In March 1991, I wrote this piece, "Nora Aunor Endures" in then-Sunday Times' Gloss Magazine, when I sort-of celebrated the return of Superstar Nora Aunor, after a series of personal and career mishaps, with her triumph at the Metro Manila Film Festival a few months back via her comeback film, Gil Portes's ANDREA, PAANO BA ANG MAGING INA, followed a few months later, by her theater debut performance in PETA's MINSA'Y ISANG GAMUGAMO, adapted for theater by Rody Vera (from the film of the same title written by Marina Feleo-Gonzales) and directed by Soxy Topacio.
Both performances would reaffirm her status as the country's premier actress, bar none.
More than two decades later, we seem to be at the same situation, when after an eight-year absence from the industry - she migrated to the United States in 2003 and returned to the Philippines in 2011 - we observe similar ascendance, a mix of sheer guts, perseverance and that enviable artistic insight, with critically-acclaimed performances as a Bajau midwife in Brillante Mendoza's THY WOMB (2012) and the Ilocano medicine woman in Mes de Guzman's ANG KUWENTO NI MABUTI (2013), on top of her television work, notably the late Mario O'Hara's last major work, SA NGALAN NG INA (2011) on tv5.
With four films, completed and in-production, including Adolfo Alix's PADRE DE FAMILIA and SILBATO/Whistleblower, Perci Intalan's DEMENTIA and Joel Lamangan's HUSTISYA, and the anticipation over her conferment as National Artist for Cinema and Broadcast Arts, fans and admirers cannot but hold their breath at these prospects - a swell of emotions that always accompanies her return.
It is hoped that with re-printing this feature written more than 20 years ago, one may somehow understand the whys and wherefores of one of the most amazing careers in Philippine cinema.
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NORA AUNOR ENDURES
by Mike Feria
Many an observer agree: It is indeed her second wind. Superstar Nora Aunor's remarkable comeback-of-sorts in the film ANDREA, PAANO BA ANG MAGING ISANG INA? shown last December, has reaffirmed her status as one of the finest actresses, if not the best, of Philippine cinema.
Produced on a modest budget by her close friend Mely Nicandro for the latter's MRN Films, directed by Gil Portes and written by Ricky Lee, ANDREA ... earned for Nora Aunor her fifth Best Actress trophy from the Metro Manila Film Festival. The film finished last in the box office race, but it boosted a moribund career - boosted it enough to re-institute her as the country's premiere actress.
That triumph was quickly followed by an equally impressive performance in the PETA play, MINSA'Y ISANG GAMUGAMO (adapted by Rody Vera from the film script by Marina Feleo-Gonzales and directed by Soxy Topacio), which was staged at the Tanghalang Raha Sulayman in February and March. It was her debut in theater.
The audience and critics have been unanimous in their accolade for the star and the production - to some, it was the theater event of the year - something unprecedented in theater history.
Once again, Nora Aunor has chosen to journey through untrodden paths, with a certain stubbornness peculiar to iconoclasts and mavericks. Talk has it that, against her advisers' suggestion, she refused to alter the victorious death of the rebel in ANDREA ... (the change would allegedly have solicited the support of the festival's screening committee). Like no other star before and after her, she chose to redefine what a star/superstar in a country like the Philippines - invariably and unjustly referred as "Third World".
Her roles in the aforementioned film and play demonstrate choices that speak of an artist situating herself in the changing conditions of her society: in ANDREA ..., the armed revolutionary wedged in conflict between being mother and participant in the national democratic struggle; in GAMUGAMO, the aggrieved nurse who abandons her dreams of working in America when her brother is shot by an American serviceman and who later joins the anti-bases movement in her fight for justice.
The Young Critics Circle puts rightly in its citation (which garnered ANDREA the Gold Prize and for Nora Aunor the Individual Achievement Prize): "Ms. Aunor is cited for her fortitude and daring to star in this type of film, manifesting rare artistic insight into the problematics of social change. At a time when her career is taking one of its dangerous dips, she dares star in a film whose appeal is definitely non-commercial and whose politics could earn the ire of the powers-that-be. By so doing, Ms. Aunor, reaffirming her artistic leadership, has re-defined the role of the star/superstar in popular culture: her courage not to toe to the establishment line, both politically and artistically, at a time when she should ingratiate herself to it, is not only remarkable, but also exemplary."
Nora Aunor was a gawky teenager when she stepped into the national consciousness - winning the Grand National Champion trophy in the talent show TAWAG NG TANGHALAN in 1966. The year also marked the first term of Ferdinand E. Marcos. New idols, both of them.
The "Golden Voice" sparked heightened interest in local music recording, making her one of the industry's biggest stars of the time. (Her PEARLY SHELLS is one of the most successful recordings in the local music industry.) Not long afterwards the movies beckoned, and the film industry has never been the same since. Nora Aunor became the movies' biggest star, the mass adulation unprecedented and perhaps, not to be duplicated in our time.
