Molina, Daniel John Y.

BSIT 1-2N

Heneral Luna Sakay

Directed by Jerrold Tarog Directed by Raymond Red
Philippines, 2015 Philippines, 1993
A FILM REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF “HENERAL LUNA” AND “SAKAY”

Reading history books of more than hundreds of pages is unarguably a mind-boggling and
physically exhausting task, especially if without motivation. Fortunately, this task has become easy with
the help of modern media, particularly the films. Their existence, either in theatres or digital platforms, is
a blessing for people who want to avoid the burden of long readings. In the case of the stories of Philippine
revolutionary figures and heroes, films who simplify their lengthy biographies, such as “Heneral Luna”
and “Sakay” who respectively discussed the life of Gen. Antonio Luna and Macario Sakay, two of the key
Filipino revolutionaries in the Filipinos’ colonial past, is really beneficial for avid learners of Philippine
history. With respect to the aforesaid films, they were well-researched and generally successful in imparting
to the Filipino community the incomparable contribution of the two notable Filipino heroes for the country’s
independence and nationhood.
Jerrold Tarog’s 2015 historical film Heneral Luna illustrates the life of the brilliant and fiery
Captain General Antonio Luna as he treads on a wrangling path of uniting the young Filipino nation into
one strong resistance against the American colonization until his violent death at the hands of his
countrymen. This ₱308-million-grossing film is a creative mixture of fiction and historical reality; it unfolds
the unconventional truths about the Philippine revolutionary government during the time of Philippine-
American War. Heneral Luna starts and essentially circulates in a fictional set-up where Gen. Antonio Luna
(John Arcilla) is being interviewed by a fictional young journalist Joven Hernando (Arron Villaflor) about
the patriotic hero’s life.
After the successful overthrowing of the more than 300-year Spanish rule on the islands, the
Philippine revolutionary government is yet to face with another struggle: the Americans. The cabinet
meeting on the early part of the film was the platform for the primary chaotic debates on whether the
Filipinos should trust the Americans or aggressively attack them at earlier time for prohibiting them to enter
the Intramuros — Gen. Luna advocated for the latter option which was agreed, however, only after the
Americans first landed their attacks on the Filipino troops in Sta. Mesa, Manila. The Filipino leaders have
no choice, making President Aguinaldo (Mon Confiado), supported by PM Apolinario Mabini (Epy
Quizon), to formally declare the war against America and leave the military efforts to General Luna; this is
then proceeded with the official start of Luna as the leading Captain General on the war against America.
Along the movie, Luna is principally conflicted with the disunited brigades and coward soldiers of
the Revolutionary Army, as some captains and fellow generals does not recognize his chief authority and
some soldiers backing-out in the independence cause. Luna’s answer to this was his popular short-tempered,
strict implementor of discipline, and badmouthing personality, subsequently causing grudges from Felipe
Buencamino (Nonie Buencamino), Gen. Tomas Mascardo (Lorenz Martinez), President Aguinaldo himself,
and Capt. Pedro Janolino (Ketchup Eusebio). Aside from that, his relationship with Isabel (Mylene Dizon),
a composite character that represents the unknown lovers Luna had, was consequently ended as a product
of the general’s participation in the war. His reminiscent of peaceful life and career brought by his rich
family and abroad education has become also a struggling force on Luna’s role on the war.
Throughout the Heneral Luna, the efforts of the brilliant and selfless general to effectively lead the
war was exhibited and radiated. Unfortunately, his desire for a militaristic and radical approach on attaining
the country’s freedom was cut short by his adversaries of soldiers, to selfish bureaucrats, and even the
revolutionary President Aguinaldo, for his ‘unwanted’ behavior towards them, and the unorthodox way of
winning the war against the American imperialists. However, there is deeper root for the collective grudge
against Luna which is to be discussed on later parts of the paper. Despite the hate, Luna had large followings
on the revolutionary army, notably the Bernal brothers (Arthur Acuña and Alex Medina), Col. Paco Roman
(Joem Bascon), Capt. Eduardo Rusca (Archie Alemania), and other soldiers even after his tragic death in
Cabanatuan on 1899.
On the other hand, the 1993 historical film Sakay is a work of Raymond Red in the goal of giving
justice to the either unknown or incomplete recognition on the passionate effort of Macario Sakay, a
revolutionary general, on achieving the independence from the U.S. colonialism by establishing the Tagalog
Republic, following the capture of Aguinaldo and the subsequent surrender of another revolutionary chief
Miguel Malvar after the three-year exhaustive and violent Philippine-American War. Despite being labeled
by the new colonial rule as bandits or tulisanes, Sakay (Julio Diaz) and his rebel army endured and
continued to fight for the country’s independence through armed conflict in the mountains until the
