SOURCE: The Urian Anthology 1970-1979
             REVIEW: Minsa'y Isang Gamu-Gamo
             Nicanor G. Tiongson, The Philippines Daily Express, 1976
             Minsa'y Isang Gamu-Gamo: Filipino with a Passion
             Contemporary Filipino moviemakers who seek to paint authentic Filipino experience on screen have to steer a difficult course between today's Scylla and Charybdis. On the other hand, they must fight the currents of commercial formula films that can suck and drown them into a whirlpool of song-and-dance, and blood-and-thunder and "tawa-iyak" inanities. On the other hand, they must not run aground on the "artistic" rocks of Europeanized sensibilities that can crush and powder them into self-indulgent insignificance.
             Only a preciously few films have steered through this difficult course with some measure of success. Some, like "Lunes, Martes..." have come so perilously close to commercialism. Others, like "Nunal," have all but been devoured by "Frechified" artistry and sensibility. A few, like "Bitayin si Baby Ama," "Sakada," "Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos" and "Tiket Mama, Tiket Ale" have come through with commendable colors.
             Filipinos should, therefore, rejoice that this year has witnessed the rise of a number of producers, directors and scriptwriters who have bravely defied the pull of commercialism and produced films that honestly and seriously attempt to limn the Filipino and his myriad experiences on screen. "Minsa'y Isang Gamu-Gamo preeminently belongs to this gallery of authentic Filipino portraits. First and foremost credit must go to playwright Marina Feleo-Gonzales for creating a story and screenplay that is so passionately real and unequivocally Filipino. Using material from contemporary Philippine experience, Gonzales' story successfully strips the mask off the so-called "special relations" between the Philippines an...