My Opinion
The drama film, Himas, was released in 2024 and was directed by Christian Paolo Lat. The film highlights the fragile emotional state of a woman caught in suffering, while still trying to maintain loyalty. While the film does not seem to be well accepted in most places, the film shows the complex parts of the human condition in context of a complex and life changing pair of a relationships.
The film Himas depicts the emotional strain of love without the presence of chaos and betrayal. The film in question does not aim to create a strictly action packed or overly dramatized experience, yet shifts to internal conflicts and unique emotional responses brought about by dis content.
Plot
The movie revolves around the marriage of Ed, a former firefighter who has gone blind, and Dana. Dana is a complex woman,who is a critical thinker and emotionally driven. Unlike Ed, Dana is a thoughtful and emotionally complex woman. The couple’s life is characterized by silence, unfulfilled tensions, and silence. There also seems to be a clear lack of pleasure and fulfillment, which is emotionally suffocating.
Dana attends to Ed’s new needs with due diligence, and he, with limited mobility, relies on her to an increasing extent. She is aware that something is missing, yet her emotional prerequisites are slowly being repressed, and the memories she has of their propassed union of matrimony becomes more of an abstraction.
Each day, the internal estrangement from her self, the self-imposed loneliness that she carries within herself, intensifies. It is during this emotional stasis that Kokoy, a dynamic young man, enters the picture—albeit on the periphery of the couple’s intertwined life. He starts off with light household chores and provides company, but before long, he becomes the emotional pivot of the day for Dana. He is the correct blend of passion and restraint, catering to the needs that Dana has more than a ration of these repose.
From the merge of their two vessels, two interconnected poneys, evolve the stem around which this emotional shift of the stored energy in the dial of this tale pivots. The bliss in which these pumps dwell seem to themselves, converse, and within which Kokoy mysteriously and easily, yet respectfully, is immersed, becomes the sustenance of this blooming Dana. But such a connection always comes with a bag—a storm of emotions rips apart the line. Always there is the connection of love to the mate, indifference arises to other feelings and slips that are new and unpredictable about direction—whispers about life built tell sudden tales.
Unlike other stories, this one lacks a clear path of conflict. It prefers to explore tension, emotion, the weighty aspects of absence, and the stifling terrors of inner unrest. Dana takes her time with her promises. These promises are the result of the proverbial sleepless nights, a good dose of uncontrolled sobbing, and a good stint of self-analysis.
In the end, Dana ponders upon a great dilemma: to continue to exist without her desire being filled, living a life of servility with sullen submission, or to own up to her emotional reality and take steps for self reinvention. The conflict resolution is gentle yet constrained, thus leaving the audience with the pondering of one complex issues: what does it mean to love, endure, and heal?
Now, let us discuss the cast of the film.
Sahara Bernales as Dana: Sahara interprets the role of Dana seamlessly and captivatingly. Dana is not a mere victim of circumstance; she is a woman in the thick of silence battling a storm of inner conflict with great poise and submissive resolution.
Felix Roco as Ed: Ed is a comparatively weaker character whose life has undergone a drastic transformation along with the death of a loved one. Although he is physically restricted in movement and weak in presence, he is able to deeply root those around him. Ed is a man of great dominion yet profoundly impacted by his own fragility as Felix portrays.
Zsara Tiblani and MJ Abellera: These actors deepen Dana’s world and her experiences, whether as family, neighbors, or friends, adding to the emotional verisimilitude of the film’s environment.
Kokoy: Although the actor is a relatively unknown figure to international audiences, the character of Kokoy is nonetheless important. He is not a disorder, but a patient—helping Dana identify what she lacks most: absence, presence distraction, and real mental companionship.
Christian Paolo Lat: This director, as trained, has a distinct way of working with the material, devising a way to incorporate stillness into the dynamics of the scene and elevating the emotional textures with the intentions of the director matched to the spirituality of the content, guiding lights, shapes, and almost stoic faces, to sparkle with the unsaid beauty of a story. Each scene is punctuated with a tenderness that allows the audience, as witnesses, to hold the tears that hide at the temples.
Themes and Symbolism
Emotional Distance and Human Connection
Himas examines the ways in which a person can become emotionally withdrawn, even while living under the same roof. Dana and Ed’s companionship, devoid of anger, is suffused with a muted dissolution of shared joy. It provokes a question: is obligation sufficient to sustain love?
- Still fortitude of women
Dana’s case embodies the subtle fortitude endured by most women while taking care of others and neglecting themselves. The film does not depict her as weak or selfish but rather as a lost person who does not understand the concept of self care. Her self healing is described as awakening and is treated with compassion.
- The ambiguity of devotion
The film does not support the notion that love is simplistic or always a positive affair. There is nobility to devotion but there is also concealed anguish. Dana’s journey suggests that love should be cultivated, reciprocal, and not just offered as a result of guilt or routine.
- The power of stillness
Silence is one of the most important aspects in the film, and there is power in the absence of dialogue. Stillness is silence is extremely powerful and emotionally expressive. There is a deep meaning in long silence or periods of stillness in which the characters engage in slow and subtle movements and floating gazes. It deepens the audience’s contemplation and meaning constructing.
- Self healing through self rediscovery
The emphasis in the film is not on Dana’s self escape but rather her reawakening. There is a lot of uncharted territory and unknown in the journey, but also room for self healing. The film Himas highlights the fact that care begins with compassion not just to others but to yourself first.
Film Style and Direction
The pacing of the movie is slow and calculated. Each of the scenes is composed with precision and the lighting often captures the characters’ feelings—darkened during the reveries, warm when hope comes into the scene, and gentle during the vulnerable moments. The music is used sparsely, which is a proper choice, since the dialogues and the faces of characters tell the whole story of the emotion.
Director Christian Paolo Lat, shows self assurance to the cast and the topic of the movie. He prevents from going to the realm of melodrama and instead lets the performers bear the burden of the emotions with their slight changes in the face and voice.
Impact and Reception
For the international audience, Himas may not have made much noise, but in the independent movie scene, its emotional honesty and thematic sophistication has not gone unnoticed. The performances, and in particular, that of Sahara Bernales, has been lauded for their realism and tenderness.
Himas is likely to be appreciated by the audience who enjoys narratives focused on characters, slow storytelling, and an emotional script. People in search of action or swift drama might find this work lacking, but it barely works for the audience who appreciate the great emotional wisdom in the movie.
Conclusion
A multifaceted bearer of real life emotions, Himãs tells the story of an individual grappling with self-love versus concern for the rest of the world, wrapped in a soft spoken narrative that evokes compassion. The film alludes to love as a mutually inclusive act of risk and grace, in any form, be it staying, shifting or beginning anew.
The story in question here does not pivot around a act of conflict or betrayal. It centers around an act of profound bravery. Finding the resolve to attune to one’s heart in a life that advances her story so that it remains true to history. In the age of overwhelming narratives, Himãs acts as a calm and collected reminder that some of the deepest journeys are those that we undertake without saying a single word.
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