republic’s dissolution on 1907 upon the revolutionary general’s capture and hanged execution.
The violent cutting of the tongue of what appears to be a ‘traitor’ to the Tagalog Republic at the
initial scene of the film is a demonstration of the Sakay republic’s extreme hate on the Americans and the
Filipinos who betrayed the Philippine nation by embracing American colonialism. Like Luna, Sakay also
faced contending conflicts ranging from his lover, to his fellow community villagers, up to the principalia
members. Although, at first, they were supportive to the revolutionary cause of Sakay, Francisco Carreon
(Karlo Altomonte) and other key rebel generals, unfortunately they eventually lost hope and cut their
support to the rebel groups as their movement bore no fruit and the local supporters suffered as well on the
colonial government’s attacks to suppress the local insurgencies. Elena (Tetchie Agbayani), Sakay’s lover,
was the only one who remained faithful to his rebel lover’s cause by sacrificing her life to send a warning
message for Sakay regarding on the upcoming massive Constabulary force that will attack the Republic’s
headquarters at Morong; nevertheless, Sakay and his forces was seized and killed at the end.
 By critically analyzing the two separate stories of patriotic Antonio Luna and American-feared
Macario Sakay, one may recognize similarity of their events to Andres Bonifacio’s.
Captain General Antonio Luna had unfortunately experienced the same dreadful fate of Andres
Bonifacio together with his brother Procopio at the hands of the selfish-and-worried-for-power Aguinaldo
and the strong spirit of Cavitismo. The revolutionary president’s bothersome on leadership to be taken away
by Luna emerged at the falling action of the film, where the joint of bureaucrats and one general namely
Buencamino, Paterno, and Mascardo conspired Luna to be planning to overthrow Aguinaldo’s government,
which is then proceeded by a vision of Aguinaldo for an unstoppable similar fate that is yet to happen; the
Cavitismo was present at the early parts of the film where Capt. Janolino was punished by the general for
only accepting orders from the Cavite-born president Aguinaldo. Combining and understanding these
elements, it can be concluded that Luna and the Katipunan’s Supremo experienced the similar gruesome
cause and end. On the other hand, Macario Sakay, who was one of the ex-council leaders of the old
Katipunan, inherited Bonifacio’s eagerness and strong faith for Philippine independence during the U.S.
colonialism. Aside from that, his Tagalog Republic’ constitution was heavily based on the secret society’s
constitution and the republic served as the new Katipunan; Sakay also campaigned for separatist armed
rebellion against the colonial government at his time, despite lacking of arms and food, which is then
sufficed through robbery of government’s guns, ammunitions, other artilleries, and support from local
communities and principalia who have grave resentments against the colonizers.
However, the most notable force evident within the timeline of the two patriots was the disunity
and lack of nationalism of the Filipinos. At Luna’s time, Filipino soldiers were surrendering their posts,
Filipino revolutionary gov’t officials were choosing their personal interests and businesses over the
country’s freedom, and his military leadership of Philippine-American War was not embraced by some
army regions because of the incomplete national identity of the Filipinos. At Sakay’s time, majority of
Filipino society have already surrendered their lives for the American flag and forgotten the revolutionary
cause spearheaded by numerous Filipino leaders, and the Philippine Constabulary protecting and serving
only the Americans instead of supporting the revolutionary groups.
APPRAISALS FOR THE FILMS AND CONCLUSION
Both films showcased the unknown truths about the Philippine history during the course of
revolution against the American colonialism. Although they significantly differed in cinematography, VFX
effects, storylines, and casts, what matters here is their successfulness of disseminating the historical truth
about the Filipino nation. In addition, they have both served useful and beneficial in the contemporary
issues of Filipino politics and nationalism. Most importantly, the young Joven in Heneral Luna and Macario
Sakay in Sakay respectively served as an inspiration for youth to revisit and re-engage within the historical
evolution in our Filipino past and the progress of the country’s national identity, and, finally, to be
wholeheartedly loving to our country and strongly against anyone who wants to oppress us.
 REFERENCES

Anonymous. (n.d). “Heneral Luna (2015)”. Retrieved from shorturl.at/npxJW

Anonymous. (n.d). “Sakay (1993)”. Retrieved from shorturl.at/qstRT

Filipiknow. (2022, April 1). ”22 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘Heneral Luna’”. Retrieved from
shorturl.at/hjBGP

Kuipers, R. (2015, Nov. 30).” Film Review: Heneral Luna”. Retrieved from shorturl.at/ijqP8

Macario Sakay [Cyrus Montalan]. (2017, Sept. 27). Raymond Red’s SAKAY [Video]. Facebook.
shorturl.at/krHNP

Nakpil, C. (2008, Sept. 8).” The mark of Sakay: The vilified hero of our war with America”. Retrieved from
shorturl.at/qwEG3

TBA Studios. (2020, Aug. 28). Heneral Luna (2015) | Full Movie | Jerrold Tarog | John Arcilla | Mon
Confiado | Arron Villaflor [Video]. YouTube. shorturl.at/cxHMR