PCPT RIVEL, RONALD ANGELO H.

PSOAC 2021-06

The movie features the life of a short-tempered Filipino general who

faces an enemy more formidable than the American country: his own
countrymen. A national hero which is known to get a lot of enemies
because of his very bad temper which also led to his assassination. Aside
from telling us context wherein he’s always flared up, we also get to
meet him more intimately as a leader, a soldier, a man and as a son.

I think that as a leader, he is a complete disciplinarian and an autocrat,

he always wanted obedience from his soldier which made him or created
a bad image for him but amidst of being a terror leader, he lead his
group well, constructed battle strategies, and fought for the country. I
felt that everything was difficult for him because while he was fighting
for the country, he’s also having an argument with his co-Filipinos,
making them follow his orders, and fight for what he thinks is right. Not
everyone agreed with his morals, thus earning him the title of “Heneral
Artikulo Uno” because of his strictness.

In my opinion, It seems that unity is an issue during that time, that Luna
was correct, that the real enemies of the Filipinos are themselves. In
addition to that, peace cannot be achieved easily during those times. And
it made me realize how scary power is. Because power and selfishness
blinded us greatly from nationalism. 

In conclusion, the movie wants us to see how General Luna lead the
Filipino soldiers against the Americans, how our leaders at that time
cannot have their own stance and how indecisive they are, and how we
lack unity which led to the death of many of our countrymen and to the
fall of the Philippines on the hands of the Americans.
And the time that they killed General Luna, you can see there that
Filipinos back then has lack of knowledge. They didn’t think that if
General Luna died, what happened next? Are they going to win against
the Americans? They do not think of things that can happen afterwards.
Maybe if they didn’t killed General Luna, maybe we achieved the
freedom we want.