Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon?

Ito ay isang pelikulang pangkapanahunan na naghahayag ng katanungan ng kakilanlan ng Pilipino sa panahon ng

dalawang digmaan—laban sa Espanya at laban sa Amerika. [1]

Buod ng pelikula

Ang bahay kubo na tinuring tahanan ni Kulas (De Leon) ay nasunog bunga ng kanyang kapabayaan. Sapilitang
nilisan ang bukid upang maghanap ng pansamantalang kublihan, nakatagpo siya ng isang paring (Rocha)
nagtatago sa isang langkay ng mga magnanakaw. Nakuha nila ang pagkilala sa isa't isa at nakiusap ang pari kay
Kulas na arugaan ang kanyang anak sa labas na si Bindoy (Belleza) sa Maynila. Sa kanilang daan patungo sa
lungsod, nakatagpo sina Kulas at ang bata ng isang pangkat ng tanghalang panlakbay. Umibig si Kulas sa punong
tauhan na si Diding (Diaz). Subali't hindi siya binigyan ng pagkakataon na ipahayag ang kanyang pag-ibig
gayundin ang nararapat niyang tumuloy sa lungsod para sa kasamang bata at kinailangang kumilos nang patungo
ang pangkat.

Kasama ang bata sa hila, nakarating si Kulas sa Maynila sa pamamagitan ng bangka. Pinatnubay ni Lim (Tsing),
isang Tsinong mangangalakal na nakatagpo niya sa lakbay, siya sa lungsod. Naligaw si Kulas pagkatapos ng
paghahatid ng bata sa patutunguhan, hanggang nakatagpo niya muli si Diding, na kasal na sa isang mestisong
Kastila na si Don Tibor (Garcia).

Ang isa pang kasawian ay nangyari kay Kulas nang nagkamaling akalain ng mga sundalong Kastila na siya ay
tulisan. Siya ay ikinarsel nguni't tumakas na may tulong kapwa-bilanggo, na isang mag-iinog, bago hinatulan siya
ng parusang bitay. Samantala, ang Maynila ay nasa gitna ng kasaligutgutan dahil sa pagdating ng mga
Amerikano. Bumagsak ang pamahalaang Kastila, at nagpasiya si Kulas na makita si Diding para sa huling
pagkakataon. Pagkatapos ng isang maigsing tagpo sa babae, umalis si Kulas, sa paghahagad ng kanyang
kinabukasan at ang kanyang kakilanlan bilang isang Pilipino.[1]

Pagsusuri ng pelikula

Ang pelikula ay nagsasalaysay ng mga pakikipagsapalaran at riwara ng isang walang pakunwaring batang
magbubukid na si Nicolas Ocampo (ginampanan ni Christopher De Leon), Kulas ang kanyang palayaw, na
lumalagalag sa pamamagitan ng Rebolusyong Pilipino ng 1896-1898 at ang Digmaang Pilipino-Amerikano ng
1899-1901. Ang mga kaganapan ay nagsisilbi bilang mga pagbabago para kay Kulas upang dumating sa isang
pangingilakan tungkol sa kanyang kakilanlan bilang isang tao at bilang isang Pilipino.[1]
Kulas is a slow-witted young man. People take advantage of his naivety. He lost his house, wealth, and ladylove.
But, one thing they cannot take away from him is his Filipino identity.

Who/what is a Filipino? The film’s greatness lies in its exploration of the Filipino question.

Kulas gets confounded with the different definitions of ‘Filipino.’ It originally referred to a person of pure
Spanish descent born in the country. However, the term evolved. A travelling Chinese merchant born in the
country is also called a Filipino. Being born in the country seems to be the main criteria.

Kind-hearted and gullible Kulas searches out for a boy named Bindoy and reunites the kid with his grateful
father, a friar named Padre Gil Corcuera. The latter endows Kulas with a house and a huge sum of money. He
gets transformed from a lowly indio into a rich senyorito. He asks a Visayan lawyer named Tibor if he can rightly
be called Filipino. Tibor says that in order to be called a Filipino, one must be a worthy and valuable person.

The young man finds a worthy cause to live for. He is disgusted at so-called Filipinos collaborating with the
enemies, the Spaniards and the Americans. Just like Jose Rizal, who was heartbroken, he abandons his love for
Diding and shifts his love to his country.

