Film Review: The Healing

"The Healing" Heals, Unheals

by Randy Renier I. Espinoza

The camera pans across the interiors of the antiquated house, taking in close-up shots of santos, herbal meds, and healing paraphernalia, hovering over the wounds and diseases of the people, all clad in white, waiting to get healed by Manang Elsa, herself a haunting presence, and there’s the enchanting landscape view of the mountains that serve as the backdrop for the activity that’s taking place. This is a strong opening scene for the film, a promising setting that transports the viewers to an exotic world, that eerie folk quality that can only be seen and experienced in the rural Philippines. I even heard someone from the audience gasp, “Parang Hollywood ah,” perhaps referring to the quality of the cinematography.

A day later after the “healing,” Seth (Vilma Santos) discovers that her ailing father has been miraculously healed after their visit with Manang Elsa. Neighbors soon talk to Seth and arrange a healing trip to Manang Elsa’s place. What follows is a series of healings for a speech-impaired, a wife with breast cancer, a policeman with psoriasis, a blind child, a woman whose hopes of returning to Dubai gets jeopardized by a dermatitis type of disorder, even a young lady with renal failure, and a few others who manage to get healing sessions with Manang Elsa on that fateful day. The healings get reversed, though, as each character who got healed ends up getting brutally killed, that is after indulging in horrid, cold-blooded killings themselves.

It turns out, moments after Seth’s father’s healing session, Manang Elsa has brought to life an already dead soul, that of Dario, that which should not have been resurrected, who later killed Manang Elsa herself and her brother’s wife. To compensate for, and also to consummate, Dario’s resurrection, all those who Manang Elsa heals after the resurrection of the dead, hence all those who got healings on the day of the arranged mass trip, will have to die. And one by one, they die, albeit violently. Dario’s resurrection is almost complete as the last healed character, Cookie (Kim Chiu), is on the verge of getting Seth killed, and eventually, herself, when Dario, detained in jail, gets shot by Manang Elsa’s brother. The curse stops as Dario’s borrowed life dies.

Promising Concept

The film starts with a promising concept, that of the Filipino tradition of faith healing, and the cinematic elements all create that haunting aura that characterizes folk culture. Unfortunately, though, the promise ends there. Instead of exploring the mystical nature of folk medicine and our local albularyos as the central theme of the story, the film adopts a foreign horror concept, doppelganger, and makes it the pivotal horror-eliciting tool. The Philippines has a wealthy arsenal of mythical concepts and characters. The story could have used kulam, barang, tawas, and others, and interweaved them to come up with a more Filipino narrative that goes neatly with the “faith healing” concept. Instead, it opts to just make faith healing a jumping board to launch a series of violent killings by doppelgangers. Chito Roño could have taken inspiration from his own previous films, Feng Shui and Sukob, in which he relied heavily on Filipino mythical lore and cultural elements to come up with a type of horror that’s Pinoy.

With its exploitation of the doppelganger concept, then, the story tracks each evil twin as it cuts a throat; stabs and beheads a husband; lacerates to death himself,  life partner, and others with the use of a glass shard; burns to death herself after throwing people from the upper floors of a dormitory; massacres helpless patrons in a raided gay brothel. Most disturbing, perhaps, is the child doppelganger who massacres a slew of monks amidst a solemn temple ceremony, jumps from the temple roof, and gets skewered by a pole. The film, then, is not the tolerable suspense-thriller where you get jolted because you get frightened by a scene, but it is that type of suspense-thriller where you’re on the edge of your seat because you’re just bewildered by the brutality and nonchalance by which the killings are done, the type of movie that children should be discouraged to watch. The film should have utilized more of subtle scenes where real screams and shouts are elicited from the viewers more by the less innocuous, less gory scenes, the times Seth encounters the crows or the doppelgangers just before they do their evil acts, for example. The latter scenes where Seth gets chased, injured, and almost killed by Cookie are also reminders that less blood is more effective.

One weakness of the story is the naviete and passiveness of the characters. Seth, who witnesses all these horrific events, is told by Manang Elsa’s brother that she is the key to the end of the cursed deaths, since she is the one who referred them to Manang Elsa. Unfortunately, though, Seth sees the sinister double of each cursed character but, one way or another, she has no clue, doesn’t know what to make of that warning, only later does she realize that soon after that ominous doppelganger appears before her very eyes, something bad will happen. But even the characters themselves, when faced with their evil twins, are clueless and helpless, thus their eventual deaths. Had Seth’s character and others were only more proactive, they could have broken the curse early enough. Of course, the movie would not have been interesting if there was no protracted suffering. But at least, Seth should have been more involved in the process of stopping the curse, not just a helpless witness. She’s naïve to think that she can kill Dario by bringing him poisoned food, which she eventually threw away anyway.

There are also some bits of questions that linger in my mind. Why does Seth’s ex-husband, who has a daughter with his current wife, have custody of their son when it’s implied that Seth is even more successful career-wise? Why does the character who got beheaded live in humble living conditions when practically he is the wittiest of the lot, the one who spews terms that can only be attributed to someone who’s learned? Is he nerd gone astray?  Why the bland name Seth, which is an uncommon female name, which also doesn’t jibe with her rather weak character? Elsa, which is the name of Nora Aunor’s Himala faith healer character? Val, Seth’s ex-hubby, is reminiscent of another character from Vilma’s past movie. Maybe the writer should have been more creative with such minor details.

Powerhouse Acting

One remarkable fact about the film, though, is the outstanding cast. Vilma Santos, the star of the film, fits the character to a T. She easily exudes the passiveness that the script requires. Although she’s not really a horror actress, her subtle movements and expressions prove that one does not need to scream at the top of her lungs to make the audience shriek in suspense. Especially notable are dramatic moments where she is feeling guilt, helpless. This may not give her an award, but it will lend variety to her already impressive body of work. One thing, though: The director should have noticed that she looks Vilma, the star, in many scenes, that he should have made an extra effort to change her look and clothes.

The supporting cast is superb. Every character is made remarkable by the way the individual actors breathed life into their roles. There are icebreakers here and there from the characters of Robert Arevalo and Pokwang, who manage to pull some laughs from the audience. Janice de Belen is touching as the cursed child's mother. This is one film that boasts of a powerhouse ensemble acting.

Conclusion

The Healing may not be the best Pinoy horror-suspense movie, but it’s still an addition to the list of quality horror-suspense movies a fan of the genre should watch. And if only for the acting and the presence of Vilma Santos, who rarely makes movies nowadays and who’s celebrating her golden anniversary in showbiz, people should watch it. The movie’s box-office strength augurs good news for the industry. And for that alone, The Healing has already achieved something that most flicks can only aspire to.

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