It
ought to set off plenty of alarms bells when a film feels the need to
preemptively declare “while historical accuracy is important there are bigger
truths about the Filipino nation that can only be reached by combining the real
and the imaginary.” Historical pedants, consider yourself warned. On the plus
side, this big screen bio-treatment of Philippine-American War General Antonio
Luna manages to be less anti-American than John Sayles’ Amigo. Frankly, America is the least of the general’s concerns,
compared to the more pressing dangers of the duplicitous rival officers and
politicians who scheme against him in Jerrold Tarog’s Heneral Luna (trailer
here), which
screens as part of the 2015 Asian American International Film Festival in New
York.
There
is no getting around the caricatured portrayal of the American military in
Tarog’s film, but that is a mere sideshow to its main attraction. As most of
the target audience will know, rumors of high level conspiracy and cover-ups
have swirled around Luna’s assassination for decades. Essentially, Tarog’s film
is intended as a muckraking passion play, laying the blame squarely at the feet
of the various military and government officials threatened by Luna’s
popularity, competency, and principles.
Initially,
we see Luna score some morale boosting half-victories against the Americans,
who bought out Spain’s colonial interest just when the Filipinos were poised to
drive them out. However, Luna’s drive is undermined by a fractured command
structure that allowed most of his generals to report directly to the problematic
President Aguinaldo. To assert his authority granted under military protocols,
Luna wages secondary wars against his rogue subordinates, at rather inopportune
times.
Clearly,
this kind of confusion is no way to win a war, which of course they didn’t.
Even though Tarog is hardly shy when it comes to waving the bloody shirt, it is
the betrayals that most concern the film. Frankly, if Tarog’s version of
history is even remotely accurate, it is a minor miracle the Filipino
Revolutionary government did not completely implode from within. Some of the
backbiting depicted will give even ardent Imperialist-apologists face-palm
moments. Yet, probably nobody fares worse in Heneral than Aguinaldo himself, but that should not be so
surprising, given his eventual collaboration with the occupying Japanese
military in the 1930s.
In
addition to its fascinating political score-settling, there is also plenty of old
fashioned historical melodrama in Heneral,
which is hit or miss. It is hard to see Luna and Isabel, his high society mistress
played by Mylene Dizon as a couple. On the other hand, John Arcilla’s Luna is
compulsively watchable when spitting nails at unsuspecting slackers. For the
most part, it is an appealingly larger than life portrayal.
