Vilma Santos from Being a Queen To an Ekstra

VILMA SANTOS FROM BEING A QUEEN TO AN EKSTRA

Who doesn't know Miss Vilma Santos in this day and age? Well if you are living in the mountains as hermit or in a cave as a tiger, probably you don't know her. But I think I am confident a lot of people know who Vilma Santos is. Many titles have been tagged to her name. Theres the "Box-Office Queen", "The Star For All Seasons". "The Good Governor of Lipa City", The Wife of a Senator", "The Mother of Luis Manzano" whom she joyfully called as "Lucky" during the Vilma Show days.

But for me as a pure Vilmanian, yes I am proud to be a Vilmanian at heart (but I still love Nora Aunor before she joined TV5 "ew"), I know her as a great actress. I know her as an actress that acts from the heart. She takes every role given to her seriously. And she doesn't make movies just for the money. She only choose movie projects that will challenge her acting prowess. That,  alone, makes her the star that we all know today. 

As far as I can remember during the 70s I was in elementary then, her movie Darna, was the in-thing back then. I never knew Darna until Vilma Santos played it in the movies. Because of Vilma the name Darna became famous. And many young actresses today wants to be Darna! Well going back in the 70's as I have said I was in elementarty then and Darna was to be first shown on TV. We were so excited then, even with our black and white TV,  to watch it because we were not able to watch it in theaters. And when it was shown, we were like open mouthes and wide eyes with its special effects and scary villains like medusa and the giant monsters.

"She takes every role given to her seriously. And she doesn't make movies just for the money."

Since then a lot of kids emulated her Darna role and even catapulted the Darna as the ultimate Pinoy Superhero! Even outclassed Superman and Wonder Woman who were very popular at that time.

Then came Burlesk Queen. her image from superhero to bold star evolved. A lot of people disliked this sudden change. Their perspective of her drastically changed too. they cannot accept the fact that the superhero has now matured. Kids did not watched her anymore. As I've matured also, I watched these mature Vilma Santos movies and my admiration of her did not change. I've admired her even more. This is the time that my respect for her as an actress became more intense. I still loved her as an actor.

And zoom in to the present day and age. Vilma Santos has evolved to a totally different person and actor. She is not afraid anymore to tackle risky roles. Just recently she played the mother of a gay son in "In My life" with real son Luis Manzano. And just last year a horror flick in "The Healing", a blockbuster movie. And my most favorite movie she did recently is "Anak". Man, is she so good in that movie. and of course the highly acclaimed "Bata,Bata, Paano ka Ginawa" she is also good there.

The following film clip will give you a sample of how good an actress is Vilma Santos. This is a clip from the Movie "Anak" (The Child). This movie was shown in 2000 and directed by Rory Quintos under Star Cinema. This is a story of a struggling mother who has to work abroad as a domestic helper/nanny just to provide food for her family. And later discovered that her efforts were not appreciated by her family back home. In this clip Vilma Santos as Josie confronted her daughter Carla (Claudine Barreto) for being such an inconsiderate daughter. This clip always make me cry everytime I watch it. Please watch.

Then Zoom-in 2013...she has this totally exciting new movie to be shown on August 14, 2013. Its an Indipendent Film, entitled "EKSTRA". She played a lot of wonderful roles in the past where in she is the star. Now she will experience how to be an Ekstra or a bit player.

This is a masterpiece film of Jeffrey Jeturian A famous movie maker under Quantum Films. This film is originally an Indie Film. But Star Cinema envisioned it to be a blockbuster so they decided to distribute it NATIONWIDE! Just because it is just frickin VILMA SANTOS for crying out loud! In this movie Vilma plays the extra. You know those people who act behind the big stars. usually they act as the double of big stars being slapped and kicked or fed to crocodiles in exchange of the stars of the movie. This movie will try to show how it is not easy being an ekstra. And how they are underpaid and unnoticed with their efforts.

I salute Vilma Santos for taking this unique role. I believe she has not done such role in the past nor any other actors yet to date. She was the first. And because of this her star as the star for all season will even shine brighter than ever before.

Star Cinema thank you also for distributing this gem of a movie nationwide in celebration of your 20th year as a filmaker. Please keep on doing this. Making good quality indi movie flow into the movie mainstream. You are truly helping the movie industry prosper again and make producers of quality movies be confident in making movies again

I will definitely watch this movie. On Saturday its a date! See YOU at the movies!!!!