More suggestions on movies with historical themes

The success of the movie GomBurZa prompted me to suggest in my last column the production of more movies about our national heroes, like Marcelo del Pilar, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Emilio Jacinto, Melchora Aquino alias Tandang Sora, Gregoria de Jesus, and other less celebrated patriots. The remarkable success of the 49th Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) as a whole now prods me to suggest the production of more motion pictures not only about personages but about organizations, events, and places with historical significance.

As Don Artes, chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority, which runs the film festival, said last week, “We received reports that moviegoers watched multiple films while others watched films repeatedly. Hopefully, we can sustain this beyond the festival so that our film producers can offer quality movies all year round. We also encouraged filmmakers to create better films for the MMFF’s 50th edition.”

No movie about the secret revolutionary organization Katipunan has been produced, although there was a TV docudrama on it. The film, Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo, a 2014 action drama about the life of Andres Bonifacio, founder of Katipunan, touches on it. Movies about La Liga Filipina, the group formed by Rizal to unite all Filipinos into one society; La Solidaridad, the organization created in Spain by Filipino liberals and students to make Spain aware of the needs of Filipinos in the homeland; and the Katipunan would inspire greater love for country.

GomBurZa made hundreds of thousands of Filipinos learn about the previously unknown Padre Pedro Pelaez. Movies about La Solidaridad, La Liga Filipina, and Katipunan would make Filipinos know more about Marcelo del Pilar, Lopez Jaena, Juan Luna, Mariano Ponce, Antonio María Regidor, Jose Alejandrino, Isabelo de los Reyes, Pedro Paterno, Ambrosio Salvador, Deodato Arellano, Melchora Aquino, Gregorio de Jesus, Procopio Bonifacio, the Brains of the Katipunan Emilio Jacinto, and many others about whom little is written in history books.

The depiction in motion pictures of the Cry of Pugad Lawin on Aug. 23, 1896, the Declaration of Independence from Spain on June 2, 1898, the opening of the Malolos Congress on Sept. 15, 1898, and the Battle of Manila on Feb. 4, 1899 that marked the beginning of the Philippine-American War, would exemplify Filipino bravery and dedication to independence, instilling in the current generation of Filipinos a love of country and devotion to liberty.

The movie about the massacre of Filipinos by American troops in September 1901, Balangiga, The Howling Wilderness, put in proper perspective in the mind of those who saw the picture America’s part in Philippine history. A drama film about the clashes between then Undersecretary of the Interior Jose P. Laurel and Governor-General Leonard Wood in 1923, and the consequent mass resignation of the Filipino members of the Cabinet would give local moviegoers a clearer understanding of Philippine-US relations.

Movies can be about places. There was a movie produced in 1937 called Zamboanga starring Fernando Poe, father of FPJ, and Rosa del Rosario, the original Darna. It was a fictional love story with no connection to historical events. The British film Metro Manila was another fiction film without historical content. The 1964 movie Intramuros, the Walls of Hell dramatizes the desperate stand Japanese troops took during the liberation of Manila in 1945. A movie on the history of Intramuros would draw sizable crowds. Intramuros as it is now, is a major tourist destination.

A film on how Binondo, the oldest Chinatown in the world and the country’s center of commerce during the American colonial period, came about would be a bigger blockbuster. Other places that are potential themes of future films are Fort William McKinley, now Bonifacio Global City, and Fort Stotsenburg, now the Clark Special Economic Zone. Both were established during the Philippine-American War by the US Expeditionary Force to the Philippines — Fort William Mckinley in 1901 as home of the 31st Infantry Regiment, and Fort Stotsenburg in 1902 as the base of the 5th Cavalry. Fort Stotsenburg was converted into an airfield in 1919 and re-named Clark Field, subsequently Clark Air Base, to host the 13th Air Force of the US Army Air Forces.

The movies need not be heavy dramas like GomBurZa or action pictures like Heneral Luna. They can be horror films like Mallari, about Fr. Juan Severino Mallari, a serial killer during the 1800s, or a musical like Broadway’s Here Lies Love, a musical on the life of Imelda Marcos.

Speaking of musicals, a good subject for a musical is the music composed by Julian Felipe, composer of the music of the Philippine national anthem. All the songs he composed could be sung in the movie. Felipe was a patriot himself. He fought against the Spaniards during the Philippine Revolution. He was captured and jailed.

Another possible musical with historical content is an adaptation of the musical play Walang Sugat. The play was originally a zarzuela, which the Oxford Dictionary defined as a “lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance.” It was written by playwright Severino Reyes in 1896 and first performed in 1902. The music for the original version of the play was composed by Fulgencio Tolentino. The play is about the injustices Filipinos suffered under the Spanish rulers and the cruelty inflicted by Spanish friars on Filipino prisoners.

In fact, Walang Sugat had been adapted into a film twice — in 1939 and in 1957. The 1939 version starred Rosa del Rosario and Leopoldo Salcedo, and the 1957 version, directed by Lamberto V. Avellana, had in its cast Rosa Aguirre, Miguel Anzures, Tony Dantes, Joseph de Cordova, Oscar Keese, Mario Montenegro, Charito Solis, and Jose Vergara. None of the actors in the two versions were singers. If a third version is produced, the cast should be composed of the current crop of talented actor-singers, like Darren Espanto and Jhoanna Robles.

As for comedy films, they can be based on the huge collection of funny stories told by the Thomasites, the American teachers who came to the Philippines in 1901 to assimilate young Filipinos into the American culture. About 600 teachers, men and women, were sent all across the country. There was culture shock on both sides. The teachers kept a daily diary of their experience in the course of their own assimilation into the local culture.

Oscar P. Lagman, Jr. is a retired corporate executive, business consultant, management professor, and an avid reader of Philippine history.