best vilma santos films

A nun becomes involved in an on-going labor strike. She starts out non-politicized, but later learns about the plight of the simple working man and inevitably, the government's neglect of the poor masses. Filipino Tagalog movie.

Women's-rights advocate Lea has two children from two different men. Although her children's fathers find madness in her methods, they pretty much let her have her way as far as their children are concerned.

A middle-class Filipino family struggles to survive in the era of dictatorship.

The story follows the trials of a woman as she risks to build a meaningful relationship with a married man despite the different hurdles that abound.

A WORKING WIFE, A PRODUCTION ASSISTANT IN A TELEVISION NETWORK, AND A JOURNALIST SUCCUMB TO THE PRESSURES AND DEMANDS OF THEIR CAREERS AND GIVE UP ON THEIR MARRIAGE.

To support her paralytic father, Chato works as a utility girl for a burlesque star Virgie Nite. But when Virgie gets drunk on the night of her scheduled show, Chato pitches in for her. And she becomes an instant sensation. Enthused by the initial acceptance of the audience, she defies her father's admonitions and presents herself to the manager. And thus, becoming the new burlesque queen.

As a young woman born in a tradition-bound town but raised in the modernizing atmosphere of Manila, Julie gropes towards maturity without benefit of guidance from understanding elders. Home for the traditional town fiesta, she meets poor boy-next-door Dido Ventura (Bembol Rocco), whose passion and impulsiveness rush them into elopement, but his family has a long-standing grievance against the Monserrats, who through fraudulence in the past had grabbed the Ventura property. When the young lovers ask for permission to marry, Julie's snooty aunts make her choose between her present status as a rich single Monserrat, and an uncertain future as Dido's wife. In a moment of indecisiveness, Julie gives up Dido and returns to her music studies. At university, Julie is visited by the elderly violinist from her hometown whom she idolizes, Maestro Juan Roque (Jonee Gamboa), who has learned she is pregnant and come to announce he is her father--then walk out. When she gives birth, against her aunts' wishes she decides to give the baby to its father. But by this time, it's become impossible for the baby to have its father. Dido has joined the band of Huks headed by Kumander Salome (Lito Anzures). Driven by the desire to help his daughter, Maestro Juan Roque goes to the Huk hideout to effect reconciliation between Dido and Julie. A quick night visit for Dido is arranged, and the lovers reunite--too late, for government agents have learned of the Huks rebel's presence, and a bloody shootout affirms the nihilism of the film's title.

AFTER LEANING THAT SHE TERMINAL CANCER, A SINGLE-PARENT PREPARES FOR HER DEATH BUT DISCOVERS INSTEAD THE BEAUTY AND VALUE OF LIFE.

A married couple tries to make their marriage work despite the fact that both of them are career-oriented, and that tensions are created by the presence of their first child, Mike Jr., who turns out to be autistic.

Dolzura Cortez has had several men in her life. One returns as an AIDS researcher and Dolzura is to be his unwitting subject. He encourages her to come out into the public so that she can dispel the social stigma that comes with the disease.

Filipina Overseas Contract Worker is forced to leave her family and take a higher-paying job in a more-prosperous Asian country, unaware of her husband's death.

Shirley Templo (Vilma Santos-Recto) is a ruthless woman. Many people deal with her strong attitude only for fear of her cold stare, or her outlash. She works as a librarian in a school, and lives in a compound that is owned by her ex-husband, Benito Salvacion (Tirso Cruz III). Many of the Salvacion family members that live near the compound, even including her eldest daughter, Dang (Dimples Romana), plead with her to sell it so they can make a profit, and she can move to a more suitable living area.

A young Pina was traumatized when her family was murdered while she had her first menstruation. She has grown up into a serial killer, transforming herself to different personalities as she seduced one man at a time--grossly murdering them while in the act of sexual pleasure.

Rick unintentionally impregnates his girlfriend Stella. To keep his inheritance, he makes his mentally retarded brother Val marry her. Despite Val's condition, Stella and Val make their marriage work.

Two women are in love with the same man: one is his wife, the other is his mistress, and between them is the man whose love and time they share. But even the most discreet of affairs can be laid open, and even the most submissive of wives can lost her patience. Vilma Santos, Hilda Koronel and Dindo Fernando lend their thespic talents to this moving tale of love, betrayal, and retribution.

AN ESCORT WOMAN'S FIANCE JUNKS HER WHEN HER PROFESSION IS REVEALED, PROMPTING A SERIES OF COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIPS THAT EVENTUALLY END IN MURDER. IN THE END, THE GUILTY BOY - FRIEND DEFENDS HER IN COURT.

Alyas Baby Tsina/Alias Baby China (1984) is based on the true legal story of Evelyn Duave Ortega, aka Baby Tsina (She was called this in court documents because she looked Chinese. Otherwise there are no references to anything Chinese in her story or the film.) Duave was found guilty of murder in 1971 and several appeals while on death row culminated in a Supreme Court decision seven years later that declared her innocent and released her from prison.

Dreaming to be released from her miserable life of poverty, Aida, a waitress, abandons her bedridden father, her moralistic mother, her jobless brother and her good-for-nothing sister to live-in with her boyfriend Carding, whom she believes could give her salvation. But her plan only gives her more misfortunes. Carding gets jailed for drug peddling. Aida opts for an abortion. She later lives with a wealthy man to feul her ambition. Carding is released from prison and finds out about his wife's illicit affair.

A young woman suffers such great difficulties in life that she has forgotten how to dream.

Florida (Vilma Santos) concocts a plan to avenge the abuse she suffered from devilish matriarch Octavia (Gloria Romero), only to discover that the child she used to exploit for her revenge is her own child. An oppressed housemaid has transformed herself into a wealthy and powerful business mogul through sheer dint of talent, ambition, and driving need to get revenge on her tormentors. She returns to the scene of her most abject debasement with the sole intent of humiliating the family who once made her life such a living hell. Unknowingly, she gets to exact revenge on the very person who turns out to be her own daughter by the son of her former mistress. Guillen's Kapag Langit Ang Humatol (1990) was based on a radio serial about the vindictive story of rags to riches, Florida.