A SEQUEL to Nora Aunor’s 1980 film “Bona” after 44 years, why not? The original plan was to field it to the golden year of the Metro Manila Film Festival, but what went wrong?
Let me just share a quick throwback anecdote back in December of 1980.
Upset over a fruitless visit to a college friend — a resident of Masambong, Quezon City — whose family was completely clueless about his sexual orientation, his driving me away before I could even step inside their rented apartment directed me to a nearby honky-tonk pub.
National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts Nora Aunor. TMT FILE PHOTO
I took pity upon myself, but thanks to about six bottles of beer that kept me company. For a non-habitual drinker, that was enough to see pink elephants prancing in the air.
Already loaded, I rode a jeep back home. But I seemed to have gulped down beyond my limits that I needed to pee, but where? Up to this day, the Pasay-bound jeepneys traverse the busy Sta. Cruz strip with stand-alone movie houses on either side.
Never mind if I already paid my fare to get to my destination, I had to get off the jeep as fast as I could, and make my way into any theatre to answer the call of nature.
Totally oblivious to the signages, I didn’t even bother to check which film was showing.
Since I knew there’d be more frequent restroom stops, I decided to settle down. Only when already comfortably seated did I realize I was watching Lino Brocka’s Bona.
For some strange reason, I never felt the urgency to pee from then on. Before I knew it, I was enjoying the film — shunning all distractions.
Forty four years later, I’ve naturally relegated its highlights to oblivion. But what I could distinctly recall was Nora’s last few scenes with Phillip Salvador (Gardo).
On the cusp of exacting revenge for all the emotional pain inflicted upon her, Bona holds a “kaserola” of boiling water, its steam emitting from it on the foreground partly covering her face but with an intense shot of her expressive eyes.
That particular scene comes with a sinister musical score, serving as a prelude to the final major highlight where Bona douses the boiling water on Gardo as he screams and winces in extreme pain.
Last May, the film had a classic screening at the Cannes Film Festival in France. Unfortunately, Nora — whose 71st birthday coincided with the duration of the event — was no-show as her doctor had advised her against embarking on the trip.
In its remastered version, the Brocka classic didn’t fail to impress the foreign audience, lauding both Nora (also the producer) and its director for her noteworthy acting and timeless theme, respectively.
Favorable reactions from our local delegates were already a given. Writer-director Joey Reyes, for one, relished memories of seeing Bona when he was a kid.
Fellow director Adolf Alix Jr. — who also directed Nora in the film “Pieta” — confessed to having watched a blurred version of Bona on VHS.
What remains clear though is that Adolf is set to direct its sequel with Nora reprising her iconic fan character. In fact, Nora and Adolf have begun brainstorming for the project, filming of which was supposed to have started this year.
In its 1980 version, the film ends with Bona avenging herself. The events following that are what the sequel is all about: was Bona made to pay for the crime she committed? If so, would the film open with her post-jail term considering that 44 years have passed?
Unless he got away by the skin of his teeth, would Gardo with all his scalded and burnt body be resurrected by Phillip?
Also in the Brocka film was 18-year-old Ruby Ruiz, then a neophyte PETA member, who played Nora’s younger sister: will she be in the sequel? Or is it a new plot altogether?
A huge fan of films about social realism (for which Brocka was famous), I don’t mind being torn between my quintessential idols Vilma Santos and Nora — or Nora and Vilma depending on one’s vantage point.
With the Bona sequel no longer in the race, nevertheless, the 50th MMFF this year is just as grandiose. Those at the helm are confident they can outdo last year’s exercise. Their ultimate aim is to surpass last year’s over one billion-peso gross take of all 10 entries.
It was Vilma’s battlecry that the public go back to commercial theaters. Unfortunately, this time, both Vilma and Nora could have lobbied vigorously for the film industry’s sake — if only the Bona sequel had come to fruition.
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