Sister Stella L. 1984. Philippines. Directed by Mike De Leon. Screenplay by Jose F. Lacaba, Jose Almojuelam, De Leon. With Vilma Santos, Jay Ilagan, Laurice Guillen. DCP. Courtesy Mike De Leon, Lily Monteverde, Regal Films. In Filpino; English subtitles. 103 min.
MoMA presents a work in progress of the ongoing restoration of Sister Stella L. Jose “Pete” Lacaba, the author of some of Lino Brocka’s best films, including Jaguar (1979), was jailed and tortured by the Marcos regime, a harrowing experience that drives this urgent tale of a nun’s awakening to political corruption and worker exploitation. A commercial failure, Sister Stella L. was nonetheless a sincere attempt at political cinema, made in the tumultuous and violent year leading to the overthrow of Marcos; in retrospect, De Leon observes, “The social order hardly changed after the revolt. All we did was get rid of a dictator and his family, and we didn’t even do it properly. The Marcoses should have stood trial and been thrown into jail. This didn’t happen because the revolt turned into a religious fiesta and was hailed as a peaceful revolution—the ultimate oxymoron.”