The movie starts when Seth (Vilma Santos) went to a famous faith healer hoping that her father, Odong (Robert Arevalo) be healed from paralysis due to stroke. Manang Elsa (Daria Ramirez), the faith healer gave Seth herbals for Odong to take before sleeping at night. The next day, the neighborhood and Seth were all shocked seeing Odong healthy and able to walk again. Eventually, Seth's sick friends asked her to bring them to this faith healer hoping they would be healed like Odong too. Seth's son, Jed (Martin del Rosario) heard of this faith healer that made his grandfather healthy again and seeing the condition of his half-sister Cookie (Kim Chiu), they both asked Seth to bring them to the faith healer. At first, Seth didn't agree but later on was moved by Cookie's plead. When they went to Manang Elsa, her brother (Joel Torre) asked them to leave but the people, including Seth and her friends, was begging for Manang Elsa's healing. Due to noise and disturbance they've caused, Manang Elsa finally allowed them inside and started her healing ritual.
Why "The Healing" healed the movie going public's crave for a nice suspense thriller drama?
The cinematic illusion of the movie at the opening credit was almost an intertwine of interest and imagination. To my liking, I found that to be interesting for the opening credit to ignite in me a sense of interest. To be honest, I was meaning to watch a CINEMALAYA entry last July 27 evening in Trinoma but ended up watching this movie with my partner. Overall, it did not disappoint my craving for a good Filipino movie.
The overall plot was a 100% reflection of the typical Filipino culture that believes in faith healing, driven by poverty, by belief that there's a powerful Source that could heal you from your affliction without the aid of modern medicine.
What made this movie more interesting is the series of twist and suspenseful turns that occurred. This made the audience really shout, shriek and clamp up to the edge of their seats consistently. I've observed that the public was very receptive with the storyline and their interest was really engrossed with the scenes. I share the same thoughts with the rest of the theater going public as I watch without batting an eyelash, thinking "What's gonna happen next? Who's gonna die? Who's making this all eerie happenings?"
The edits are superb. The graphic manifestation of the effects are excellent. I loved it because the producer, the director, the technical crew was never hesitant to show the effects that really made the audience go wild while watching the horror take turns!
The acting of the characters are all within the bounds and each have delivered based on their role. The main character, Vilma Santos, is and has always been consistent with her acting. Of course, it is refreshing to see her in this type of movie apart from her normal dramatic movies. The supporting casts are all good.
It is also nice to take note of the different shift of color themes in each time one of the character dies. From white to color pink, it's a nice sequencing and you could tell that the storyboard was well thought off.
So why did "The Healing" healed the box office? It's very simple, it's a good story. PERIOD!!! It was made with a powerhouse cast which interested the audience to see it. The movie was unique and I really think that from the days of the movie, "Feng Shui", this new Star Cinema movie is perhaps one of the most beautiful, well-crafted suspense thriller movie. I actually think that this is even better that those earlier horror-suspense movie made by Star Cinema.
It's a must watch movie, not because it's a Vilma movie. It's a must watch film not because of it's commercial tone but because it's a well thought off story. It was made even better with good effects, good acting. Lastly, it never made the audience felt that it's watching a "poochoo-poochoo" Filipino movie.
At the end of this movie, you would hear the audience clapping their hands as a sign of satisfaction with this film!
KUDOS to "The Healing"!
1 comment:
It's a good movie. I agree.
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