Eldré Kurt I.

Maraan Art Stud 1

2015-09978

‘Heneral Luna’ Review

Heneral Luna is a 2015 Filipino historical film directed by Jerrold Tarog. It was
released in more than 100 theaters nationwide. In this paper, I will evaluate it, focusing
at the four planes of analysis.

A. The Basic Semiotic Plane

Film is a form of contemporary art. A lot of other creative methods are emerging now
but film is still the most enjoyable and immersive format for me, especially when in large
screen cinemas. It’s very animate and alive compared to others which are just there for
you to look at. This movie runs for about two hours, which is very typical. Obviously, the
film is aimed towards the Filipino public. Also, there isn’t a lot of background on the
actions that took place. This doesn’t really put people who don’t know Philippine history
to a disadvantage but knowing it really helps in seeing the bigger picture. The movie
also is not wholly historically accurate but the general ideas are still accurate. This is
necessary to add charisma and creativity. This is good as long as blatant misinformation
does not start to get disseminated.

At the first half, the atmosphere is light and there are many circumstances that made
the audience laugh. Only in the second part did things become heavy. This helped in
preventing the film from being one dimensional in the emotional aspect. Although with
still, there were still many parts in the middle that didn’t quite get my attention like when
Luna was just walking around, and talking to people and to his self. This bored me for
some time but the scenes nearing the ending made up for it because actions started to
build up again. It unexpectedly has a dark ending which made a direct hit to the
emotions of the viewer and left them amused and impressed.

Most of the actors were already well-known outside of the film. They did a very good
job. John Arcilla (Antonio Luna) did justice to his character. There was no holding back
of emotion. The dialogue was delivered expertly. I was surprised by Epi Quizon
(Apolinario Mabini). His drama skills were always put aside because he is usually in
comedy shows, but here, he showed that he can also be a good drama actor too.
Overall, the cast was great. I did not feel any particular lack in emotion.
 Throughout the whole film, the colors are mostly washed out and the surroundings
are dark. Although depressing, this fits the theme very well and adds to the emotion it
wants to convey. There were also fast camera movements which emphasized the more
action-packed scenes. Also, the dialogue is very colloquial. From that kind of movie, I
would expect deep Tagalog. This is a good move to appeal more to the younger citizens
or even to the older ones, really. No one understands deep Tagalog easily anymore.

B. The Iconic Plane of the image in itself

As I said, this is a historical film. It is focused on Antonio Luna and how he fought the
Philippine-American War, which he is a big part of, being in the highest position in the
army and because of his passionate and direct nature. Because of this, although Luna
is the main character, the details of the war were still clearly understood. This kind of
film wishes to spark our nationalism. Heneral Luna wants to inform us and make us
aware that we should be one and working together as a country, just like what Antonio
Luna wanted.

A large part of the movie is dedicated to Antonio Luna’s personal life. It’s entitled
‘Heneral Luna’ after all. Despite his hard and explosive personality, another side of him
was also depicted. He came from a well off family. He is very loving to his parents and
siblings. He is also shown to have had some love life. He is just like the rest of us.
What’s different is his determination to break free from the colonizers that would end up
oppressing us. This really helped in developing his character.

Also, it’s interesting that this film ‘exposed’ Emilio Aguinaldo’s sketchy deeds. He
seemed to be the main kontrabida here. Aguinaldo was said to be the one who gave
orders to kill Antonio Luna and prevent him from executing his plans of allegedly
stealing his position. This led to the fall of his plans against the Americans, which ended
up being followed anyway by the president’s orders. These circumstances reflect one of
Luna’s quotes in the movie: “May mas malaki tayong kalaban sa mga Amerikano – ang
ating sarili”. This is a conflict among Filipinos which ultimately led to the country
succumbing to America’s power. The film wants to tell us that unity among ourselves is
a key factor and should be the first to be considered to get what we’re fighting for.

C. The Contextual Plane

The movie is based on very real events. What happened in the past are its
foundations. Its setting was at the end of the 19th century, when occupation of the
Philippines was transferred from the Spaniards to the Americans, which is a very big
part of Philippine history. That’s why it’s part of the curriculum in schools to require
students to learn about the war. That is also why it’s still commemorated up to this day.
Maybe this influenced the makers to make this movie, which is first of the possible
trilogy, possible to tell the Filipinos more about a very well-known figure and remind us
of how our countrymen fought for our freedom, especially now that more than one
hundred years have passed and the people who had first-hand experience of history are
already long gone.

The director, Jerrold Tarog, already had a lot of experience, looking at his previous
films. He directed a lot of horror, and some romantic and teenage genres. Heneral Luna
deviated from these common genres but he still made a film that could compete with
them. Typically, a historical film like this would not click with the public but due to
popular demand, it was shown in more and more cinemas nationwide. This is a sign
that this film really is good, despite being the underdog in terms of genre.

D. The Axiological or Evaluative Plane

Overall, I think that this film is a success. It appealed to the emotion of the viewers.
When I was watching it, after the ending, the room was filled with the sound of
applause. This does not usually happen in other movies. This movie personally touched
the viewers. It succeeded in informing and bringing on nationalism. I, myself learned
many things that I didn’t know before. I didn’t know that Antonio Luna and Juan Luna
were brothers. I thought that they were not related because Antonio was part of the war
and Juan was a painter. The film showed me the connection between them. Emilio
Aguinaldo is also shown to not be the hero that most thought he is. I don’t know if this is
true but it’s interesting to know another side of the story. In social media, a lot of people
are recommending it to everyone. It did something for them and thought that it might do
something for others too.

I would not consider the film a must-watch in a sense that it is very enjoyable
experience but I would recommend it in terms of the values that it presents to the
viewers. These kinds of movies should be more recognized by the media. All the
popular releases are either purely comedic, horror, or romantic in nature. Historical films
should be publicized too. Heneral Luna is an informative and decent film and it’s not
noticed by the mainstream media. With more publicity, there would be more budget and
support, resulting in the production of more high quality and excellent film. I may not
consider Heneral Luna as a truly excellent film but comparatively, it is one of the top in it
genre.