The revolution starts here
Having sleepwalked my way through Philippine history as a student, my understanding of it is, at best, woefully basic. In my mind, all our national heroes occupy a shared sepia-soaked corner of Intramuros, teaming up to battle megalomaniacal colonial villains by day and grabbing a much-deserved drink together at night.
That I had quite a way to go in terms of understanding our nation’s past made me terribly eager to watch Heneral Luna. I walked into the cinema expecting the film’s shortcomings, but came away fascinated instead by its strengths.
After its defeat in the Spanish-American War of 1898, Spain ceded its long-standing colony, the Philippines, to the United States in the Treaty of Paris. In early 1899, days before the US Senate ratified the treaty, fighting broke out between American forces and Filipino nationalists. The new cabinet of President Emilio Aguinaldo (played by Mon Confiado) is rife with infighting, with General Antonio Luna (John Arcilla) wanting to fight for independence on the one hand and members of the elite itching to strike a deal with the colonizers on the other. Despite meeting resistance from troops loyal to Aguinaldo, the temperamental Luna forges on with his plan with the support of his loyal men, only to be assassinated by presidential guards in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija.
Loosely inspired by events in Vivencio Jose’s definitive biography The Rise and Fall of Antonio Luna, first published in 1972, Heneral Luna takes what could have been a somber tribute to the founder of the Philippines’s first military academy and, with heart and humor, turns it into a salute to the man behind the myth. Like the book, the film upholds the idea of Luna as a revolutionary figure betrayed by fellow Filipinos who could not see beyond kinship and personal alliances.
Directed and edited by Jerrold Tarog, with Fernando Ortigas as executive producer and Ed Rocha as producer, Heneral Luna features individuals who care to do things the right way. Aside from Arcilla’s engaging portrayal of the headstrong commander, excellent performances by cast members such as Mylene Dizon, Nonie Buencamino, Arron Villaflor and Archie Alemania — who supplies the movie’s lighter moments — buoy the project, said to have been 17 years in the making.
While its cinematography makes Heneral Luna a treat for the eyes, its message, delivered in a way that will appeal to a young audience, is what ultimately makes it a compelling and relevant motion picture. “Mga kapatid, meron tayong mas malaking kaaway kaysa sa mga Amerikano — ang ating sarili (Brothers, we have an enemy greater than the Americans — ourselves),” Antonio Luna once said. More than a century later, it’s chilling to note that the statement still rings true, that we are all somehow responsible for our country’s painfully slow march to progress.
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henerallunathemovie.com
