The Life Of A Hero | Essay

The movie started with his novel where he revealed the truth. The Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, the two novel of Rizal serve as the way to reveal the bad side of the government and the church and make the Filipinos to realize the wrong doings of the Spaniards. The novel presents the pitiful condition of the Filipinos and their complaints. Because of the novel, it brought out hatred to the government and does a revolution to gain the freedom from the fraud government of the Spain. The government accused Rizal that he led a rebellion against them. Even the older brother of Rizal, Paciano was tortured to confess if Rizal was related to the said rebellion.

He was brought and imprisoned to Fort Santiago. There, he was forced to admit if he has knowledge about the rebellion. He reminisced the past, where his brother Paciano told the story about the execution of the 3 martyrs Father Gomburza and the times where his mother taught him to pray and told the story of the moth, his school days in Binan, the imprisonement of his mother for poisoning his sister-in-law, his life in Ateneo and the time where he cured the cataract of his mother. Like all other accused, he was able to choose his lawyer to defend him and it was Luis Taviel de Andrade. They had many conversations, first is about his novel. According to Taviel, Rizal compassed the government, religion, and the excellence of the Spain.

Second is about the things he wants to let the Spaniards know. And lastly, about his journey to Spain, the reason why he went there and leave Leonor Rivera. He went to Madrid to study Medicine and to speak about the harsh doing of the Spaniards because it is allowed to do. They were also able o establish Kilusang Propaganda, an organization that wants to express their selves in order to have equality among to Filipinos just like the Spaniards. Through the La Solidaridad, a newspaper they were able to express their desires.

The Noli Me Tangare read by the Filipinos. His novel was discovered by the Spaniards, they banned reading it and all his books were burned. He established the La Liga Filipina, an organization of Filipinos that wants changes on the leadership of the Spaniards. When he returned to the Philippines, he was caught and thrown to Dapitan where he met Josephine Bracken. The priest still wants Rizal to be killed. It reached to point where Governor General was changed because he became close to Jose Rizal. And that is Governor General Blanco.

Taviel and Rizal also talked about El Filibusterismo. On June 26, 1896, the judgement day of Rizal. He was accused for leading a rebellion. And because of his writing which is the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo and other writings which attacks the Religion, the priest and the Spanish Government. His punishment was Death. Rizal writings taught how to lead the Philippines, the equality among the people and the freedom. For Rizal, it doesn’t mean that he is reason for the Rebellion. Because of the judgement, his mothers and his siblings visited him. He gave his last wish and gave a lamp which contains his last poem- “Mi Ultimo Adios”.

December 30, 1896, the day of its death, while walking towards to Bagumbayan, he remembered his life in Ateneo. Rizal’s last request is that he will face the firing squad but his request was denied. Then he changed his request and that is so save his head during execution. Before he was shot, he uttered his last words which is “Consummatum est” which means “it is done”.

After the execution, the members of the katipunan fought against the Spaniards. The members of the Katipunan continued the battle until the Philippines gained its freedom from the Spain on June 12, 1898.

Reaction:

Before, all I know about Jose Rizal was he is our national hero. I just known his life, works and writing through books. But with movie, I just learned more things about him. There comes a time in our class where one of our instructors asked us why Jose Rizal is our National Hero instead of Bonifacio, Aguinaldo and other Philippine heroes. And through this movie my question had been answered. He was really indeed a Great man for he was not only a writer, but he is also a anthropologist, botanist, businessman, dramatist, economist, educator, essayist, farmer, folklorist, geographer, grammarian, historian, linguist, musician, novelist, painter, physician, poet, philosopher, sculptor, sportsman, sociologist, surveyor, traveler and a sociologist. He was gifted with intellectual qualities. He was really indeed a great man.

My favorite part of the movie is the night before his execution where he hallucinates, seeing his alter ego-protagonist Simoun of his novel El Filibusterismo tempting him to change the climax of the story. I don’t know if this really happened to Rizal or just put by the Director of the movie. This part amazes me because through the imagination he was able to talk to his character. Simoun did not succeed in the novel he wrote, and that is a great thing because Rizal gives the people the power to end the novel the way they want.

The acting of the principal characters are great. They are very convincing especially on the part of Cesar Montano who really justified his role Jose Rizal, the National Hero of the Phillipines.

Jose Rizal made me believe in the saying that “Pen is mightier than the sword”, that words are the still the most powerful weapon against the enemies, that you can still win a battle through words. We cannot learn to love our country by not knowing important people and events in our country. For me, I appreciate this movie because it really helpful to depict the life of our national hero, it is easier to understand. Because some people are lazy to read books about the life of Jose Rizal, this movie is a great alternative. This movie doesn’t only contain the life of Rizal, it also contains his novel Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. Although the movie is quite confusing because of the mixing Rizal’s Life and his novel, it is still great.

One person is not enough to win a battle for freedom, but one person is enough to lead the battle, fought for it, and win it. Jose Rizal was great leader for he nurtured the mind of the people to fight for their own freedom. No doubt, he is our National Hero for he sacrifice his own life and not having the assurance that his sacrifices will be worth it. Because of his love for his country and countrymen, we are the experiencing the freedom.