and by historical fiction, I don't mean Abraham Lincoln the Vampire Slayer types.
I have no doubts on Benjamin Walker's acting overall but the idea of the existence of vampires just leans more on the fictional side of historical fiction spectrum, but it's not really my fancy.
I prefer things that are more biased on the other side of the spectrum, but I don't necessarily mean a full blown narrated history documentary.
My preference for historical fiction is like my preference on coffee. The fictional part of historical fiction is like cream and sugar. Too much of it then I'll doubt if I could taste the presence of coffee in my drink.
I prefer my coffee dark, or sometimes black even, with just a hint of cream and sugar to bring out the coffee-ness of the coffee without being overwhelmed by it. In the same sense, the fictional part of the story is there to bring out the history part of it to life.
That narrow goldilocks zone is difficult to reach but when successful, I find the mixture to be absolutely mellifluous.
A bit of a background though.
I never really liked history subjects ever since I could remember, mainly because of the way it was taught in schools. In my previous schools, they were taught in tagalog, and I was never really fond of tagalog until now (Bisaya for the win!). We were also required to memorize for our history tests, and I walk out on anything that requires memorizing.
I just also didn't see the significance on learning about dead people and how those dead people did things while they were alive. What about it? they're dead now...
So what changed my mind, you ask?
Lots and lotsa historical fiction, which eventually led me to watching about historical, history-inspired, movies, TV shows and documentaries, and further leading me in a rabbit hole of Wikipedia pages on the actual historical events featured in those movies and shows.
Because of this genre, I learned about the Battle of Culloden, King Henry VIII and his merry string of divorced wives and scorned lovers, the almost endless political roast-athon between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, sir, the bloody demise of Heneral Antonio Luna in Cabanatuan City and a whole lot of other important historical events.
The following examples under these genre are what I consider the most noteworthy for me:
Pearl Harbor
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Imitation Game
4.12 Years A Slave
5.Hacksaw Ridge
6.The Crown
7.Outlander
Well Roxanne,
if you could pick the best movie in your locality under this favorite genre of yours, what would it be and why?
Heneral Luna is by far the best historical movie I have seen to have ever screened on Philippine cinemas. It's ardently one of the most expensive Filipino epic historical films ever released with a budget of 80 million pesos, but it garnered a box office that passed its 240 million pesos breaking point.
The story begins at the end of Spain's 333 years of colonization in the Philippines, after selling the archipelago to the United States for 20 million dollars (cheap). The treaty of Paris took place with Filipinos unaware of the fate that awaited the country.
Heneral Antonio Luna was then presiding as one of the military leaders under the service of the country's first president, Emilio Aguinaldo. Many of the cabinet members were debating over the presence of the Americans on Filipino soil, with the business-hungry lot arguing for an alliance with the new colonizers as its protectorate. Heneral Luna and his nationalistic views on the matter wishes to continue to fight for Philippine independence, and prevent the rise of another imperialist country that would simply replace the Spaniards [1].
The movie showcases the efforts of Heneral Luna in mounting an army for the revolution, all the while having to waltz with the politics involving President Emilio Aguinaldo and his merry band of America-sympathizing cabinet members.
I commend the movie for portraying Heneral Luna for what he really was: a human being with his own strengths and fallibilities. Fallibilities that even exacerbated the political and personal tensions around him that eventually snowballed to his assassination on the 5th of June, 1899.
I could say many things about Heneral Luna, his sense of nationalism, military discipline, almost insane kamikaze-like courage, combat skills and military tactics. However, he was far from the perfect General.
He was all of these brilliant things and more, but he expected the same amount of dedication and discipline from his soldiers. You could sense the amount of frustration in both parties, as the farmer boys he tried to make soldiers out of didn't grew up with the same kind of training he went through.
His authoritarian approach and temper could bring down several cities and batter the pride of everyone and anyone who would dare refuse his commands [2]. This eventually put him on the odds against the President himself, whose mind was poisoned by Luna's political enemies.
Aside from that, the movie also portrayed the noteworthy values of Filipinos. Values that I realized later on, were values that still exist and are ever present in the COVID-stricken Philippines in 2021.
After the movie and several Reddit threads and Quora articles later, I validated the suspicion at the back of my head, that they were present long before the Americans ever came in the picture:
- the lack of accountability
- the ever-recurring inferiority complex
- the lack of nationalism because we would be willing to sell our country out (according to the movie) if it means a better economic future
- the close family ties which actually complicates any verve for nationalism
- the lack of unity because we think we are such "individualists"
- the fact that Filipinos value not hurting another person's feelings over what that person needs to hear even if its for his/her own benefit
- and a plethora more.
You probably think that I am some kind of national pessimist or a youngster who has absolutely no idea what she is talking about or maybe I am just a downright J.K. Rowling "dementor". But I am a digital-native millennial (I eat the internet for breakfast), privileged and can afford to be a nerd, 24 years of age, part of the Filipino workforce for two years, lived in the Philippines and played by the rules in my past 24 years of existence.
With all this said, I think that some level of validity in my sentiments are justified, especially those which start with no wonder. As in, no wonder why thousands of Filipinos consider the Filipino dream as leaving the country and working abroad, and no wonder why no matter how much I want to help better the system in the PH, it all seemed so futile, and so tiring.
Why do I love Heneral Luna?
Because the movie portrayed the best villain that ever existed in Filipino culture and history.. and no, I wasn't talking about President Aguinaldo. As portrayed in the movie, he was just that weak little cog that cracked under pressure. He is only but a mere representation of the crab-like Filipinos who are willing to drag other people down to keep themselves afloat.
But he was not the villain... it was the flawed, under-monitored Filipino values that we have continued to let grow without bounds without any intervention. I'm not saying that there is some sort of evilness in the values that my countrymen and I hold, however, I believe that there is a certain limit to things.
And Heneral Luna knew this. He knew this all too well but was at the same time burdened by the same values.
In our case, we have allowed these unregulated values to grow without limits to the point that its roots and vines have sunk in too deep and is choking the country's well-being.
That's why I love Heneral Luna, it's my perfect cup of black coffee. My own preferred balance of a history lesson and entertainment.
Credits for the movie posters:
[3] [6]Pinterest
[4] Wikipedia
[5] Script Slug
[7] Amazon
Special thanks to:
8list PH [8] for the featured quotes from the movie
and Lucas Santos on Unsplash