The real ‘miracle’ of ‘Himala’: Peque Gallaga’s anecdote on Nora Aunor’s iconic performance
MANILA, Philippines — “Walang himala” is probably among the most memorable (and most parodied) lines the late National Artist Nora Aunor could be remembered for among her many movies and TV shows through the years.
But while Elsa — the character Nora played in the 1982 film “Himala” — said that there was no miracle; Peque Gallaga believed that there was — and it was Nora herself.
Gallaga shared to this author and her classmates Nora’s iconic acting in the unforgettable scene.
In one of this author’s classes as a Production Design short course scholar under Production Designers of the Philippines and Mowelfund, Gallaga shared how Nora or “Ate Guy" shot her famous “Walang himala” monologue.
At the class, Gallaga recalled how Nora allegedly read the script by Ricky Lee once, while smoking and talking to people on the set.
When director Ishmael Bernal called Nora to shoot the scene, allegedly without nervousness or hesitation, she simply put her cigarette on the ash tray on the table. Even without a formal practice on the scene, she then proceeded to deliver the speech that ran for about a minute – with only one take.
Gallaga explained that Bernal instructed Nora and his crew to shoot the scene only once because they gathered a huge crowd of around 2,000 extras for the stampede scene following the speech, the film’s final and biggest scene, and they could no longer gather such a huge crowd, nor afford to pay them, if there would be more takes.
After that first and only take of the scene that has become the talk-of-the-town even for decades afterwards, Gallaga claimed Nora allegedly simply went back to smoking her cigarette – she allegedly started and ended shooting the speech with the cigarette still lit up.
According to Gallaga, he worked with dozens of new and veteran artists, but he had never heard someone act as naturally as Nora.
Nora then went on to win awards for the performance, including Best Actress at the 1982 Metro Manila Film Festival.
“Himala” is the only Filipino film that made it to CNN International’s list of Best Asian Films of All Time.
Following “Himala,” the production outfit that produced the film, Experimental Cinema of the Philippines, went on to produce Gallaga’s directorial debut “Oro, Plata, Mata,” another Philippine cinema classic.
Gallaga died in 2020 at the age of 76, while Nora succumbed to acute respiratory failure last April 16 at the age of 71.
___
Erratum: In this story originally published yesterday in our Arts and Culture section, we mistakenly wrote Peque Gallaga as "Production Designer" of "Himala." After clarifying with filmmakers, we have erased "Production Designer," which is credited to Raquel Villavicencio as Production Designer for "Himala." We apologize for the error.
RELATED: Nora Aunor's necrological services to be livestreamed
