The film, set during the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines between 1942 and 1944, tells the story of Rosario (Nora Aunor), a young schoolteacher engaged to be married to Crispin (Bembol Roco). Crispin leaves Rosario to fight the Japanese as a guerilla, and in his absence a Japanese-Filipino officer named Masugi (Christopher de Leon) rapes her.
Masugi later returns to Rosario apologizing for his act, bearing gifts of canned food and rice which Rosario at first refuses. Matters are complicated when Rosario's father Mang Andoy (Mario Escudero) is arrested by the Japanese and Rosario reveals to Masugi that she is pregnant. Rosario must make a choice: accept Masugi's proposal to make her his wife (saving her father and ensuring a safe and stable life for her child), or reject him and with him the baby they have conceived together.
in the form of a blind man lighting a candle for himself and his palsied brother. The blind man carefully picks up the child, and makes his way out the church just when a procession, complete with hundreds of candles and heavily costumed wooden saints, marches in. The symbolism is somewhat obvious--true faith walks quietly out the door, while pomp and pageantry make a grand, meaningless entrance. But the entire wordless scene is so quietly understated, so beautifully shot and staged--a perfect example of the purest cinema--that it literally takes your breath away. Yes, Crispin, there is a God--only he could have inspired O'Hara to shoot a scene like that.
ipinapakita ng gumawa ng pelikulang ito kung gaano kahina ang mga pilipino sa panahon ng kahirapan at pag papahirap ng mga dayuhan sa ating bansa. sinasabi ng pelikulang ito na dapat maniwala lalo tayo sa diyos upang tayo'y matulungan niya sa panahong tayo ay