Oro, Plata, Mata

“The lights went out all over Europe and the young sought sweetness and light in the pictures of Deanna Durbin, a bright symbol of the era, and the young Susan Magalona, whose beauty had become a national topic. At the Crystal Arcade, the mezzanines still rang with the cries of "Gold! Gold! Gold!". The holocaust had been kindled, but the victims were unaware; and the nation swung confidently into the 1940's.

The decade of disaster fell into three unequal parts: the two years before the war; the period of the Japanese occupation; and the liberation era. No decade in our history was more eventual than this one... So vast now seems the difference between what we have become and what we were before disaster struck that, in the Philippine vernacular term "peacetime" means exclusively all the years before December 8, 1941. There has been no "peacetime" since then.”

— Nick Joaquin

According to the audio commentary by Peque Gallaga, he told to the film's screenwriter, Jose Javier Reyes, to create a frame reference for the film and the latter answered to cite a quote from Nick Joaquin. Peque agreed with the decision and he revealed that he enjoyed reading his works.

Oro, Plata, Mata traces the changing fortunes of two aristocratic families in Negros during World War II. The Ojeda family is celebrating Maggie Ojeda's (Andolong) debut. In the garden, Trining (Gil) receives her first kiss from Miguel Lorenzo (Torre), her childhood sweetheart. Don Claudio Ojeda (Ojeda) and his fellow landowners talk about the impending war and some of the young able-bodied men decided to enlist for the war. The celebration was cut short by news of the sinking of SS Corregidor by a mine. As the Japanese invasion force nears the city, the Ojeda family accept the invitation extended by the Lorenzos, their old family friends, to stay with them in their provincial hacienda. Nena Ojeda (Lorena) and Inday Lorenzo (Asensio) try to deny the realities of war by preserving their pre-war lifestyle. Pining for her fiancé, Maggie goes through bouts of melancholy. Miguel and Trining turn from naughty children into impetuous adults.

Two more family friends, Jo Russell (Valdez) and Viring (Villanueva) join them in the refuge. As they witness the burning of the city and the enemy in advance, the families evacuate to the Lorenzo family's forest lodge. A group of weary guerrillas under arrive and Jo tends to their injuries. The guerrillas leave Hermes Mercurio (Lazaro) behind. Miguel endures more comments of the same kind when he fails to take action against a Japanese soldier who came upon the girls bathing in the river. It is Mercurio who kills the Japanese. Maggie comforts Miguel, who decides to learn how to shoot from Mercurio. Later, Viring's jewelry is stolen by Melchor (de la Cruz), the trusted foreman. He justifies his action as a reward for his services. He tries to break the other servants loyalty by telling them to join him, but they did not forcing Melchor to leave. Later, Melchor and his band of thieves return and make revenge to them. They raid the food supplies, rape Inday and chop off Viring's fingers when she does not take off her ring. Trining unexpectedly goes with the bandits despite all the crimes they have committed against her family. These experiences committed Maggie and Miguel closer together. Miguel urges the survivors to resume their mahjong games to help them cope with their trauma. Miguel is determined to hunt the bandits down and bring Trining back. He catches them in an abandoned hospital, but his courage is replaced with bloodlust, driving him to a killing spree. An epilogue follows the violent climax where Miguel and Mercurio finally killed Melchor and their remaining men.

At last, in 1945, the Americans have liberated the Philippines from Japan. A party is held in the Ojeda home to announce Maggie and Miguel's betrothal. The survivors attempt to reclaim their previous lifestyle, but the war has changed the world, just as it has forever changed each of them.

From the time the film was written to the people after Martial Law, Melchor's manners can be seen in two ways:

• Socio-Political Perspectives of the '80s: In the era of civilization, the people's armies were not foreign, and by chance, the hostile foreign armies were weak (symbolizing the dying Japanese soldier that Miguel failed to kill). The cows of the people then are their own countrymen: Marcos' military and police forces.

• Melchor's Marxist behavior: It was a warning that could happen to those at the highest levels of society, who dominated Filipino politics at the time. Meanwhile, the work of the New People's Army (NPA) (the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines) was at its strongest at the time of the film's release.

Oro, Plata, Mata is the first film produced by the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines as pursuant to the Executive Order No. 770 by President Ferdinand E. Marcos. The film was first released in January 27, 1982 and it was approved to be shown by the Board of Censors for Motion Pictures. It was also shown in the United States on October 1, 1983 as part of the Chicago International Film Festival and in Japan on November 1, 1991 as part of the Filipino Movies Festival, which was sponsored and presented by the ASEAN Cultural Center.

The movie won the 1982 Gawad Urian awards for Best Picture, Direction, Cinematography, Production Design, Musical Score, and Sound. In the same year, it won the Luna Awards for Production Design and Best Supporting Actress (Liza Lorena). It is marketed as one of the top ten best films of the 1980s.[1][8]

• Oro, Plata, Mata at IMDb