Dr. Jose Rizal a Filipino movie hero!

Today is the birthday of our National Hero Dr. Jose Mercado Rizal who was born on this day on the year 1861. Rizal would have been 148 years old today. I remember once that this day was a holiday, but not anymore. On the other hand, we are a country that has too many holidays compared to prosperous nations like the USA. But just the same, we remember Dr. Jose Rizal; after all, he truly was a real hero and in these modern times, he has been embraced as an Asian hero. Now that’s something to be proud of!

Did you know when Dr. Jose Rizal truly became a Filipino hero? When he was executed by the Spaniards in Dec.30, 1896, only the members of the Katipunan or the people close to Dr. Rizal believed him to have died a hero’s death although a large crowd witnessed his public execution in what is now the Luneta. A couple of years later, the Spanish-American War was fought on May 1,1898 when the American Asiatic Fleet under Commodore George Dewey routed the Spanish Armada under Admiral Patricio Montojo off Cavite and won. That battle ushered the colonization of the Philippines by America.

The first thing that the Americans learned about Filipinos was that, we were a people who had no heroes. No one even heard of Lapu-Lapu, how and where he killed Ferdinand Magellan, because the Spaniards who colonized this archipelago for 400 years never mentioned, nor even whispered that historic event. If you read the history books in our schools, our history authors merely assumed that the Filipino people embraced Jose Rizal as our hero when the government told them. Far from it. This is a common problem with our history books, there is so much that is untold.

I found two books that give some detail on how Filipinos learned and embraced Dr. Rizal as our national hero. First is the book entitled, “Native Resistance: Philippine Cinema and Colonialism 1898-1941” written by Clodualdo A. del Mundo. The other book is entitled, “Cine: Spanish Influences on Early Cinema in the Philippines” by Nick Deocampo.

Del Mundo wrote, “In 1912, two American businessmen, Albert Yearsley and Edward M. Gross, who operated their respective theaters, competed against each other to produce the first film on the life of the national hero.” The film was entitled, “La Vida de Jose Rizal (The Life of Jose Rizal) which was a story from his birth to his martyrdom. Edward Gross came up with another Rizal movie entitled, “Noli me Tangere” in 1916.

Movies were in its infancy and there were only theaters in Manila. When they showed films in places like Cebu, Iloilo and the rest of the Philippines, they actually used a Circus Tent using portable projectors. Back in those days, only very few Filipinos had an education, but the moving pictures was a new technology that they embraced and with it the stories of the life of Dr. Jose Rizal, who became a hero because the movies, though still in black and white, gave the audience the reality of how Dr. Rizal lived and died. Dr. Jose Rizal was a movie hero to early Filipinos!

Of course it was only later that we realized that Katipunero Andres Bonifacio was equally a hero just like Dr. Jose Rizal, except that he died in the hands of his fellow Filipinos, thanks to ugly politics that then Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo was playing. Our heroes have long been gone, but ugly politics have apparently remained.

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Talking about ugly politics, the biggest question bugging the national consciousness today is whether or not Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) will run for Congress in Pampanga after her term as President expires? This is a legal question because she’s supposedly prevented from seeking another elective position after her Presidential term expires. But why is this plan being discussed at the national level? Pundits are saying that this is part and parcel of the sinister plan by Congress to turn itself into a Constituent Assembly (con-ass) so they can make that shift to a Parliamentary form of government and open everyone to run as Members of Parliament (MP).

So far, we haven’t heard Malacañang distance itself from this congressional plan, saying only that they do not “interfere with the workings of Congress.” On July 27th, Pres. Arroyo will make her State of the Nation Address (SONA). So, will the Con-Ass be a huge part of her speech or will she skip this very hot and controversial issue?

Pres. Arroyo has been warned by members of the Senate, like Sen. Richard “Dick” Gordon that if the Con-Ass will be convened sans the Senate, they will walk out of her SONA. Methinks, this issue is far from over and the coming SONA promises to be politically entertaining at the very least.

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