Jose Rizal Reflection Paper

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Jose Rizal is a 1998 Filipino biographical film of the Philippines’ national hero Jose Rizal. The film was directed by Marilou Diaz-Abaya and Cesar Montano as Jose Rizal.

Firstly, Cesar Montano is a man worthy of praises for his excellent performance in his portrayal of Dr. Jose Rizal. His actions convinced the audience that he is Rizal, he is not the Cesar Montano the Filipino actor we know but instead, he is the personification of our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal. About Cesar Montano’s interpretation of our national hero was great, I can see the emotions from Cesar’s eye. You could almost say that Cesar Montano is most likely the same as Dr. Jose Rizal because his acting was almost natural; the way he talked, the way he walked and the way he acted out his feelings.

The movie “Jose Rizal” is all about our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, his life and works, his struggles in order to free his countrymen from abuse, until his death under the hands of the Spaniards who occupied our country for a very long time. Most of the scenes of the film took place during Rizal’s imprisonment at Dapitan wherein he meets Taviel, a Spanish officer, who will eventually defend him on his trial in court. During their meeting, Taviel asks Rizal everything about him and his works through various questions. Every answer that Rizal brought out from his mouth made Taviel realize that Rizal was indeed an innocent man. Going through the movie, while Rizal is telling his story to Taviel, the scene on the movie switches from his life story then to his portrayal on his novels. Sometimes the scene gets very difficult to follow because of the sudden switches during the scenes of the movie most especially during the time that his first novel was on the process of writing. Rizal, a brave and a man of his word, was never afraid whatever the consequences may suffer because of his writings that are against the friars and also to the Spaniards. His goal was to free the Philippines...