‘Uy Pilipins’: 8 Movies to Check Out This Independence Day
‘Uy Pilipins’: 8 Movies to Check Out This Independence Day
Feature art by Arri Salvador
On the twelfth day of June, year 1898, the independence and sovereignty of the Philippines was proclaimed. It has been a rocky journey since then, but we’re not here to polemicize.
As we celebrate Independence Day, the staffers of SINEGANG.ph have curated a special list of movies for you to check out and—hopefully though not necessarily—learn a thing or two about our nation’s history, its years-long struggle for freedom in all forms, and of course, its cinema.
Eight-year old Kulas in Balangiga: The Howling Wilderness
Balangiga: The Howling Wilderness (2017)
Dir. Khavn
Khavn’s most accessible film, at least in terms of subject matter. Hauntingly set during the peak of the Philippine-American War, two boys along with one’s grandfather set on a treacherous journey around the island of Samar for survival. As the title goes, The Howling Wilderness came from General Jacob H. Smith’s written order which aims to purge the island of Samar into a howling wilderness. The film serves as a brutal tale of survival in spite of the turnover of the oppressing class. Amidst the violence, there are a lot of tender moments of bayanihanthroughout its runtime in the backdrop of lush nature as the land tragically awaits its fate of exploitation. — Kyle Livelo
Film still from Dominion
Dominion (2023)
Dir. Bea Mariano
Bea Mariano’s Dominion confronts the ambivalence toward colonialism by exposing how neocolonial ideologies continue to shape historical and pre-colonial memory and the Filipino identity. The short film’s haunting interplay of Manila’s urban sounds and an orientalist gaze emphasizes the dissonance between the pre-colonial past and the curated dominant narratives of the post-colonial present, and how the Filipino people easily moved on with their everyday problems and just continued to live with this unrealized colonial trauma. Mariano critiques the archives as a fragmented, commodified relic, seen in faceless and sanitized fragments of the colonial past, asking who has control of the interpretations of the colonial past, and are the minority even considered when these interpretations become dominant? Even the short film itself is contradictory on how the colonial past should be presented, as it overwhelmingly realizes these very contradictions. — Christ Dustly Go Tan
Watch Dominion here.
Gloria Diaz and Christopher de Leon in Ganito Kami Noon…Paano Kayo Ngayon?
Ganito Kami Noon... Paano Kayo Ngayon? (1976)
Dir. Eddie Romero
"Sino nga ba talaga ang mga Pilipino? (Who are the real Filipinos?)” This is a question that's repeatedly brought up by the characters of Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon. Eddie Romero’s film follows the naïve yet well-meaning Kulas (Christopher De Leon), whose journey from a humble provincial life to wealth and disillusionment serves as a metaphor for the average Filipino’s awakening. In this film, Romero argues: a person is a Filipino if they serve their countrymen as if they are one: fighting for injustice and freedom, and doing it for the betterment of the nation, regardless of where you came from, are enough to categorize someone as such. Kulas—after a series of many encounters with opportunistic elites, self-serving friars and marginalized revolutionaries—gradually realizes that he should fight for what's right, not just because it serves him, but it’s also for his fellow countrymen. Because if a man serves only to himself, he is no man of the country. He's just a coward with no place in this world at all. — Justin Caunan
Cedrick Juan, Dante Rivero, and Enchong Dee in GomBurZa
GomBurZa (2023)
Dir. Pepe Diokno
“Sa kasaysayan ng mga isla, nakaramdam na ba ng suwerte ang sinumang isinilang sa bayang ito?”
These are the words said by Padre Burgos to Padre Gomez as they, along with Padre Zamora, await their execution at the hand of Spanish colonizers. It is a simple line in a quiet moment filled with many other notable words, but it makes the most impact based on its resonance with just about every Filipino; indeed, based on our numerous misfortunes as a nation, it is hard to believe that the blood that flows through our veins is one of a people that prospers. But in this rousing and masterfully made historical film, the answer is clear: despite the ills of our nation, it is one worth fighting and dying for, not for the ones who hold the highest seats in government, but for the lowest of the low and for our fellow man. This Philippine Nationhood Month, for a stirring look at our history and a reflection on the many faces of our country, look no further than GomBurZa, one of the best Metro Manila Film Festival entries in recent memory. — Thandie Aliño
Read our full review: ‘GomBurZa’ REVIEW: Boldly written, convincing in form
Cesar Montano in José Rizal
José Rizal (1998)
Dir. Marilou Diaz-Abaya
“Farewell to all I love; to die is to rest,” goes the last line of Mi último adiós, one of the final pieces of writing from national hero Dr. José Rizal. His journey is the stuff of myths, almost messianic. And in this three-hour epic drama, Marilou Diaz-Abaya, a hero in her own right, paints a complete portrait of Rizal as son, artist, revolutionary, and Filipino. — Miguel Louis Galang
Read our full review: ‘José Rizal’ REVIEW: A Remastered Filipino Classic
Reynaldo Villarama in Oliver
Oliver (1983)
Dir. Nick Deocampo
Looking into history brings forth a peculiar feeling. What I mean by this is it is hard to realize that two or more things may have happened all at the same time. Oliver was released in the same era when the economy of the Marcos administration finally hit the final nail of the unrest caused by the late dictator’s Martial Law. And in the very year where this Nick Deocampo documentary was released is when Ninoy Aquino was assassinated; sparking an entire revolt against the government. In the same vein, this documentary ushered a new era for liberation in the stories we told and the subjects we chose. In the words of Deocampo himself in his book Philippine Cinema and Culture, “[I]t is quite evident that this social struggle seeks not only sexual liberation, but rather a liberation in all levels of social life, counting sexuality as only one of the sites for such struggle.” Oliver is a documentary that exemplifies perseverance despite the struggles faced at the time. And quite frankly, if one does get around in watching this film today, they might find themselves realizing how not far removed we are in the same struggles. — Tanglad
Watch Oliver on YouTube or the Internet Archive.
Film still from Portraits of Mosquito Press
Portraits of Mosquito Press (2015)
Dir. JL Burgos
Portraits of Mosquito Press begins, like other Martial Law films, with Ferdinand Marcos’ 1972 martial law declaration. We do not see Marcos speaking to the camera as he does in the televised declaration or in newsprint photos of the moment. We see instead the surviving members of WE Forum and Malaya—independent newspapers published during a time when mainstream media was run under Marcos’ dictatorial thumb—standing alongside director JL Bugos, holding up a Malaya newspaper that reads: “Marcos Flees.” This opening is, in a single moment, precisely what the film is about. It is a celebration of the struggles and triumphs of those who sought to inform the public at a time when information was limited and controlled, continuing the fight to uphold the liberties that our forebears fought for again and again, and still again. It is also very much a sister film to Burgos’ Alipato at Muog, a damning portrait of not just Marcos’ fascist regime, but of a government that continues to allow a culture of impunity to reign. “Marcos Flees” is not the end, but the beginning. The fight still goes on.
— Zo Arroyo
Film still from Red Saga
Red Saga (2004)
Dir. Kiri Dalena
What is the decisive act that finally ushers in a nation’s independence? A revolution. The Philippines stands as an anomaly as a hotbed of revolution, the first revolution in Asia cut short by the American colonization - its formal independence granted by the decree of its colonial master. In defiance of the mainstream narratives about our supposed independence, Kiri Dalena’s Red Saga explores the argument that the Philippine revolution is unfinished. Through a menagerie of metaphorical and literal depictions of struggle in all fields, we see that this unfinished revolution continues to this day, a red saga of which we all have a part, if we choose to play it. — Gerard Bernardo
