Bayan o Sarili: A critical review on the Film “Heneral Luna”
Bayan
o Sarili: A critical review on the Film “Heneral Luna”
Jerone Avel S.
Cansino
MAED Social Science
Student
Introduction
NATIONALISM AND
FREEDOM
It
was July 4, 1946 when the Americans gave us our sovereignty. It is the power to
exercise our own laws constitution. For the first time, Philippines was at last
recognized as a sovereign political entity. We appeared to be the first Malayan
republic. Ours is a colorful history. It came from regionalism to
centralization and colonization to independence. Our history is a history of
bloodshed, sacrifice and tears. Songs were sang poems were recited, trumpets
were sounded and at last we became a recognized state exercising our own laws,
protecting our own territory and we ourselves running our own government in the
light of our own culture. It has been 7 decades we are now on our fifth
republic and seated in the Malacañang is our 16th President. At last
we are long free from foreign rule.
While
we can be sure that we exercise our independence, there is a big question mark
in terms of Filipinos sharing a sense of nationhood. We became a product of
colonization. Our concept of democracy is no doubt came from a western origin.
The Spaniards left us with the culture of corruption and colonial mentality as
they invoke their imperial motives in us along with their mercantilism. We are
the only Christian country in Asia. Approximately 87% of our country’s
population is of Judeo Christian related religion. As of now there is a thick
ambiguous line that separates things that makes us Filipino and the things that
does not make us as such. We admire everything that is imported and views
everything that is local as inferior.
The Theme.
Antonio Luna was killed when he
thought he will meet with Aguinaldo but little did he knew that he would be
nearing his death. There was a plot and he fell for it. At the end of the movie
the American Generals are talking about the death of Luna admiring him and
laughing about the Filipinos. “They killed the only true General they have.” “He
is surely a great man. If we met on a different circumstances, we could have
been friend” Said the Americans in admiration to him.
The
death of Luna
While
there are different versions of his death I find Ambeth Ocampo’s version and
interpretation agreeable (Ocampo, 2015) that it will never
be an ordinary murder. More than thirty wounds from bolo and gunshots. It was
executed by loyal men of Emilio Aguinaldo. And guess what, there was never an
investigation about it. Gruesome is that a great general was killed by his
fellow countrymen whose level of intelligence is nothing and is driven by
nothing but unparalleled selfishness.
Analysis
NATIONHOOD
AND INDEPENDENCE
We are composed of a number of
majority and minority ethnic groups. Different subcultures that composes a
theoretical larger National Culture. Then there are Historians who argue that
we Filipinos lack National identity on the basis of our strong regionalism.
Even historians play a great part in this. A historian from Luzon would
highlight historical events in Luzon lessening the emphasis on those that
happened on Visayas and Mindanao the same applies on the other authors. The
National Language is another issue. It is said to be a product of politics. It
is evident that Cebuano was the most widely used dialect. Not only that, the
Cebuano dialect is also richer in terms of words. But we know the story that
happened a long time ago. Guess what? Our national Language was based on
Tagalog. It shows that if we see something similar to a sense of Nationhood in
the Philippines, it could be either a political product or a cultural remnant
of our distant past.
The Rule of Principalia.
When Spain conquered Philippines,
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi brought only about less than a thousand soldiers from
Spain. The former raja and datu that collaborated with the Spanish
Conquistadors became the member of the Principalia class. They were given a
piece of land where they hold power. They collected tributes that gave them
influence. They placed them above the other Filipinos. This practice led to our
deep rooted oligarchy that is still observable in the present.
Is the Philippines ready for
Nationhood during Luna’s Time? To answer that question, we must first
understand how the Filipinos view themselves in the context of their era. Who
were the leaders of the revolution? For what reason do they join the revolutionary
force? One of the premises of the Americans is that they do not see Filipinos
being ready for self-governance. Not only that. Jose Rizal and his fellow
compatriots in propaganda movement did not advocated for freedom. Maybe it’s
because they have not seen Philippines to be ready for such thing. All the
Filipino insurgencies that occurred earlier were provincial or religious in
nature. There was never a concept of Philippines as a country before. One
loophole of our war for independence is the failure of the Tejeros Convention
that commenced the clash between the Magdalo and the Magdiwang faction of the
KKK. If we give it a deeper attention, this could have rooted from crave of
power. The Katipunan movement therefore is viewed as either a way of gaining independence
from foreign rule, or maybe the Filipino oligarchs see this to be a feasible
way of breaking away from the shadow of a foreign ruler and exercising the
power for themselves and their own interests. Perhaps, some of our
revolutionary leaders.
