Ever since I saw Nora Aunor in Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos I’ve been convinced that she’s peerless in the country’s thespic firmament. A national treasure, she is. Yes, she can hold a candle to the world’s greatest actresses like Meryl Streep, Judi Dench, and Fernanda Montenegro. No doubt about that.

Among her other performances, my favorites are those in Ikaw ay Akin, Ina Ka ng Anak Mo, Bona, Himala, T-Bird at Ako, ’Merika, Bulaklak sa City Jail, and Bakit May Kahapon Pa. Complex roles, those. But how she pulled them off with her genius that deserves no less than a genuflection. Her triumphs in filmfests at Cairo, Penang, and Brussels are just icing on the cake. So much so that I’ve been visualizing her making the country proud by winning Best Actress in Cannes, Venice, and Berlin (she almost made it in 1983 for Himala, remember?)

That’s not a tall order given her titanic talent, right?I wish she’d work with directors who can squeeze the best out of her like Mario O’ Hara as well as those who have yet to direct her like Mike de Leon, Jeffrey Jeturian, Lav Diaz, and Chito Roño. There are movies in my mind in which Nora Aunor portrays these roles:

a) A wacky fortune-teller in Quiapo

b) A former mental patient who returns only to discover that she’s been forsaken by her family and society at large

c) A feisty Aeta matriarch coping with family tragedy in the wake of their tribe’s diaspora due to the Pinatubo eruption

d) A witch or a babaylan in an ancient time

e) A progressive nun who went underground, witnessed the bloody purges within the rebel’s ranks and grappled with her faith

f) A blind pianist

g) An NBI agent dealing with machismo in her milieu

h) Twins--one a journalist, the other a socialite--who happen to be best friends

i) A doctor-abortionist who happens to be a loving mother

j) A freak in a carnival show

k) A recruiter/song trainer of Japayukis who’s dying of cancer

l) A former prostitute-turned-pimp

m) A New York-based playwright grappling with midlife crisis and her magnum opus about racial identity and the plight of Fil-Ams

n) The nurse Ediborah Yap

Lastly, I wish Aunor would go back to the theater and do Edith Piaf in a Repertory production. Or, how about playing Paula/Candida at the same time for another version of Nick Joaquin’s Portrait of an Artist as a Filipino? Indeed, the possibilities are fabulously endless for Aunor’s marvelous talents.

From the Original Nora Aunor Yahoogroup

 
 


Ito ang dream roles ko para kay Ate Guy. Gusto ko siyang gumanap na:

1) isang progressive visual artist, iyong nag-a-angst angst about her art.

2) isang dating sikat na journalist na nawalan ng ningning dahil sa politika—tapos she's going to redeem herself in another battle against no less than the Philippine president to be played by, of course, Vilma Santos.

3) ina ng isang young transvestite—isang baklang taga-probinsiya—si nora ang magpu-push sa kanyang weak na anak na lumuwas ng Maynila para sumali sa isang hairstyling contest

4) hardened warden sa koreksiyonal, iyong bawat buka ng bibig ay palaging may kasamang mura ngunit sa loob niya'y naghahanap siya ng pagmamahal

5) isang manipulative matriarch sa isang Filipino version ng Sopranos—tapos siya ang nagpapatakbo ng mga sugalan, prostitution dens, drug cartel, etc.

6) gumagawa ng mga fake documents sa Recto; tapos in a sudden twist of fate, na-involve siya sa buhay ng isang batang yagit (mala-Central Station) at kailangan nilang mag-travel (road movie siyempre) to find the truth.

7) isang surgeon o kaya diplomat o kaya chef (basta gusto ko horror movie ang isang ito).

From the Original Nora Aunor Yahoogroup