Welcome to The Edj REView, where I will analyze the deeper meaning behind some of culture’s most prized possessions. I intend a review to frame a different perspective than the one that is already ubiquitous. Some of the features may date back to the 19th century, others the 20th century. Overall, I want to introduce and give a fresh voice to works that are foreign to my fellow Gen Zs.
When can a person determine whether they’re blinded by love?
For Maricel Soriano’s Adela in the 1992 classic Ikaw Pa Lang Ang Minahal, the answer came after a series of setbacks and a period of physical and mental transformation.
The shy and seclusive protagonist has teetered between the love of her divided two-man family – whose imperceptible expression of love is guaranteed – and of her lover, Richard Gomez’s David – whose flowery words corrupted further the poor girl’s mental capabilities.
Ikaw Pa Lang Ang Minahal, crowned the grand slam Best Picture of 1992, is based on the 1949 film The Heiress, starring the late Olivia de Havilland, who garnered her second Academy Award for Best Actress. This local adaptation was supposed to be a Vilma Santos-starrer, but scheduling conflicts hindered her from doing so. Nonetheless, Ms. Soriano is apt to play this dynamic character who weathered the storms to see the sunshine herself.
Perhaps, today’s millennial and Generation Z society could relate more than ever to the tragic fate of Adela and David’s loveteam.
Their story blossomed gradually, with David exerting much effort to bring out the confidence in Adela, who grew up without the charm and wit of her mother and namesake. Her father, Dr. Maximo – played in haunting fashion by Eddie Gutierrez – had reduced her out of grief and vehemence to fate as his wife died after birth.
Maximo is brutal and self-serving on the surface but is the intellectual all along. But naturally, after he harshly and brutally took care of her daughter, she would not listen to him when she’s at the company of her joy, even if speculations shrouded that joy.
By the time Maximo began floating the idea that David is a gold digger, Adela’s already drawn by the charm and charisma of the only man, in her thinking, that has loved her (thus, the title, Ikaw Pa Lang Ang Minahal). Already blinded by her boyfriend’s ninja moves per se, Maximo’s only heir was bedazzled by the magic of romanticism.
But love has never been a one-way ride of exaltation, and, as the adage goes, the truth will always come out. Not even Adela’s quirky aunt, Paula – played by the legendary Charito Solis – could stop time and destiny from opening each other’s eyes and minds.
Their first bittersweet encounter was Adela’s departure abroad for six months after her father offered David money to cast out the former’s daughter in the latter’s life. That didn’t work. When distance proved to be a great separator, Adela and Paula connived, so the lovebirds’ communication won’t be cut. Thus, Maximo’s grand plan didn’t work either.
But upon Adela and Maximo’s return, their heavy hearts, high emotions and conflicting beliefs all went head-to-head in what seemed to be a moment vis a vis an episode of Face to Face.
Mr. Siguon-Reyna told the story without the two qualities that haunt most romantic dramas: awkwardness and cheesiness.
Maximo’s mano a mano with David is the classic battle between two men of conflicting egos and desires, both wrapped in pretentiousness. But Maximo’s mano a mano with his own daughter is more painful and pointed, trying to show his love in the unkindest way possible. He would have been right when he said that money was all David saw Adela, but his monologue came with a plethora of denigrating comments: That for the past 27 years, all Adela did was to embroider; that it was pitiful that the poor girl has not inherited her mother’s intelligence and sex appeal; and that any man who would attempt to love her is simply enthralled by the sparkles of gold and diamond surrounding her.
Thus, the once-submissive daughter became her father’s rebel, proving to the world that David is truly, if not madly, in love with her. But David has other plans. Worried that Adela – and, in his assumption, he – would be stripped off any inheritance, the matinee vanished into thin air, leaving his lover in the wilderness.
And just like any shattered person, Adela has made the thinkable unthinkable: suicide. It could have ended her problems. It could have cut the misery she has experienced in the hands of her father, who didn’t love her passionately; her lover, who left her fragile and vulnerable; and her aunt, who hid her true thoughts about David as she was invigorated by the romance of the two.
It was her near-death that became the defining point of the story. Her rebirth. The point where love has been exhausted and reasoning infused.
At first, it was unnoticeable. After an epic confrontation where Adela forgave her father, she again fell to David’s shallow promises. But then her senses kicked in, seeing David enamored with jewelry and earthly riches. By the penultimate scene, we saw a worried David now drowned in debts and pervaded by death threats. So, to escape her misfortunes, he had to marry Adela, who would receive PhP50,000 monthly for the rest of her life (which would have been around PhP200,000 in today’s money).
How about Adela? How would she escape her misfortunes? By not marrying David.
That’s precisely what she did.
In fierce fashion, the dazzling Adela, not in her wedding gown at her own wedding, confronted David in the juiciest and most satisfying way possible: “Simula ngayon, kukunin ko na ang pagkakataong lumigaya nang di umaasa sa iba. Ang pagkakataoong mabuhay hindi dahil sa pagibig mo, kundi dahil mahal ko ang sarili ko. Binabawi ko na ang mundo. Ako na ang hahawak nito. Hindi ang papa noon, lalong hindi ikaw ngayon.”
Here, ladies and gentlemen, is Adela 2.0 – geared to love not only using the mind but also the heart and be mindful of the ambitions of her lover so as not to be deceived by words and actions.
Ikaw Pa Lang Ang Minahal serves as a crash course for us, the youngsters, on assessing a person entering our lives and the ramifications if that assessment is expedited. It is a classic tale of the stark differences between love is blind and blinded love – the former, wherein love is free of judgment and opens wholeheartedly to imperfections; the latter, wherein one’s decision-making capacity is dysfunctional because of deceit and temptation.
The film generously allowed Adela to have redemption after her miseries, which should be, as we would like to believe that a happy ending awaits us amid the thorns and rocks ahead of us.
No wonder this picture, directed by Carlos Siguon-Reyna, snagged the highest plums in all the prestigious award-giving bodies. The rawness and vulnerabilities of the actors reverberate; the cinematography is oozing with charm and figurativeness; and the story is well-paced that the editing was able to convey the time frame – and the corresponding transformation each character possessed – properly.
Most importantly, Mr. Siguon-Reyna told the story without the two qualities that haunt most romantic dramas: awkwardness and cheesiness. The maturity of the portrayals and the storyline makes the film a gem that never fades.
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Watch “Ikaw Pa Lang Ang Minahal” on Huawei Video.
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Featured image from Letterboxd.
The Edj View 