“This is one local movie that every Filipino must see to realize what trials and sacrifices Rizal went through and the meaning of freedom and independence”
I WATCHED on Netflix the film “Jose Rizal” a few nights ago, produced by the GMA Entertainment Group in 1998 which got raves then.
For an ordinary filmgoer like me, it really deserved all those praises at that time.
Dr. Jose Rizal, the “soul” of the Philippine Revolution was ably portrayed by the very good Filipino actor, Cesar Montano. And I congratulate the director of the film, the late Marilou Diaz Abaya for a well made movie and also the supporting actors and actresses.
What is really outstanding about the film is the well-researched life of Dr. Jose Rizal, our national hero, whose life and sacrifices were depicted in the film, including his love for Leonor Rivera, and, during his exile in Dapitan, his love for Josephine Bracken.
The abuses of the Spanish colonizers and the friars, including the sexual abuses of the friars made Rizal write the NOLI ME TANGERE and the EL FILIBUSTERISMO.
These two novels ably depicted the cry for freedom which led to the 1896 revolution led by Andres Bonifacio, Santa Banana.
For those who have read Rizal’s novels, you must know how the Spanish colonizers thought of us Filipinos as mere “chongos” or monkeys.
Well depicted in the movie were Rizal’s younger years and the brotherly love between Rizal and with his elder brother Paciano and the sacrifices of Paciano, who witnessed the execution of Padres Gomez, Burgos and Zamora in Cavite.
(Editor’s Note: The three Filipino Catholic priests were accused of treason and sedition in connection with the 1872 Cavite Mutiny, a revolt by 200 Filipino soldiers and laborers in the town of Cavite. The Spanish colonial government and Spanish friars used the mutiny to implicate the three secular priests.
(They were executed by garrote in Luneta, also known in Tagalog as Bagumbayan, on Feb. 17, 1872. )
The film also depicted Rizal’s years in Spain and his camaraderie with Marcelo del Pilar, the man behind La Solidaridad, that also gave birth to the free press that we have today, my gulay!
Jose Rizal’s incarceration at Fort Santiago prior to his execution gave birth to his well-known poem, hidden in an alcohol stove, “Mi Ultimo Adios”, his last farewell to his native land.
The costumes in the film were well-researched, with the Spanish colonizers wearing the military uniforms and the friars their cassocks.
What I found outstanding was Rizal’s depiction of Crisostomo Ibarra and Elias. The research and artful depiction of characters are sadly lacking today in local movies .
I must also congratulate the producers of the film for not sparing the cost to making it a resounding success. Jose Rizal the movie must be seen by every Filipino to realize how the Filipino revolutionaries went through to gain us our freedom.
As a follow through of this movie, a sequel is needed, produced by the same GMA Entertainment Group that made the Rizal film, on what Andres Bonifacio and his group of revolutionaries went through until the birth of the first Philippine republic when Emilio Aguinaldo raised the Philippine flag in Cavite.
In fact, I would go as far as recommending the movie be made as required study material in Philippine History for high school for our youth to know what our national hero went through to plant the seeds of revolution in the hearts and minds of Filipinos at the time and to realize the meaning of freedom and independence.
Again, my congratulations to the GMA Entertainment group, the actors and actresses of Jose Rizal and, most importantly, to the late director, who made the best movie I have seen depicting the sacrifices and the trials Dr. Jose Rizal went through.
The execution of Rizal in the early hours of Dec 31, 1898 was heart-rending, especially at that point when Rizal wanted to face his executioners, but the Spanish officials in charge of the execution refused.
I repeat, this is one local movie that every Filipino must see to realize what trials and sacrifices Rizal went through and the meaning of freedom and independence.