Kulas, in the end, realizes that a Filipino is someone who loves or will love the then newly created Filipino
nation. It is not enough to be born in the country in order to be called a Filipino. One should also love his country
through actions. Kulas approaches a group of orphans and reminds them to call themselves Filipinos. He then
hikes off to join the insurrectos.

This great film started strong, puttered somewhat in the middle, and then bounced back in the last act. The
script by Romero and Roy Iglesias oozed with spot-on humor as seen in Kulas’ transaction with a potential
property buyer and his second encounter with a notorious jailbird.

A raw and fresh Christopher de Leon is a joy to watch. He is still decades away from becoming the hammy actor
that he is today. His Kulas Ocampo is no different from Forrest Gump. Both characters find themselves caught up
in their respective countries’ upheavals. De Leon manages to show his character’s naivety without resorting to
stuttering and doing acts of stupidity.
Reaction Paper on the film “Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon?” by Eddie Romero Ganito Kami Noon,
Paano Kayo Ngayon is a 1976 film directed by Eddie Romero starring Christopher de Leon and former Miss
Universe Gloria Diaz. It’s easy to say “I am a Filipino”. But when can a person be considered as a true Filipino? In
the movie, the word “Filipino” had different definitions. The word originally referred to a person of pure Spanish
decency that was born in the country.

However, a travelling Chinese merchant (Lim) born in the country was also considered as a Filipino. Based on
these facts, being born in the country is one of the major criteria in order for one to be called a “Filipino”.
Nicholas Ocampo, also called Kulas, was the main protagonist in the film. He was innocently set to find a friar’s
son at the peak of the Philippine revolution against the Spanish colonization. He was able to encounter people
who influenced his way of thinking and his way of living during his journey.

He was able to meet different kinds of people; Filipino revolutionaries, Spanish friars, guardia civils, circus folks
(where he met Diding, a girl whom he fell in love with), and Filipino elites who identified themselves as the real
Filipinos. He was confused on what a Filipino truly is, on who has the right to call himself/herself as a true
Filipino. He had no idea of what a Filipino is, or why he was called as one.

He asked Don Tibor, a Visayan lawyer, if he has the right to call himself a Filipino, to which the lawyer answered
that in order to be a Filipino one must be a worthy and valuable person. Kulas went through a lot of ups and
downs during his stay in Manila. He experienced being wealthy, being respected, being bullied, being
heartbroken, and being betrayed by the people around him. Kulas, in the end, realized that it is not enough to
be born in the country in ordered to be called a Filipino, that being a Filipino doesn’t only mean the physical ties
a person has with the land, or with tradition, or even with his or her family.

It means recognizing ourselves as the protector of this land, and protector of our fellow men. It is being able to
fight a grander cause and being able to fight for what is good for our country. The term Filipino was made
because in the past, the people of the Philippines called themselves according to what region or island they
came from, for example, the people from Visayas are called Visayans, people from Manila call themselves
Tagalogs, Ilokanos for the people from Ilocos and many more. Since the Philippine archipelago consists of
thousands of islands, it created a rift between its people because of their different identities. Because of this, the
term Filipino was used to call the people of the Philippines as a whole in order to avoid conflicts among the
natives and also to unify the people. According to a study conducted by J. A. Yacat of the University of the
Philippines Diliman, there are three factors that are considered in order to have a Filipino identity: a sense of
shared origins (pinagmulan), growing up in a similar cultural environment (kinalakhan), and a shared
consciousness (kamalayan). T

he first one, pinagmulan, has something to do with being born in the country, having parents who are Filipinos,
residing in the Philippines, or is a Filipino citizen. It basically implies that a person is a Filipino if he or she
satisfies the definition of Filipino citizenship as stated in the 1987 constitution. The second factor, kinalakhan
(cultural roots) revolves around participation and being immersed in a cultural background acknowledged as
Filipino. This includes the speaking of a Philippine language, and other things that differentiates us from
foreigners, like the way we see things, the way we look at things, and the way we face every situation that we
encounter. The last factor, “kamalayan” (consciousness), is associated with awareness of the self as a Filipino,
acceptance of membership in the category “Filipino”, and also pride in this membership. The American
colonization was helpful in the making of the Filipino identity because of the way they treated us in the past, our
ancestors thought of a way to distinguish ourselves and put the Filipinos on a classification different than the
wicked colonizers.