Her emergence as star in the late 60s signified the realization of the brown ideal: she is the first major female film star whose features are distinctly Malayan. That it was also at the time of extreme social unrest is meaningful. Her rise remains a sociological question, and Nora Aunor herself is a sociological phenomenon.
In 1972, the year martial law was declared, she was at her prime: the movies' biggest box-office draw, recording's best-selling artist, TV's only musical-variety star. Her tv show, SUPERSTAR, was the only program allowed in operation when Marcos imposed a clampdown on all media.
With martial law in full force, Aunor would take a different course. At a time when her then-and-still rival, Vilma Santos made tremendous attempts to wrest the crown from her with hugely successful movie adaptations of popular komiks heroes (as in LIPAD, DARNA LIPAD and DYESEBEL), Nora Aunor produced films considered serious and non-commercial but acting vehicles no less: Danny Holmsen's CARMELA, where she played a haunted woman, and George Rowe's PARUPARONG ITIM, where she played an oppressed blind girl.
Two other films - the omnibus FE, ESPERANZA, CARIDAD (1974) where she was directed by the masters Lamberto Avellana and Gerardo de Leon, and de Leon's BANAUE (1975) - foreshadowed the emergence in 1976 a major acting talent in films of definite significance: Lupita Aquino-Concio's MAGANDANG GABI SA INYONG LAHAT and MINSA'Y ISANG GAMUGAMO and Mario O'Hara's TATLONG TAONG WALANG DIYOS. The latter film set in the Japanese occupation, gave her the Gawad Urian's first Best Actress trophy for her role as a village girl who fell in love with a collaborator.
As Nora Aunor immersed herself in substantial film projects in later years, her box office standing took a downslide, constantly outmaneuvered by Santos's melodramas and change of image and threatened by the rise of new stars like Maricel Soriano and Sharon Cuneta. Family trouble, entanglements with the BIR and unfortunate love affairs wore her down to a state of almost-total shutdown.
Nevertheless, the martial law years saw the growth of Nora Aunor's talent, with a body of work that shows an actress of consummate skill and singular taste. The wronged daughter in Lino Brocka's INA KA NG ANAK MO (1979); the lesbian lawyer in Danny Zialcita's T-BIRD AT AKO (1981); the expatriate nurse in Portes's MERIKA (1983); and the prison inmate in O'Hara's BULAKLAK SA CITY JAIL (1984) are some of the performances that remain unparalleled in intensity. Most of her roles, including the movie star groupie in Brocka's BONA (1980) and the visionary/faith healer in Ishmael Bernal's HIMALA (1982) are marked by an economy of movement - her eyes, considered legendary, speak of life's complexities in a multitude of ways - and a strong, timeless presence.
Sadly however, these incursions into serious cinema led Nora Aunor to stray far from the mass audience, which is still steeped in the lush sentimentalism of komiks melodrams and the mindless pursuit of star trivia. Refusing to heed the temper of the times, for example, she stood steadfastly by her political patrons, the Marcoses. Her near lynching by the mob at the gates of Camp Aguinaldo at the outbreak of EDSA revolt in 1986 signaled the beginning of the end of the Marcos reign and the passing of the Nora Aunor era in the movies.
Corazon C. Aquino became President. Beset with endless woes, the public apparently never forgave Nora Aunor for her political move. SUPERSTAR, considered the longest-running in local tv history, breathed its last after 22 years in 1990.
In an interview with Nora Aunor in MAGANDANG GABI, BAYAN after SUPERSTAR folded, host Noli de Castro made some cryptic but hopeful comments: " ... Dito nga ba magwawakas ang mala-Cinderellang kasaysayan ng Superstar, o isa lamang siyang sleeping giant na naghihintay ng tamang pagkakataon upang muling magsabog ng ningning sa pinilakang tabing?"
Recent events are proving de Castro correct. The success of the film and play attests to Nora Aunor's endurance. Conrad Fernandez, then head-writer of SUPERSTAR, notes this rare quality: "These are the eyes of a woman who has never forgotten a single painful moment that has happened to her, and who has gained nothing but strength from her experiences. Strength is the only thing that has kept her alive."
The suddenly warm acceptance of the public - indeed, the standing ovation accorded her number at the recent Star Awards Night, where she reaped a Best Actress trophy for ANDREA - conjures images of timelessness. The suggestion to declare her National Artist is an affirmation of her significant contributions to national culture.
Nora Aunor's continuing story compels a more critical assessment of her art and work. She has ceased to become her fans' mere escape from the turbulent world, and has evolved into a symbol - hopefully, liberative.
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Note:
Mike Feria is the pen name of Mauro Feria Tumbocon, Jr., the owner of this blogsite.
From 1991, the year you wrote this article until this year 2014, Nora Aunor still endures, and may I add, continues to be an even greater artist than she already has been. Thanks for some really great insights about the Philippine Superstar, Mau.
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