HENERAL ARTIKULO UNO

HENERAL ARTIKULO UNO

What's cooking guys? Here I am on my second blog post, and I am going to talk and discuss with you the indie film "Heneral Luna". I know that most of you have already watched this but I'm going to give you an overview anyway. Heneral Antonio Luna was a Philippine general during the late 1800s. He led the Philippine forces against the American forces in the infamous Philippine-American war where there was a lot of internal conflicts which have risen from our country, a division between two Filipinos- those that want peace and economic stability, and those that want freedom and independence at any cost. Being known as an arrogant, prideful, and "self righteous", and a "war junkie" of a general, as most people say, Heneral Luna depicts the struggles, victories, defeats, and the life and death of General Antonio Luna- The only real general that the nation ever had.

John Arcilla, left, playing the role of General Antonio Luna, right.

The movie represented the actual historical events as accurately as possible with the resources that they have gathered. From the acting of each and every member of the cast from the antagonist, to the protagonist, to the supporting actors, and even the extras, they all did a very good job in playing their part. The setting and theme of each scene were detailed very well and the background music and effects were perfectly timed. But what piqued my interest and attention the most were the puns, humorous remarks, and statements/quotations that were a big part of the script of the movie. There was this one scene where there was a quarrel in the cabinet meeting and Gen. Luna said the following: "Ano gagawin ko, kakagatin ko sila?", "Para kayong mga birheng umaasa sa pagibig ng isang puta.", "Mga kapatid, meron tayong mas malaking kalaban bukod sa mga Amerikano- and ating sarili.", and the famous "Negosyo o kalayaan? Bayan o sarili? Pumili ka!" It is dialogues like these that attract viewers from the trailers and continue to entertain them in the theater itself. The scripwriting was definitely top notched. 

Now let's talk about certain idealisms and concepts here. So again, the movie depicts two kinds of Filipinos then and most probably you could still see now. We've got the Filipino who wants his country to "follow the leader" in order for her to evolve with the world so that she could attain economic stability, peace, and protection with and from other countries. After all, there is nothing constant but change. On the other hand, we have the Filipino who screams NATIONALISM and perceives that freedom and independence shall be gained through force, blood, sweat, gunpowder, and lead is the best way to show this. Who is wrong and who is right when in fact both of which LOVE their country and look forward to its general welfare? You see, what you don't know won't hurt you. When our ancestors knew nothing of the west, they lived simple, happy, and productive lives. They were not burdened by the evolution of technology, economy, trade, industry, religion or whatsoever. But when the first colonizers came, everything changed. We were given machines that simplified our work, money that acted out as our currency for purchasing things to avoid value inequality in straight trades, education in many forms from textbooks to classrooms, and one of the most important one of all- religion. But not all went well as promised. For years we have been abused by our colonizers as they played the role of master and us slave. They were "civilized" and we were "savages". Throughout the years, many Filipinos were greatly oppressed and many heroes have fallen just to be heard. It is good that some Filipinos do want foreign feet on Philippine soil because they want progress and development for our country since we are actually lagging behind. They seek help and knowing that these foreigners can, they take it. After all, the world does not revolve around the Philippines, it revolves around the progressing countries. It is literally survival of the fittest. But all this has a price. We do not have an assurance that we will be actually safe this time around in the "helping hands" of our "helpers". And we fear that we may lose our culture or what's left of it since over the the years, we have succumbed to the culture of the west and adapted them as ours. Some Filipinos see this as a threat to our nationalism and pride which makes them resent the idea of being under a foreign government or administration. These are the things that we all must ponder on. But let me ask you this. Do you think that choosing change over independence betray our motherland when your intention is to develop our country at the cost of national pride and culture? This might have been one thing that "nationalistic" Filipinos such as Gen. Antonio Luna might have overlooked.