The film story and script written by Ricky Lee was inspired by a series of alleged Marian apparitions experienced by schoolgirls from 1966 to 1972 on Cabra Island in Lubang, Occidental Mindoro.

While getting positive reviews upon on its initial release, Himala is still widely considered today as one of the greatest Filipino films of all time.

Nora Aunor garnered worldwide popularity and is best known for her performance in the film as the purported seer and healer Elsa.

[8][9][10] The small town of Cupang, located in an arid landscape, is suffering from a drought which the townsfolk believe is a curse, divine retribution placed upon them for driving away a leper years before.

During a solar eclipse, a girl named Elsa reports seeing an apparition of the Virgin Mary near a dried tree atop a barren hill, where her adoptive mother Salíng found her as a baby.

At the same time, enterprising residents of Cupang begin selling food, religious articles, offering accommodation–all capitalizing on the sudden influx of local and foreign patients and tourists.

As the townsfolk process the three bodies to the graveyard, a fourth coffin follows; the deceased’s crazed mother chastises Elsa, accusing her of failing to heal her child.

Mrs. Alba erroneously concludes that it is an “Immaculate Conception” (when she really meant the Virgin birth), and declares it proof of Elsa's sanctity.

Lying in Salíng's arms, Elsa takes her last breath as she gazes at the sky, while Orly and the press record her final moments.

To bear Elsa’s corpse into a waiting ambulance, lifting her body – lying as though she was crucified – above the heads of the throng clambering to touch her.

Against her husband’s will, Sepa addresses the crowd, proclaiming Elsa a saint (by implying she is a victim soul) and how they must continue her devotion to the Virgin.

Ricky Lee (although requested to be uncredited), Gil Quito and Doy del Mundo together co-written Itim.

While they were visiting, Lee and Quito remembered the story of eleven-year-old Belinda Villas, who was living on Cabra Island in Lubang, Occidental Mindoro.

[12] Shooting began on July 13, 1982, with the arrival of the art department in Paoay, Ilocos Norte led by production designer, Raquel Villavicencio.

The production team needed a place to shoot that shall depict the main setting of the film-a barren and arid land where plants hardly grow and where the soil cracks.

[12] Bernal also called for the film to be minimalist, direct to the point, and "straight to the soul" and discouraged unnecessary dramatic effects.

[12] Himala is the story of Elsa, a barrio lass whose supposed visions of the Virgin Mary change her life, turning her into an overnight sensation and causing mass hysteria in a poor, isolated northern Philippine village suffering from a drought.

We are the ones who make curses, and gods...")Himala became a sleeper hit, earning ₱30 million, becoming one of the highest grossing Filipino films in the 1980s.

ABS-CBN Film Archives head Leo Katigbak had been looking to upgrade the network library, particularly Himala and Peque Gallaga's 1982 film Oro, Plata, Mata, when he met Central Digital Lab head Maynet Dayrit who also had an interest in specifically restoring Himala.

She was nominated for Best Actress at the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival, where Himala vied in the prestigious competition for the Golden Bear Award.

[24] Himala was the only Filipino film to make the shortlist, with CNN International citing it for its "austere camera work, haunting score and accomplished performances [that] sensitively portray the harsh social and cultural conditions that people in the third world endure.

De Jesus recalled watching the film as a teenager and feeling unsettled "because it showed how good people go wrong, how blind faith deludes the most loyal believers."

[26] The adaptation won Aliw Awards for its director Soxie Topacio, as well as actress May Bayot who played the lead role of Elsa.

[28] In 2018, the musical was restaged by 9 Works Theatrical and The Sandbox Collective at the Power Mac Center Spotlight Theater in Circuit Makati under the direction of Ed Lacson Jr., starring Aicelle Santos as Elsa and Bituin Escalante as Aling Saling.

In the musical adaptation, however, the character of Elsa is more active in the making of her own myth as opposed to an almost passive participant as depicted in the film.