Heneral Luna is a biographic film focusing on
Antonio Luna’s administration of the Philippine Revolutionary Army. The movie
started with the transferring of power from the Spanish to American colonizers
in which the story will give us more ideas on what truly happened in the
American- Philippine war that the history books did not tell us about.
The entire presidential bureau of the
Philippines was debating about the issue of the Americans inside the
Philippines. In which, Felipe Buencamino and Pedro Paterno was suggesting in
having good relations with the Americans but Antonio Luna and Jose Alejandrino,
generals of the Philippine Army, contradicts their decisions by asking them a
pre-emptive strike to the American army before their reinforcements come.
However Emilio Aguinaldo did not agree with Luna because he believed that we
owe something to the Americans, unfortunately the Americans attacked key urban
areas in Manila and negotiated with the Spaniards about ownership of the
Philippines, demonstrating war with the Filipinos.
They, General José Alejandrino, Colonel
Francisco “Paco” Román, Commander Eduardo Rusca, Commander José Bernal and
General Antonio Luna, left the room and went to the battlefield. Against the
powerful clash of the American troops, Luna asks for reinforcement from the
Kawit unit but the commander didn’t follow the order because according to him,
Commander Padre Janolino, he will only follow orders directly from the
president himself. Luna then went to Janolino’s camp and humiliates him in
front of his men. After that, because of lack of men, Luna assembled an armed
force of 4000 soldiers by threatening them with the infamous “Article One” to
them that whoever declines will be executed without trial in the court.
Concerning the war dragging on, Buencamino
and Paterno show their backing to the Americans which made Luna angry and
ordered the imprisonment of the two. There is also the gap of Luna’s plan for
the war because of General Tomas Mascardo who opposes Luna’s request for
reinforcements. This is where the Philippine started to lose the conflict. Luna
visits Aguinaldo to submit his resignation just that the request was denied by
Aguinaldo but he agreed on making a home office for the Philippine Army in the
north.
Luna was then summoned to the President’s
home office in Cabanatuan. Bringing only Roman and Rusca with him, they arrived
only saw Buencamino in the office, Luna investigates further and was ambushed
by Commander Janolino. He was slashed, stabbed, and shot to death, Roman died
as well. Rusca surrendered, and Luna’s remaining reliable officers are
arrested. As requested by Aguinaldo, Roman was given full military honors by
the Kawit unit, the same men who killed them. Surrounded by those mourners,
Mabini noticed a bloodied bolo just that he cannot fight and resist because of
their present might.
The American daily papers reported that Aguinaldo
claimed the life of Luna, after the war an age-old Aguinaldo denies his
inclusion on the assassination as he recognizes Antonio Luna. Splendidly, Luna
considered as the greatest general, Macarthur also recognize Luna as a
deserving adversary, snickering in the reality that those Filipinos murdered
the best genuine all they required. Throughout the mid-credits scene, Gregorio
del Pilar prepare on Aguinaldo’s retreat to the north. He gathers Luna’s
remaining men and requests 60 associate in them.
General Luna is hot-bloodied and easily talks
shits however his actions and patriotism is to be commended. In the movie, his
brilliant mind and the actions he took are maybe not aligning with each other
that is why some people especially those men under Emilio Aguinaldo do hate
Luna. Just like in the first part of the movie when he talk about his
disapproving the thinking of Buencamino and Paterno on the Americans’
enticement to them. There is also the time when they lack men and he gathered
them in just three days, that was very skilful in many ways and in that
instance his actions speaks louder than his bad ways of doing things.
There is also the time when Luna led a suicide
charge to the Americans. Because of the situation, he was driven to a corner
since they are losing the encounter and some men ran away. He was prepared to
die that day and this can be seen when he attempted to shot his head because he
thought he was shot. This action of his patriotism leads to having his men
inspired to fight without fearing death.
The disciplinary actions made by Luna was also
harsh which made the men fearing him and also held grudges to him just like
when General Mascardo reported the humiliation that happened to Janolino. In
this case, there has been a clue of what will going to happen in the end but
Mabini was opposed to them in making some decisions because he recognize the
benefit of having Luna leading the Philippine Army. Just that there are also
the feelings of Emilio, as the president and the head of the Kawit soldiers; he
can’t allow this to happen anymore. As the youngest president of the
Philippines and the idea of elitism that we got from the Spaniards we can’t
just blame all of it on him because some faults can be seen on the people
surrounding on him.
Overall, the movie has more psychological
things that happened in it especially the political issues, the idea of
patriotism, the mentality of Filipinos and about the lesson future generation
that they want to convey is also present. The death of Antonio Luna is without
a doubt a scene that talks a lot about the situation in the Philippines and
with this the movie was successful in giving the mind blowing reality to
everyone about the past that should be given justice and should be reflected by
each Filipino.
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