The revolution also helped in shaping the Filipino identity. The revolution unified the people. Without the
revolution, we would still be under the hands of the colonizers without having an identity of our own. Though
the colonization and Filipino revolution helped in the creation of the Filipino identity, each also brought negative
impacts that hindered the Filipinos to create an identity of their own. Because of the booming economy of the
United States, there is a noticeably big difference on the physical appearance of the Americans from the
Filipinos. This is where the colonial mentality of the Filipinos heightened. Those who had money or were in the
upper class of the society tried hard to dress and act like Americans in order to blend with the colonizers and
also to flaunt their newly bought things and their fluency in speaking the American language. Because of this,
they believed that they belonged with the Americans, that they are Americans and not Filipinos. In the title,
Ganito kami noon , paano kayo ngayon:?, there is a question that needs to be answered.

Paano kayo ngayon? What is the state of the Filipinos now? To answer that question, many of the Filipino’s ideas
and interests have changed. Technology rises and new trends have been made. Sometimes, the Filipinos now
tend to forget what is important and what is significant. Filipinos then were able to think rationally. Filipinos
nowadays are simply going with the flow. They go to where they will surely benefit, or to where they can gain
much, much more. The sense of Filipino nationalism is in the end forgotten. People patronize more the products
that came from other countries rather than the products that were made here in the country. Though Filipinos
in the past did the same things, the intensity in this modern era is a lot greater than in the past. Our country is
getting more and more liberated. Because of the many colonizers after the Americans, several foreign influences
have been adapted as our own. The Filipino culture have been mixed with different cultures from neighbouring
countries like China, Japan, Korea, and others because of intermarriages.

The way the government runs the country is becoming worse. The Philippines is now buried in debt. Filipinos
nowadays are becoming harder to understand. One runs for election not because he or she wants to serve the
country but because he or she wants to make more money. Also, the increasing percentage of crimes involving
youth offenders is very alarming. We always ask for reasons why these crimes happened. Maybe because
Filipino youth then have good moral attitude than Filipino youth now. The use of “po” and “opo” have always
been a part of our Filipino culture. We were taught to use these words as a sign of respect to the elders. But
now, we rarely hear those words especially from the younger ones. Filipino youth today had become verbally
aggressive and delinquent. Another example is, Filipino youth now tend to imitate some characters from
different foreign films thinking that it is “cool” to be violent and aggressive.

Unlike Filipino youth then were respectful and God-fearing. Thus, Filipino youth then have good moral attitude
than Filipino youth now. We are forgetting our objective, the aim which our ancestors have passed unto us,
which was to protect and fight for what is good for our country. We cannot achieve this goal if we keep on doing
these things. It seems that in the present times, the definition of being a Filipino is reduced to just being a citizen
of the country. If you are a citizen of the Philippines, then you can already be considered as a true Filipino. I am a
Filipino. I became a Filipino because both my parents are Filipinos. I am a Filipino because I speak several
Philippine languages. I am a Filipino because I am a citizen of this country. I am a Filipino because I love my
country. I am a Filipino and I am proud to be one.
Ang Buhay ng Isang Bayani

Si Jose Rizal ay isinilang noong Hunyo 19, 1861 Calamba, Laguna. Siya ay nagsimulang mag-aral sa Ateneo at nag-
aral ng medisina sa Unibersidad ng Santo Tomas at pagkatapos ay ipinagpatuloy niya ito sa Unibersidad Central
Madrid. Dito niya nakuha ang kanyang lisensiya sa panggagamot. Nagpunta rin siya sa iba’t-ibang lugar sa
Europa at nagkaroon ng mga kaibigan at isa na doon si Blumentrit. Si Rizal ay nagkaroon gn maikling talumpati
tungkol sa dalawang pintor na naging dahilan ng pagkasira ng kanyang pangalan sa Pilipinas dahil pinayuhan siya
na huwag munang umuwi. Maraming lugar na pinuntahan si Rizal bago siya muling bumalik sa Pilipinas. At
pagkabalik sa Pilipinas ay pumunta muli sa iba’t-ibang bansa. Pagkatapos ay muling bumalik sa Pilipinas, sa
Dapitan at doon na nanirahan kasama ni Josephine Bracken. Nang tunagal, siya ay nahatulan ng kamatayan dahil
sa kanyang mga naisulat.