The Filipinos are indeed not ready
for Nationalism and also not ready for democracy. Antonio Luna wanted to make a
radical reform in our government but he failed. His miscalculations are that
his dreamed the dream of making Philippines a great nation. His fatal mistake
is that he dreamed of it alone. That the Filipinos were still not ready for
such a radical change that the country needs. The Philippines will never be
ready to set aside their personal interest for the sake of their country. He
died. The republic that he fought for collapsed. His death was recorded the
greatest Filipino general was murdered.
Recommendations
Lesson from the past
We Filipinos are very fond of
killing our own heroes. Heroes who gave their lives for the cause of giving us
freedom and independence. We tend to either kill or dismember those who want to
transform our country into a great nation. Disgusting as it is many Filipinos
would still not care about our country. Our decisions we self-centered. Philippines
could have been a great country but surprisingly we lag behind. Our economic
development is just amazingly slow compared to Malaysia and S-Korea. The
problem is not about our heroes. The problem of our country is the uneducated
population who loves their pet more than their country. Not to mention those
individuals who would not care to participate in democracy. What makes us
pathetic is our aid to those who oppress us. We sell our votes to them and we
in return we bury our country in turmoil. We never had a dream of making our
country great. We never dreamed that someday, we will be able to see
Philippines as one of the World’s economic Powerhouse par with the likes of
China, US, Russia and United Kingdom. From the past up until now many of us are
subjected to oligarchy. We believe their propaganda and then we fall to their
trap.
Bayan o
Sarili
We have an option. Whether we put
our country in the center or we put ourselves in. We are Filipinos. What should
we choose? Taking Japan as a model, where had their patriotism brought them? One
of the powerhouse of Asia. A military power to be reckoned with and an economic
leader. What we need is educated citizenry who is willing to give his life for
his country. We need a strong patriotic citizenry. A group of individual whose
goal is making Philippines a great country. A shame on us that we existed a
country for a long time but we lag behind everyone else. We have the resources
but we never had the right perspective.
An
instructional Material
The
wealth of information that a book contains can hardly be equalled by a film
with a limited running time. But a film can express, narrate, and capture
experiences, ideas and emotions in a way that no book can possibly duplicate.
The power of film lies in its audio-visual nature. When used properly, it can
be a very effective companion to classroom discussions. However, if film
viewing will be utilized as an approach in teaching history, it is imperative for the teachers to equip their students
with knowledge and skills to guide them in analysing the film. (Campomanes,
2015)
This material can aid learning. It
would be an excellent material in teaching History. With the aid of teacher
guidance, it could elicit patriotism among students. It would perform best if
the teacher will be able to point out that the true problem of the Filipino people
is its strong sense of regionalism and the lack of National unity. He have been
isolated and separated. The greatest resolve for us is the reason from our
past. How the Spanish have conquered us, how the Americans defeated us, how we
spoiled our chance of becoming a great Nation, and how we tend to wipe off the
face of the earth those who dream big.
What Filipinos need is a strong
leader who can unite our country. As of now we have a strong leader. What are
we going to do? Shall we kill him just like what we did with our heroes? The
problem and corruption is never being solved. Shall we let criminals run our
country? We are fighting a war. We should choose our side and we should take
our self-interest aside. Regionalism and oligarchy is the cause of the
stagnation of our country. We could perform better. The key is unity and
education.
References
Heneral
Luna (2015). [Motion Picture].
Ocampo,
A. (2015). Opinion-inquirer.net. Retrieved from Inquirer:
http://opinion.inquirer.net/88427/the-way-antonio-luna-died
Campomanes, A. D. (2015).
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