{"id":328182,"date":"2026-05-02T23:22:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T17:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=328182"},"modified":"2026-05-02T23:22:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T17:52:27","slug":"in-praise-of-mario-ohara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/in-praise-of-mario-ohara\/","title":{"rendered":"In praise of Mario O\u2019Hara"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

SINCE being introduced to the movies of Mario O\u2019Hara back in 1986, film critic Noel Vera knew that he was seeing the works of a master.<\/p>\n

His exploration continued within the Nineties, as he became more aware of the filmmaker\u2019s body of labor. He noted the narrative power and powerful visual language in movies like Bulaklak sa City Jail,<\/i> Bakit Bughaw Ang Langit?, <\/i>and Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos, <\/i>all of which depict the violence that plagues those within the fringes of society.<\/p>\n

But the concept of writing a book on Mr. O\u2019Hara only materialized in 2005, and it took a protracted while to place together. The result’s a group of essays titled The Quiet Man: The Movies of Mario O\u2019Hara.<\/i><\/p>\n

Mr. Vera, BusinessWorld<\/i>\u2019s long-time film critic, describes Condemned <\/i>as \u201cthe right noir,\u201d and Bagong Hari <\/i>as \u201cthe right motion film.\u201d He refers to Mr. O\u2019Hara as more understated, more \u201cdrawn to the dark and morbid, yet still tender,\u201d as in comparison with his contemporaries like Lino Brocka, Ishmael Bernal, Mike De Leon, and Laurice Guillen.<\/span><\/p>\n

The book is a long-overdue tribute to the person\u2019s talents. His is a body of labor that \u201cdeserves its own module, if not its own course\u201d in film studies, in response to Mr. Vera.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/i>I\u2019ve seen all the very best in Philippine cinema, you name it, and I still consider O\u2019Hara\u2019s movies were probably the most moving,\u201d he said throughout the book\u2019s launch on April 25 at Archivo 1984 in Makati. \u201cHis work touches me, above anyone else, and I feel he\u2019s the very best not only within the Philippines, but the whole world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book got its name largely as a result of the director never truly selling himself or having as many champions in film scholarship as other directors, but there\u2019s a distinct reason as well. Once, author and fellow critic Jolicco Cuadra referred to Mr. O\u2019Hara as his favorite Filipino director and someone \u201cwho truly knows violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe person who\u2019s loud, threatening violence as he\u2019s walking down the road? I\u2019m not petrified of him. I\u2019m afraid of the quiet man,\u201d he said, talking about Dan Alvaro\u2019s character in Bagong Hari<\/i>. Thus, the title of the book was born.<\/p>\n

The primary chapter gives more insight into this moment, painting an image of a sit-down interview with Mr. O\u2019Hara within the Nineties, once they managed to corner him backstage at his last performance of a play. (Though a famed film director and screenwriter, Mr. O\u2019Hara was also an actor in television and film, but was most prolific in theater.)<\/p>\n

Mr. Vera explained that the experience of going through the person\u2019s filmography impressed him step by step as he went along, and hoped that the book could aid more people searching for to do the identical.<\/span><\/p>\n

In attendance on the launch was actor and production designer Frank Rivera. He gave a moving speech recalling his friendship with Mr. O\u2019Hara, and talked about how they’d take ideas from the things they saw around them. During a walk along Roxas Boulevard, they saw a blind man with a guitar near the US Embassy \u2014 which eventually inspired the character played by Yoyoy Villame in Babae sa Breakwater.<\/i><\/p>\n

One other anecdote he told was when Joel Torre needed to drop out of a job in Babae sa Bubungang Langit <\/i>as a result of scheduling conflicts, and Mr. O\u2019Hara asked Mr. Rivera to take his place. A moment of hesitation got here when a scene required frontal nudity.<\/p>\n

\u201cSabi niya, artista ka naman. Gawin mo na para matuloy ang pelikula. Na-<\/i>challenge ako<\/i>. (He said, you\u2019re an actor. Do it so we will proceed the film. I used to be challenged),\u201d Mr. Rivera recounted.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was not a quiet man. He told stories, he told dreams, and he sang. He made me do things I didn’t wish to do. I made him do things he didn’t wish to do. And I miss him every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for where to see Mr. O\u2019Hara\u2019s movies, quite a couple of were restored and could be found on YouTube because of ABS-CBN\u2019s now defunct Sagip Pelikula program \u2014 Mga Bilanggong Birhen, Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos, Bulaklak sa City Jail, <\/i>and Tatlong Ina, Isang Anak.<\/i><\/p>\n

Leo Katigbak, who used to move the film restoration initiative before it closed, said that \u201cplenty of young people now are rediscovering classics.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a resurgence of interest in all things old. I\u2019m glad we were capable of do plenty of that in ABS-CBN. Without delay, I\u2019m a consultant with the FDCP (Film Development Council of the Philippines), so we\u2019re specializing in restoring plenty of movies,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

One in all these is Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang, <\/i>directed by Lino Brocka and co-written by each Brocka and O\u2019Hara.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an excellent time to be a cineaste, to be a movie buff,\u201d he said. \u201cWe’ve got to revive more movies while plenty of the individuals who actually worked on them are still around.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Quiet Man: The Movies of Mario O\u2019Hara <\/i>is published by Archivo 1984. The book is offered to order via archivo1984.com<\/i><\/a>. \u2014 Bront\u00eb H. Lacsamana<\/b><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SINCE being introduced to the movies of Mario O\u2019Hara back in 1986, film critic Noel Vera knew that he was seeing the works of a master. His exploration continued within the Nineties, as he became more aware of the filmmaker\u2019s body of labor. He noted the narrative power and powerful visual language in movies like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":328183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[106,16553,5233],"class_list":["post-328182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-mario","tag-ohara","tag-praise"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328182"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328185,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328182\/revisions\/328185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}