During the recent gala night of "Sta. Nina" at the Cinemalaya 2012, i finally had the chance to talk to the legendary Anita Linda. Directed by Emmanuel Quindo Palo, Sta. Niña is a movie about a non-decaying dead body of a girl, and the belief that it could heal. Aside from Coco, Alessandra de Rossi also topbills the independent film. Also in the cast are talented actors Angel Aquino and Anita Linda.
The Synopsis of the film states:
Years after lahar covers a town in Pampanga, Pol (COCO MARTIN) and his co-workers in a quarry dig up the coffin of his daughter. The remains of the 2-year old girl Marikit did not show any signs of decay. Many consider this a miracle, and thus many deem her as miraculous. People from their town and other places troop to Pol’s home to be healed by Marikit.Inspired by whatever healing power the deceased child may have, Pol asks the church to declare her a saint. But how, when her resurgence stirs up emotions buried by time, and shores up questions about pure love, guilt, sin and salvation?
Anita Linda has again gave an excellent performance for her role as the grandmother of Coco who is suffering from short memory loss, she remembers those that happened in the distant past, like the Pinatubo tragedy, but not those in the immediate.
Perhaps most of you will agree that she made her mark in her various lola roles in her past films. She gained critical acclaim for her portrayals in maternal or elderly roles. At the age of 74, she became the oldest actress to ever win a FAMAS award, when she was named Best Supporting Actress for Ang Babae sa Bubungang Lata. In 2008, at age 83, she was named Best Actress in the 10th Cinemanila International Film Festival (Southeast Asia Film Competition) for her portrayal of the titular character in Adela. One of her memorable film is "LOLA", a digital film of Brillante Mendoza that tackles the story of two elderly women who will do everything for the sake of their love ones as one will be the suspect and the other one will be a victim.
Lola tells the parallel stories of two elderly women, Puring (Rustica Carpio) and Sepa (Anita Linda). Driven by selfless love, the two scrape the bottom of the barrel to raise funds for their respective grandsons. Sepa wants her dead grandson to have a decent burial despite barely having enough to get by in life decently. Meanwhile, Puring wants to free her grandson after he is incarcerated for killing Sepa's grandson. After “pawning”their remaining properties, she gave lola Sepa P50,000.00 as some sort of “blood money.” The film is not easy to shoot, I guess. Imagine scenes where frail grandmothers were drenched in rainwater as they individually attempt to seek financial help from other people—they turn to neighbors, city officials, and even lending institutions. In the film's most beautifully shot sequence, the funeral procession for Sepa's grandson goes on not with a motorcade but with a handful of boats. The white casket is decorated with colorful flowers that contrast with the bleak surroundings. After a long struggle, Sepa and her family take their beloved dead to his final resting place.
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| My lola Maria during the 1968 wedding of my parents |
My recollections of Lola Maria includes the following (a).the Alhambra cigar which she smoked “baligtad” the lighted side was inside her mouth (b) making sampaguita necklaces from her garden (c) she will measure our feet by drawing a sketch of the feet’s outline for our sandals.
We were told that she was really pretty during her younger years. She was even crowned as “Miss Baliwag.” I think Lola Maria died when I was still in my elementary years. Nevertheless, her love still reverberates until this time amongst her Reyes descendants.
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