Module 4: James Ramos

Critical Reaction to “Santa Santita”
The most recent movie we watched in class so far was titled, “Santa Santita.” The movie focuses on the life of a young and sassy teenage daughter, Malen, who becomes a miracle healer after experiencing stigmata. She is brought up by her divorced mother who works as a full-time prayer at the cathedral accepting donations as her way of making a profit. The relationship between the two ladies worsens as Malen becomes rebellious and disobeys her mother by deceiving her and running off to some guy. That guy is Mike, who disguises himself to be a taxi driver; however, in reality he also offers sex as a service with his clients. In addition, he is a single father with a sickly son, Ryan, whose health continues to worsen. Because of Malen’s disobedience, her mother dies of a heart attack forcing her to make a living on her own. The movie presents many ethical issues concerning social relationships, duty, and religion. As a result, I will express my opinion about the movie and explain several ethical dilemmas that I have noticed.
First of all, I actually liked the movie because it gave me yet another glimpse of how Filipinos, mainly lower class, go on to make a living in the city of Manila. Being informed that in reality there are prayer people in the cathedrals who pray for others to make a living, via donations, was fascinating to learn about. Furthermore, to think these women would be nuns by now for their dedication and strong religious beliefs, however, end up being justified as another kind of business to make a profit. I was amazed to think that God’s prayers came with a price in the Philippines. Although it may be optional for the person asking for prayer to pay a fee, I wouldn’t be surprised that these women would be outraged if you didn’t offer them any cash.
To find it even more interesting, the church allowed these women to offer their services at the church while the pastors and bishops offered their free services of prayers and confession to the people. It was as if some people believed these women prayers had a greater devout power since it cost them to receive one’s blessing. Or, like it presented in the movie, the curiosity of some individuals got the best of them and were either willing or desperate to see if these women could really fulfill their prayers. So, I asked myself if this was ethically appropriate for the church to allow these women prayers to use their area as some consulting office while personally receiving donations as payment for their services.
Another ethical dilemma that sparked my attention from the movie was Malen’s decision to continue her prayer services at her home. Due to her so-called prayers being answered to the individuals who asked for her blessings, she drew so much attention at the church that she was band from there. I found it odd that for a culture that is so engulfed in searching for miracles that some, mainly the people who work at the church, found it hard to believe that Malen could possibly be a higher calling from God. Instead of openly embracing her for her miracles, she was rejected and band from the cathedral. I guess realistically the church may have experienced many fakes and hoaxes in the past and because of that they viewed her as another person who continues to do it mainly for the money and attention.
However, what made it interesting was that Malen’s justification for continuing her services to the people was that she really believed and felt the power of God using her as tool to heal people. I guess anyone desperately in need of help for anything would resort to asking for Malen’s prayer in hope that she might miraculously answer them and receive positive results. A couple examples who went to Malen after doubting her ability in the beginning were the nun and Mike. Although the nun experienced a miracle from Malen with her scars being healed, trying to revive Mike’s dead son proved to Malen and everyone else that she does not make the choice of who will and will not be healed miraculously. Although Malen already knew that, she still tried to see if her prayers would be answered upon the dead boy.
I’m not the strongest believer when it comes to these religious miracles of healing, but I wouldn’t doubt that there are real people or person who can actually do these kinds of things. The problem is that there is more fakes than real miracle healer(s) that it negatively affects the image of these kinds of people. The question is how do we truly determine that they are real and not only another scam for our attention and our money? Also, is it ethically appropriate to accept these kinds of people and events since it is truly out of the norm of most societies to believe? Look, even societies that are extremely religious believers are skeptical and rejecting of that idea.