A highlight of the 1983 Manila Film Festival, Oro, Plata, Mata is one of three Philippine films selected by the 1983 San Francisco International Film Festival and Los Angeles' Filmex '83 (the others are Batch 81 and Kisapmata by Philippine director Mike de Leon). American filmmaker Paul Bartel describes Oro, Plata, Mata for the Filmex catalogue: "In the Philippines, people sometimes observe the Spanish superstition of counting the steps of a staircase with the repeated formula, 'Oro, Plata, Mata' (literally, 'Gold, Silver, Death'). Whichever word falls on the last step indicates the climber's fate. In the new film which goes by this title, the three stages correspond to the declining fortunes of two aristocratic families just before and during the World War II invasion of the Philippines by the Japanese. "To put it simply, Oro, Plata, Mata is the Filipino Gone With the Wind. An ambitious (over 3 hours long) and smashingly realized epic tale, the film is loosely based on stories and incidents from the Occupation recounted by relatives and family friends of the young director, Peque Gallaga (pronounced: Guyaga). Although it is liberally packed with old fashioned romance, comedy, sex and violent action, it reveals above all its director's keen talent for social observation. "Oro, Plata, Mata was one of the first two scripts chosen by the new 'Experimental Cinema of the Philippines' production unit in its nationwide contest for first feature films. The signal honor to its multi-talented young director has proved to be richly deserved. Together with Batch 81 and other Filipino films being shown at Filmex this year, Oro, Plata, Mata will open a lot of people's eyes to the exciting cinematographic revolution going on in the Philippines.