Heneral Luna: Reflection Paper

Despite being a leading propagandist during the twilight years of Spanish regime and a revolutionary leader at the onset of the Filipino-American War, Antonio Lunaremains one of the most unappreciated of all Philippine heroes. The movie‘Heneral Luna,’ directed by Jerrold Tarog and developed by Artikulo Uno Productions, seeks to change that.

The movie, which will be shown in cinemas nationwide beginning this September 9, puts the spotlight on Luna’s heroic works and his unflattering personality (which eventually led to his assassination).

A hero with an unflattering personality? Isn’t that an oxymoron? The only reason it seems so is because countless historians in the past seems to have made it a point to portray heroes as flawless individuals – effectively making their work more like hagiographies instead of a fact-based account.

The movie shows Luna’s most valued character trait: his passion and uncompromising commitment to the cause of Philippine independence as well as his brilliance in military tactics. No less than Emilio Aguinaldo, the country’s first president, described him as the best war general under him (“siya ang pinakamahusay kong heneral“).

However, the movie also discusses the aspects of his personality that made people see him as a repulsive human being. He is not a smooth-talker, and is too hot-headed. In other words, he is a “my way or the highway” type of person. That of course did not sit well for a lot of officials in Aguinaldo’s administration, causing Luna to have so many enemies.

Heneral Luna is neither led by showbiz A-listers that other historical biopics in recent years had (like Cesar Montano in ‘Jose Rizal,’ Jericho Rosales in ‘Baler,’ and Alfred Vargas in ‘Supremo’) nor backed-up by splashy promotional campaigns. Instead, it is relying on social media to heighten public interest. The producers have also organized special screenings in various schools to target history educators and students.

Filipino netizens always rant about not...