YMMV / Mga Bilanggong Birhen

• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The Santo Kristo cult. They were never foreshadowed prior to their interaction with Don Juan, and are quickly forgotten after their ceremony is interrupted.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The Santo Kristo scene involving Celina has some people reminded of a similar ritual which happens in a certain movie 49 years later.
• Narm: It's hard to stay unnerved at an implicit rape scene happening in a defunct rail car when the camera keeps focusing on a group of naked men's buttocks. According to critics, audiences reportedly couldn't stop tittering during screenings.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: When the film was restored for a 2019 re-release, news articles continue to mention behind-the-scenes drama pertaining to Mario O'Hara's firing and Lino Brocka's rivalry with Armida Siguion-Reyna due to said firing.
• Padding: Two scenes stand out for doing this. Coincidentally, both happen during nighttime.
  • There's a combined eight minutes dedicated to Milagros' manic episode at the plantation with four minutes focusing on her rape at the hands of plantation workers, as well as several back and forth cuts to Celina and the house servants trying to find her.
  • The whole initiation sequence with the Santo Kristo cult lasts for five minutes, with the rescue scene lasting for a minute , and another several seconds focusing on the cult leader's dead body as it slowly zooms out, bringing a total of seven minutes for a scene that doesn't get a passing mention once all is said and done.

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