Ma. Arielle S.

Tapon 1 Handog

English Movie Review

46 March 19, 2007

TITLE: Bayaning Third World (Third World Hero) PRODUCTION CO: Cinema Artists Philippines together with Cinema as Art Movement DIRECTED BY: Mike de Leon WRITTEN BY: Mike de Leon and Clodualdo Del Mundo, Jr. MAJOR CAST: Ricky Davao Filmmaker 1 Joel Torre Jose Rizal Cris Villanueva Filmmaker 2 Daria Ramirez Doa Teodora Rio Locsin Trining Cherry Pie Picache Narcisa Joonee Gamboa Paciano Lara Fabregas Josephine Bracken Ed Rocha Padre Balaguer MESSAGE: The film tried to justify the impossibility of making a Rizal movie. It tried to show that Rizals life is unfilmable by giving endless debates and contradiction about him. As the movie goes on, it showed Rizals pervading influence in contemporary Philippine Society. This film opened the minds of the viewers that in some point, it is okay to think that Rizal is not that heroic at all. As the movie comes to its end, those who believed so much in Rizal will come to realize that it felt good to become a Filipino. CHARACTERS: Actually, only the two main characters (Ricky Davao and Cris Villanueva) have their differences with regards to what they believe in. I can say that at first Ricky Davao is an antagonist. He doesnt believe that much in Rizals capabilities to be considered as our National Hero. On the other hand, Cris Villanueva disagrees with him. Considering the other cast, the film is so good that the main point of the film is to show the possible two sides of the characters. For instance, Doa Teodora at some point became antagonist and then became protagonist, as well as the rest of the characters.

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PLOT: The film starts with a prologue; we see cut-to-cut stills from an elementary school textbook featuring various Philippine national symbols. It ends with a frame that says National Hero Jose Rizal. The film follows two filmmakers (played by Ricky Davao and Cris Villanueva) as they embark on an investigative research to explore the cinematic potential of Rizals biography. The two get into endless, impassioned debates; they propose all sorts of absurdities like Rizal Underarm Spray and make witty observations like Rizal on a devalued one-peso coin is still number one and Rizal funeral homes, Rizal match stick, Rizal City, etc. While they were looking at the wall picture of Jose Rizal getting shot, they saw his face so relaxed even if hes going to be shot. They thought that what if he knew that after he died there will be cults who will praise him because of his heroism. They now consider him as God. Maybe while the soldiers are getting ready to fire at him, Rizal will run for his life. As the director continues to scrutinize Jose Rizals controversial life, he is faced with too many unanswered questions. The filmmakers rummage through his still contestable retraction document. The document contains Rizals statement that revokes all his works and writings, his renunciation of freemasonry and his full submission to the authority of the Catholic Church. The director finds this unacceptable or impossible, knowing that a character like Rizal - who believed himself to be a born hero - would sign a document that takes everything he stands for. The film then blurs space-time boundaries as the two filmmakers set out on their journeys to the past only to find themselves having a hard time reconciling their personal beliefs with recorded history. Rizals mother Doa Teodora; siblings Paciano, Narcisa and Trining; his love interest, the Hong Kong - raised Irish woman Josephine Bracken; and Jesuit fraile Padre Balaguer all give testimonies of various shades of grey. The testimony varies in the sense that at first most of them believed that Rizal did retract and then in the end they say that he did not. Until the filmmakers finally come face-to-face with the man himself and they are frustrated especially Ricky Davao that he does not provide the answers they need for their film project. The two filmmakers end up with as many questions as they had in the beginning. Their probe is about to end, but the retraction document controversy remains unsettled. Finally, they give up their search for the one true Rizal account. Both conclude that in the end, it is each Rizal to his own; and that Dr. Jose Rizal for all his great heroism is not cinematic enough. Then the last shot of the film shows the two filmmakers throwing up their hands and walking away from the project. A reprisal of the prologue featuring the intercut images of Philippine national symbols serves as the films epilogue. The end frame indicates National Hero Jose Rizal.

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CONFLICT: The director is trying to explore the myth of Philippine national hero Jose Rizal. He embarks on an investigative research to explore the cinematic potential of Rizals biography. RESOLUTION: The director ended the film by giving many interpretations about Rizals life roughly translated, to each his own Rizal. In connection with the conflict given above, the director showed that Rizals life is not cinematic enough, his life is unfilmable or it is impossible to make a Rizal movie with all the given contradictions. RATE OF THE MOVIES ELEMENTS: a.) PICTURES: (4) good Bayaning Third World is the first Filipino feature film in many years to shot entirely in black and white, a visual option that serves to cue the audience to consider the layers of meaning embedded in the filmic text. The film was so funny and hilarious yet too meaningful to criticize, in short it was really good. b.) MOVEMENT: (3) fair If one is not that attentive, one will easily get confuse as the film moves. Conflicting ideas were shown to illustrate the contradiction about Rizals life. c.) SOUNDS: (4) GOOD Though the film was entirely black and white, one may think that even the sound will be affected but no, it was good enough as in audible and clear. d.) EDITING: (5) very good The sequencing of events is arranged perfectly in the sense that the viewer can still relate to Rizals life though the director is given vary contradictions about him.

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