Pepe. | The Life, Works and Writings of Jose Rizal [ENGLISH]

The Jose Rizal 1998 Film (Reflection Paper)

The 1998 Philippine biographical film directed by Marilou Abaya is a historical drama film that tells about the life story of the Philippine's National Hero, Jose Rizal. It was released on June 12, 1998 as part of the Philippine Centennial Celebrations and was released on December 25, the same year in participating the 24th Metro Manila Film Festival. The film had an estimated 80 million pesos budget and a box office of 125 million pesos for a 175 minutes screen time. With that said amount, I can say that the film really took the viewers on a compelling journey through telling them significant history and a film that is rich in emotions.

The cinematography of the film, if compared in today's production, it is already on peak because it has already been two decades and there's a lot of improvement done, the technology has progressed a lot. So, let us delve unto the lessons in Rizal's writings below.

From his early years in Laguna, particularly in Calamba, to his education in Ateneo Municipal and to his higher education in Europe, his love interest which was actually his cousin from his father side, Leonor and then eventually his marriage to Bracken, and in his involvement in the Himagsikan which was led by Andres Bonifacio, these experiences are all meticulously written in his two novels which is the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.

The top lesson that I learned are found in Jose Rizal's shakey conversation with his friend Mariano Ponce in their organization in Spain which is La Solidaridad when they have exchanged their interest and job description for the soon to be elected leader. Cesar Montano, which is portraying Rizal, have said that I would not rather dream to be elected as President because leadership without unity is useless. I agree with him because when a group of people lacks unity, it can result to confusion and conflicting priorities. When unity is absent, it can lead to misunderstandings, divisions, and transmission of essential information might fail.

So for me, Rizal was actually right, his plans are always right, except of one thing: he let his emotions to consume him. Thus, his colonial government appointed counsel Luis Taviel woke him up by telling him that he is no longer using his novels to spread the wrongdoings and maltreatment of the Spaniards, instead, he was using his novels to avenge himself because he lost a lover, family, profession, he lost his motherland. Well, I cannot blame Rizal because if I would be on his shoes, probably I would do the same thing but in a macro perspective, for the greater good of everyone, his emotions must at least be settled. We must always think twice before we take an action, we must not be impulsive in our decision making.

I have actually read and partly studied the novels of Rizal since this is already a part of our elective classes way back in my Junior High School years. The attention to detail: landscapes of Calamba, the grandeur of European cities, the darkness of prison cells, and ofcourse the similarity of the hired cast and the characters as described in the novels in which they really aced and bring the character to life, and the commitment to historical accuracy of the entire production crew of Jose Rizal film is really impressive, hands down. Therefore, I highly recommend Jose Rizal 1998 film to anyone who seeks a deeper understanding of the Philippine history.