Mangrobang, Jomel G.

BSA III

Reflection paper
Movie Title “JOSE RIZAL”

While watching the movie, I felt good and I felt bad. Good for the times
when Rizal was enjoying the joys of the world, the glory of living, and the thrill of
experiences. And then I felt bad for the worst times: the brutality; the
inhumane acts towards our Ancestors; and the permanent scar it left on our people –
ignorant love for the foreign world and its glittering gifts.

These gifts are chains in disguise but we embrace them, regardless of

our history; regardless of their previous brutalities: we are slaves to our own
desires. We are blinded with the idea of foreign superiority and wanted to be
one. It’s like the temptation of Eve all over again and we have been the ignorant who
ate the forbidden fruit.

It was then that I realized of what we’ve been doing ever since. We’ve been
exploiting our natural wealth for the benefit of other people. Yes, that is good – helping
Other people and such but it depends on the purpose of those “other people”. They
have been poisoning our mind and we are ignorant enough to believe that what
we’ve all been doing is good for us. Latently, it is good for them.
I’m not all out anti-foreign-ideology or something but, my point is, I’ve realized
that all our heroes’ hard work have been worthless overtime. It now serves only
as a picture of what had been. Over the years, even without the colonizers’ help, we’ve
lost and thrown away our identities – replacing it with an alien self.

Now, what do I have to do to stop Filipinos from repeating mistakes and

Succumbing to the dreadful temptation to be something else? What things am I going to
Do and to what lengths? Well, for at the moment, I’ll finish my studies first. When
the time comes where I’d be able to stand for myself and see the world for what
it truly is,
Then I guess, “The time is ripe. I will do what I must do.”