Minsa'y Isang Gamu-gamo

The de la Cruzes and the Santoses are two lower-middle-class families who live in Pampanga. Cora de la Cruz is a nurse who dreams of living in the United States. Her papers are ready and she organises employment at an American hospital. She hopes to get a green card that would allow her to stay in the US, achieve immigrant status and then bring her family to that country for a better life. Cora's mother and younger brother encourage her, but her grandfather, Ingkong, disagrees. He believes that moving to America is a betrayal of their country.

Bonifacio Santos is Cora’s fiancee. He intends to join the U.S. Navy so that he can be with Cora in America. His mother and their maid are saving money to help him with the expenses. The families make no reference in their plans to instances of crime, including murder, committed by American soldiers in the Philippines who are indemnified against prosecution under laws of extraterritoriality. Bonifacio's mother works at a commissary at an American base. She is mistreated by a Filipino female guard, who strips Santo of her “smuggled” panties and waves them like a flag to the delight the American male guards. Santos takes the matter to court with no success and the guard retaliates by raiding her store. Bonifacio becomes disenchanted with America and abandons his plans.

Cora is appalled at the failure of the Philippine courts to provide justice for Mrs. Santos but continues with her plans to leave for America. On the night of her despedida (farewell party), Cora's brother is shot dead by an American soldier while scavenging in the garbage dump of the American base. Cora stays to seek justice for her brother. She discovers that the case cannot continue as the soldier has been reassigned to another country.[3]

The film was released on December 25, 1976 as one of the entries for the 1976 Metro Manila Film Festival where they won two awards: Best Editing and Best Story.

The restoration of Minsa'y Isang Gamu-gamo has successfully removed all film defects and damages such as dust/dirt, patches, continuous patch, single frame scratches, flicker, stabilization, splice marks, bumps, squeezes, gate hair, continuous dust, continuous line scratch, color stains, mold, mislight, vertical band, fungus, color breathing under a total of 3,600 restoration hours and through the dedication of more than 250 diligent and professional restoration artists. The 35mm print used for the restoration from the collection of the ABS-CBN Film Archives is incomplete due to the missing first part (Reel 1) of the film. Fortunately, the 35mm print copy of Reel 1 from the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) was provided to complete the main picture. The print, however, is faded and in bad condition that has resulted to low picture quality. Color grading and audio restoration was handled by Wildsound Studios. The 35mm print was scanned in 4K and digitally restored in 2K.

Criticism of the film was mixed.[3][5] Tiongson, a reporter for the Philippines Daily Express, wrote:

"Acting in Gamu-gamo is superb. Once again, Nora Aunor proves herself to be one of the finest actresses today, with an acting style that is both “raw”and “fine,” characterized by a disarming sincerity and force, that can break into an unbelievable number of nuances, shades, and colors of emotion. Outstanding is her court scene where her face registers a gamut of emotions—from anger to confusion to depression and despair—in the space of about ten seconds. Like a mature actress, she does not attack dramatic scenes with histrionics or hysteria. Over her brother’s coffin, she curses the Americans who came to pay her family off by screaming “My brother is not a pig” over and over again with mounting intensity."[6]

In 1976, criticism of the presence of American military bases in the Philippines was censored by the government. The actress, Nora Aunor, who played Cora, was a friend of the president, Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda Marcos. This may have assisted the release of the film.

• 1986 - Opening Film, Bay Area Asian American International Film Festival
• 1998 - Filipino Film Retrospective Lincoln Center, New York, July 31-August 20
• 1998 - Phl Centennial Film Festival
• 1998 - Lincoln Center New York Film Festival
• 1998 - Filipino Retrospective, Guggenhein Museum
• 2018 - Cinema One Originals, October 2018

• Minsa'y Isang Gamu-gamo at IMDb