Before
they were hoping for Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s return, the Philippines tried to
throw out his father, Gen. Arthur MacArthur, along with the rest of the
American military. That was the job of Gen. Gregorio “Goyo” del Pilar and his
fellow officers, but they were not up to the task. However, they were able to (allegedly)
dispatch one of their own, General Antonio Luna. That makes Del Pilar a rather
unlikely protagonist for the follow-up to Jerrold Tarog’s Heneral Luna, but he cut a dashing figure. Arguably, his flaws were
costly to his own cause, but his youth adds an element of romantic tragedy to
Tarog’s Goyo: The Boy General (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in New York.
Del
Pilar was twenty-four at the time of his final battle. Apparently, the
revolutionary president Emilio Aguinaldo had a habit of appointing young
generals—and del Pilar was one of the youngest. He was certainly well received
at social functions, but he lacked the training and seasoning to be an
effective field commander, at least judging by the results. Being complicit to
some degree in the conspiracy against Luna did not help endear del Pilar to the
late general’s men either. However, he made steady progress wooing Remedios
Nable Jose.
That
is basically the cynical portrait Tarog paints, perhaps stung by criticism that
Heneral Luna helped pave the way for
Duterte’s election by venerating a strong, willful leader. This time around, we
get del Pilar the womanizer, whose poor judgement leads to military disaster.
It is only during the Tirad Pass engagement that del Pilar is finally redeemed,
even though the loose series of battles still ended with an American victory.
Throughout both films, Aguinaldo (perhaps intended as the Duterte surrogate
this time around) has been the real villain, but if you think he has been
problematic so far, just wait until the Japanese occupation during WWII.
So,
yes, the Americans had a better grounding in military tactics and strategy, as
well as superior resources and a relatively high level of morale among their
troops. Right, aside from all that, the Revolutionary Army had all the
advantages. Frankly, Tarog hardly bothers to score any anti-American points
this time around. Instead, he eviscerates the factionalism and paranoia Aguinaldo
fostered. However, he stages some appropriately chaotic scenes of warfighting
during the Tirad Pass sequences.
Frankly,
Paulo Avelino does little humanize or otherwise rehabilitate del Pilar and
little chemistry develops during the chilly scenes he shares with Gwen Zamora’s
Nable Jose. On the other hand, Mon Confiado is perversely compelling, in a
Mephistophelean way, as Aguinaldo. Veteran character actor Ronnie Lazaro also
helps liven up the proceedings as Lt. Garcia, a Luna loyalist, who rallies del
Pilar’s troops at Tirad.
If
it were not for the shared cast and director, it would be difficult to believe Goyo and Luna are part of the same duology (projected to be part of a
greater series of Filipino historical epics). Still, as a tandem, they definitely
illustrate the complicated thorniness of the Philippines’ history with the
United States as well as its own difficulties establishing and maintaining
republican forms of government. It is fascinating as a cultural document that
also happens to have some good battle scenes, but it doesn’t really pull
viewers in as an absorbing historical drama. Perhaps interesting to some on
that limited basis, Goyo: The Boy General
opens this Friday (9/21) in New York, at the AMC Kips Bay.
