Sister Stella L@25 and being a Vilmanian

“Vilmanian ka ba?” an elderly woman asked me.

“Ah, hindi po. Gusto ko lang po manood ng Sister Stella L. Maganda raw po na pelikula. One of the best, ika nga.”

“Ah, siyempre,” said the elderly woman, this is where Vilma says: “si Val, si Val na walang malay---”.

“Hindi po sa pelikula na ito yun,” corrected another Vilmanian. (I can tell they are Vilmanians because they have identical red-colored t-shirts with “VSSI: Vilma Santos Solid International” emblazoned on back.) “Ito po ay pelikula na maraming sikat tulad ni…ni…(and she approaches the movie poster before proceeding) Gina Alajar, Laurice Guillen, Jay Ilagan, Anita Linda, etc…”

It was four o’clock and the movie was supposed to start at five. I can only spot three other people who doesn’t look like members of the Vilma Santos fans club. Instead of hobnobbing with them, I decided to chat with the Vilmanians.

“It’s like a reunion, it’s been years since we last saw each other,” the same elederly woman tells me. Since I professed to be a newbie moviegoer to a Vilma Santos flick, she must have taken it upon herself to orient me in how to become a Vilmanian.

“Oy, umm, Aling Viring kamusta ka na?,” a heavily made-up middle aged woman greets another. I couldn’t help but notice that even if it were a reunion, it surely helped that the t-shirts they were wearing had names in the front, like “Aling Viring”.

It was the 25th anniversary showing of the Mike de Leon classic “Sister Stella L”. And for a laborer like me who just lost his job, disillusioned by the current labor situation, the movie couldn’t have come at a better time. It shored up my faith in just demands of labor in this country, and how we need more of people who care.

People like Sister Stella L.

“Kung hindi tayo kikilos, sino ang kikilos, kung hindi ngayon, kailan pa?”