SOMETIME back, Vilma Santos regretfully said that after her last film, ?In My Life,? she had to focus more on her political career, so her acting would have to take the back seat for a rather long time. We were disappointed, because we wanted very much to see Vilma playing Cory Aquino on the big screen.

Well, we may have to wait months or even years before that can happen, but Vilma made our day last month by surprising us with a memorable portrayal in ?Maalala Mo Kaya.? That will definitely make waiting for her next big movie more bearable.

In last month?s drama, Vilma played the mother of a young girl afflicted with cerebral palsy. She and her husband (Ricky Davao) had to go through emotional and psychological hell to take care of their suffering child, but they never gave up.

Insightful portrayals

The story?s central problem may have been devastating to the afflicted girl?s parents, but it motivated Vilma and Ricky to come up with truly felt and insightful portrayals.

Early in the teledrama directed by Olivia Lamasan, a key scene had Ricky and Vilma each drinking a bottle of beer to momentarily forget their many problems. Expectedly, the determinedly lighthearted moment end up in a seething emotional breakdown.

The scene?s conclusion may have been expected but the details that Vilma, Ricky and their director provided were vital, painful and truly moving.

Later, Vilma had another telling scene in which one talked to God in a rigorously honest and challenging way, and that scene also scored a direct hit in terms of telling acting insight and empathy.

Trouble was, the episode added even more emotional moments, so despite the high level of acting talent involved, all that relentless emotionalizing got to be more than a bit too much.

That was a pity, because the drama was going so well that it looked like it was going to end up as a truly memorable viewing experience. It was still above-par, but it would have been truly choice if the fine artists involved in it had reminded themselves of the simple but rigorous artistic dictum, ?Less is more.?

Humor and tragedy

Granted, that role is particularly difficult to get a handle on in these parts, where both performers and viewers dote on over-the-top melodrama. Since the superlative Vilma is involved in this enterprise, however, the bar has to be raised even higher.

The early ?drinking? scene detailed proves that the artists involved were more than capable of measuring up to that especially high standard. Its combination of humor and tragedy was difficult to achieve, and yet they did it with great insight, power and artistry.

So, why were some of the episode?s emotional scenes anticlimactic? Not because the actors lacked the talent, but because they ended up reposting themselves. In genuine dramatic art, individual sequences don?t stand alone, they should relate what happens before and after, so that the entire production achieves an emotional and thematic arc that vivifies the dramatic story?s thematic point?what all those emotional upheavals are all about, and what they mean.