Hihintayin Kita sa Langit (Restored Version)

Carlos Siguion-Reyna's Hihintayin Kita sa Langit is a strange film in today's context. It features the Richard Gomez--Dawn Zulueta love team, but instead of formulaic or relatively lighthearted fare, the movie is surprisingly dark and full of dramatic moments.

The film itself is a loose adaptation of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, or at least the middle chunk of it. Richard Gomez takes on the Heathcliff role as Gabriel, a man driven by revenge against everyone who wronged him, while Dawn Zulueta takes on the role of Carmina, (patterned after the elder Catherine,) his childhood friend and eventual lover. As anyone who has read the book (or watched the numerous film adaptations) knows, the story is full of instances of physical, sexual and mental cruelty, where everyone seems to be manipulating everyone else.

The restored cut of the film is gorgeous. Romy Vitug's lensing of the North is made even more vivid with the restoration job, and unlike the restoration of Magic Temple, where darkened scenes lost a lot of clarity, the dimly lit scenes in this movie are crisp despite the low lighting. A lot of the scenes looked like they could have come from a movie released yesterday. In addition, this is a director's cut of the film, which leaves in several extended steamy love scenes involving Gomez and Zulueta, so fans of the original movie will find this a treat.

That said, the adaptation leaves holes in everyone's characterization, and it's most felt with Carmina. In the original book, Catherine may be flighty, but her decision is multifaceted; she is concerned about Heathcliff's social standing but nevertheless retains her love for him. Here, the script makes Carrmina out to be a bit erratic, leading to all sorts of bizarre, illogical, at times questionable character decisions. Sometimes the drama reaches soap opera levels; in particular, one scene set near crashing waves felt a bit too contrived for my taste.

But despite  these glaring character flaws, the movie is quite enjoyable to watch, if only for the cheese of it all. Hihintayin Kita sa Langit is a treat for fans of the Richard-Dawn love team and for dramas like this. Compared to recent fare, making a movie like Hihintayin Kita sa Langit, with a bankable screen couple and a dark story, is quite a ballsy move. They don't really make these kinds of dramas anymore.

ABS-CBN will be showing restored Cinema Classics, including Hihintayin Kita sa Langit, over at Glorietta and Trinoma Cinemas from March 1-7.