Tunay ngang kahanga-hanga ang ating bayani na si Dr. Jose Rizal dahil simula pagkabata pa lamang ay makikita
na sa kanya ang pagpupursigi na mag-aral sa kabila ng diskriminasyon sa kanya sa at sa kabila nito ay naging
isang mahusay siyang mag-aaral. May pinakita na siya daw ay pinapalo ng kanyang guro, ngunit hindi naman kasi
maalis na ang isang tao ay magkamali sapagkat siya ay tao pa rin. Nakita ko rin ang kanyang pagmamahal sa
kanyang pamilya sapagkat siya ay nag-aral ng medisina para matulungan ang kanyang ina sa katarata nito sa
mata at patuloy ang kanyang sulat sa mga kapatid. Maganda rin ang ilan niyang mga pilosopiya sa buhay kagaya
ng “kailangan kong bumalik dahil paano ko sila maiimpluwensiyahan kung hindi naman nila nakikita sa akin” at
“ang tao ay isinilang hindi para maglingkod sa iba kundi para gawin ang gusto nila sa buhay”. Nakukuha ko ang
punto niya dito na magsilbi sa iba, ito ay ng sapilitan, sapagkat mayrong nagsisilbi sa iba dahil ito naman ay
kanilang kagustuhan. Karapat-dapat lamang na ang katulad niya ay maging pambansang bayani ng ating bayan.

Reaksyon: “Rizal: Ang Buhay ng Isang Bayani”

Sa aming pinanood na dokumentaryo patungkol kay Dr. Jose Rizal, marami akong nalaman na mga
detalye upang lalo pang makilala ang ating pambansang bayani hindi lamang kung paano siya tumulong
maisulong ang nasyonalismo ng Pilipinas, maging ang personal niyang buhay na talaga namang kapupulutan ng
aral Aking nalaman na pinagdaanan rin ni Rizal ang mga problemang pinagdadaanan ng isang normal na taong
katulad ko kahit na siya ay isang kilala bilang matalino at talentadong tao.

Ang buhay ni Rizal ay hindi pangkaraniwan kung ikukumpara sa atin, dahil kung tutuusin masasabi nating
siya ay isa sa mga tinawag ng Diyos upang magsakripisyo para mapawala ang ating bansa sa pagmamalupit ng
España noong 1900s. Hindi naging madali ang buhay ng mga Pilipino noon, maaaring swerte si Rizal dahil ang
ninuno ng kanyang pamilya ay sadyang mayroon ng kaya sa buhay. Ngunit dahil sa pribilehiyong iyon na
napagkaloob sa kanya, ginamit niya ito upang mangibang bansa, magsulat nga mga nobela at maipamulat sa
mga Pilipino kung ano nga ba ang ating estado at kung ano nga ba ang dapat nating gawing aksyon. Hindi
nasayang ang pagiging mayaman nila Rizal, naglibot siya sa iba’t ibang panig ng mundo, nakakilala ng iba’t ibang
klase ng mga tao at higit sa lahat, minahal niya ang edukasyon hindi tulad ng ibang mayayamang mga Pilipinong
pinili na lamang manahimik at magpakasarap samantalang ang mga kapwa nila mga Pilipino ay naghihirap sa
pang-aabuso ng mga Español. Nakakalungkot mang isipin, sa dami ng mga binigay na sakripisyo ng ating bayani
ay napabayaan na niya ang kanyang sarili. Maraming nasayang na pagkakataon sa kanyang buhay na sana ay
magpapasaya sa kanya ng lubos, ngunit hindi na niya ito binigyan ng pagkakataon bigyan pa ng kulay ang
kanyang buhay dahil pasan niya ang obligasyon sa ating bansa na nagpasiklab sa ating damdamin. Pagkatapos
kong mapanood ang dokumentaryo ang laki ng panghihinayang na nabuo sa akin, dagdag pa ang kanyang buhay
pag-ibig na tangi na lamang na nagbigay sa kanya ng inspirasyon upang magtrabaho, magsulat muli at
manggamot ay nawala pa sa kanya. Masasabi kong ang tibay rin talaga ni Rizal, dahil sa mga napagdaanan niya
mga kabiguan, pagsubok muli at tagumpay nananatili ang kanyang pagkakaroon ng mahinon na damdamin.
Hindi lahat ay kayang panatiliin iyon sa kanilang sarili, lalo pa’t ang kanyang mga naranasan ay hindi biro.

Balang araw nais ko rin masulat ang sarili kong buhay tulad ni Rizal, dahil gusto kong malaman kung may
naibahagi ba ako sa mundong ito pag nabasa ko ang sarili kong kwento. Siguro nga hindi talaga si Rizal ang
unang napili upang maging bayani, pero ang kanyang buhay, katalinuhan at prinsipyo ay mananatiling modelo ng
bawat Pilipino.