There are films about flawed women that still manage to get our sympathy, like Laurice Guillen’s “Salome” and Mario O’Hara’s “Sinner or Saint”, where the leads are sinful women but you get the feeling that you understand them. It helped that the actresses who played them, Gina Alajar and the late Claudia Zobel, are both astute enough to know how to interpret them effectively on screen. Too bad for Albert that Jennlyn Mercado does not have the right resources to supply what the script failed to give in the underwritten character of Rosario. She just lacks the fire and the incipient madness the role calls for.
Another factor in the film that's wanting in credibility is the choice of Yul Servo in the role of the hacienda administrator with whom Rosario falls madly in love with. There’s just nothing in Yul that will make you believe that he's irresistible enough to sweep a young balikbayan off her feet. Among our stars today, we think the ones who’d best fit the roles of the flirtatious Rosario and the earthy “katiwala” would be Cristine Reyes and Zanjoe Marudo, basing on their performance in the “Kristine” series which is also about hacienda life. With the casting of the film’s two major roles falling flat, there’s no way the outstanding technical values and more perceptive portrayals of supporting actors Dolphy, Sid Lucero and Dennis Trillo can save the film’s basic shortcomings.
