the most prized offering she can (her womanhood) while ostensibly exchanging it for his material needs -- in which eventually this turns out to be a more complicated flight of fancy than O. Henry's The Gift of The Magi.  The story of Tina in Tatlong Kasaysayan Ng Pag-ibig hints of equal elements of both realism and romanticism.

Blending these two becomes Director Gerardo de Leon's pleasant, if at times difficult, task -- and the result is highly pleasing cinema whose only defect is its being too polished when it can be erratically and roughly truthful as life actually is.  Whereas the modern cinema, as exemplified by the productions of the cinema verite' movement, throws a natural, undiffused, and unfiltered look at life, the world of De Leon, so thoroughly examined in this trilogy about three young and beautiful women, is a lovely panorama, and even prostitution is divested of its gnarled visage, its sting of life, its chill breath of death.  His is the romantic world of the Mary Magdalena, washed of sin by love and pure as driven snow -- and the young lovers can cross the Santa Cruz bridge of sighs to the ringing of church bells.  Or a heavenly choir, perhaps.

The same out-of-this-worldliness inherent in Tina's tale pervades the story of Cynthia, the rich socialite who would willingly give up wealth and identity just to be loved and possessed by her triggerman-lover.  Again a very improbable story, and equally as romantic as the one about Tina, Cynthia's downward path to love is dramatically stopped by love's own sacrifice.  Her triggerman-lover, who had been originally ordered and set to divest her of her wealth prior to his terminating her life, turns about and as in all the tales of the romantics sacrifices himself for love.

 The story is apparently De Leon's meat -- and he gnaws at it with verve and gusto.  The result is a rather startling movie, full of blood and streaked with perversity -- the romantic concept of the violent life as led by gangsters in marzotto.  But the realism that De Leon eschews gives the movie its attractive sheen, and one is almost dazzled by Amalia's shining eyes as she looks, with wondrous blindness through her bejewelled world, at the nether zone of a lust-infested gangdom.

The world of Betty, the teenager who takes a bit of time to discover that love is living only next door, is no less romantic.  This time the setting is suburbia, with its lovely bungalows, wide terraces, gravelled sidewalks, swimming pools, and jam sessions.

Though the story is basically sophomoric -- about the romantic theme of first love and its heart-rending discovery -- the details used in bringing about the realization of love's awakening are quite striking and contemporary.  The scene of Teroy de Guzman, just for one example, where he ogles the enraptured couple (Amalia and Romeo) inside a stalled taxicab is one of the most refreshingly new and originally acted sequences in Filipino movies.  Above all, the characterization by Miss Fuentes of a bespectacled, rather gawky teenage girl getting more enamoured by the minute of the somewhat clumsy boy next door is almost like a closeup of a rosebud opening.

In fact, the entire film of Tatlong Kasaysayan is a study in acting, wherein Amalia Fuentes, who has always been better known for her sweet-faced beauty, presents a revealing inventory of her talents.

Not only did she write the original story, on which Pierre Salas based his script, but she also, by dint of sustained acting excellence, gives corporeal life to the characters which her imagination had created.

She can look and act like sweet sixteen, stand and preen herself like a diamond queen, and sway her hips (sometime her handbag, too) like a common streetwalker.  Her portrayals of Tina and Betty are specially notable, as they almost embody the entire sphere of womanhood -- from the birth of love to its death and, ultimately, it's rebirth.  And through all the phases, Miss Fuentes is in full control, utilizing every nuance of glance and gesture, every inflection of word and voice, to communicate her thoughts and meanings.  She does all this with an ease that almost traipses on the borderline of calculated coolness.  If this is not true acting, somebody has to come up with something better yet.

Director De Leon's smooth and polished style is the only intrusion that occasionally reminds one of the make-believe quality of this motion picture.  A bit of the cinema verite' in places where the realistic and candid view is effective -- as in the whorehouse sequence and in the slum settings -- would have made Tatlong Kasaysayan a film worthy of any international film festival competition.

However, as it is now, the sophisticated Tatlong Kasaysayan ng Pag-ibig is already a film to reckon with when the next Famas awards and the Asian Film Festival come around.  It is far and above the quality of most Filipino movies.  The camera work of Mike Accion, who has felicitously collaborated with De Leon in two other significant films, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, succeeds in evoking the proper moods and atmosphere for the scenes of the three stories.  The background music written and directed by Tito Arevalo, while not specially arresting because of the lack of luster that good background music project in modifying and emphasizing a scene as an adjective does a verb, is unobtrusively correct. 

But perhaps the domination that Amalia Fuentes exercised is enough for a movie, even for one with three stories like Tatlong Kasaysayan.  Excepting for some rare moments in the Tina story, wherein Mary Walter as the palsied grandmother watching with death-knowing eyes the evolving relationship between her crippled grandson and the virtuous prostitute gets in a few licks, Miss Fuentes dominates all the actors, including her leading man for all the three episodes -- Romeo Vasquez.  She emerges as a compulsive actress, projecting a multi-faceted, full and compelling image on the dim and narrow confines of today's Philippine movie screen.

With this kind of picture, the Filipino film might begin to discover its real metier -- not the world of the pseudo-Western, nor of the tiresome secret agent's, nor even of the glorified travelogue, in which Miss Fuentes herself has been badly exploited, but the true world of everyday people, even if made somehow glossier by the romantic outlook of such filmmakers as Gerardo de Leon and Miss Fuentes:  the world of love, sacrifice, nobility, and death -- the world of humans.

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