A 50-year-old candle vendor sells salvation and sin on the same Manila street corner.
Blondie (Vivian Velez) is personified as three things: a hardworking businesswoman, a wife who’s been cheated on, and a mother of three. She is a 50-something woman with poor eyesight who works as an upfront candle vendor outside Quiapo church and sells Cytotec, an abortion pill, on the side.
Acting
Vivian Velez's volcanic, career-best performance.
Direction
Jover's unblinking eye for Manila's sacred underbelly.
Production
Quiapo's sensory overload as character itself.
Director
Ralston Jover
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Cytotec (misoprostol) remains underground in the Philippines, where abortion laws are among Asia's most restrictive; Bendor captures a specific Manila ecosystem where church steps literally border the black market.
Velez was a 1980s sex symbol turned serious actress; her casting subverts her own star image, much like Blondie's customers don't see the whole woman.
PH
