El Presidente
El Presidente is a 2012 biopic film that tells the life of
Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, the first President of the Philippines. It is one of the
official movie entries of the MMFF (Metro Manila Film Festival) in the year
2012 and it was released nationwide on the 25th day of December
2012. It was directed by Mark Meily starring Gov. Jeorge Estregan, which played as
Aguinaldo, with Cesar Montano, Nora Aunor, Cristine Reyes, and Christopher de
Leon in supporting roles. The film won several awards like 2nd Best
Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Montano), Best Theme Song, Young Choice Award,
Best Sound, Best Make-up, Best Musical Score, and Best Festival Float in MMFF.
The movie started showing glimpses of a young Emilio
Aguinaldo, unaware of a great life ahead of him and an old woman giving him
cryptic predictions. Until the movie has gone into its depth in telling the
significant events happened in the Philippines. From Aguinaldo being the mayor of Cavite el Viejo, to the establishment of Katipunan and to the proclamation of him as the President of the Philippine Republic, and until Frederick Funston's command of 1901 and the American Occupation was depicted in the film.
Retelling a country’s history by means of an hour and a half
movie is difficult. Many critics and history buffs showed their disappointments
on the said film. Some said that Meily’s film was a historical annoyance,
saying that the film showed historical inaccuracies. The film also had a
difficulty in bringing up the historical figures like Andres Bonifacio (Cesar
Montano), portraying him as a deadbeat revolutionary leader and Antonio Luna (Christopher
de Leon), depicted him as a badass and cruel General of the Revolutionary
Government.
The production of the movie was impressive, but the film had a difficulty on managing the area under discussion, particularly the absolute absence of sentiment and drama in its understanding of several of the most disorderly decades in our country’s earlier period.
But what most mattered to me is the film’s appreciation
on delivering the nationalistic message to its Filipino audience. Most of the
Filipino nowadays doesn’t have any idea how hard it is for our revolutionary
leaders to fight the invaders. What only our heroes can afford is a bolo
knife and very, very few guns compare to our intruders, they had cannons and other
powerful weapons.
However, this is not about weapons. This is about our heroes’
love for our country. It doesn’t really matter on how powerful our invaders
would be or how great their weapons are, because each and every hero has heart
as big as anyone could imagine. Their love for the country and the desire to
attain freedom are things to consider why our generation enjoy what we have
today.
'El Presidente' may not delivered the historical context that was written on our books. But the message was clear, and it promotes nationalism. The film was made to remind us of something that our past leaders was into, and it was the desire to be independent from the invaders. Sovereignty and independence are what 'Inang Bayan' wished to attain and it was shown in the film.Though the film had some inaccuracies, I saw the film as a serious attempt to bring difference to the Philippine cinema. I find the film valuable enough to be treasured as it incited to form curiosity and as it promoted audiences to have an open mind to the idea of heroism and sense of patriotism.
To watch the trailer:
Note: The photos above are not mine. Credit is due their respective film and production outfits.
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