Jacobo, Emmanuel Joseph 03/09/15
Rizal

Bayaning 3rd World
(Reaction Paper)

Bayaning 3rd world is a complex film done through the form of investigative journalism wherein it attempts to explore the myth around our national hero Jose Rizal. It attempts to answer questions about Rizal’s life that are uncommonly found in Philippine history books while simultaneously investigating his influence on modern Philippine history. The film emphasizes on the fact that most of the Filipino people only sees Rizal as our national hero, our nation’s icon and not the physical reality of the man underneath it.
Throughout watching the movie, I couldn’t help but agree to what the movie is trying to depict. I thought what I know about Rizal was enough to understand his life, works and writing but it made me realize that we blindly revere him as our national hero while knowing so little about him. Growing up, we were taught to regard him as our national hero, being given positive facts such as the books he wrote, his feats and accomplishment and how he died a martyr, to the point of blind veneration. Never had we questioned the negative things he has done throughout his life. And that’s what’s this movie is trying to present. Contrary to the movies which immortalized him as hero in the silver screen, it wanted to show us Rizal the human and not Rizal the icon or hero. The movie emphasized on myths/stories and arguments in which reflected upon will surely create doubts about him. As well as questions, that will probably be left unanswered, such as: Does he really deserve to be named our national hero? What would have happened had he not died? And Did Jose Rizal retracted?
In the end of the film, no myths were proven and the questions raised were still not answered. But even with those things in mind, I feel like the movie still did its part for it has gave me a new sense of outlook and understanding on how I perceive Rizal. That I won’t just describe to people his feats and accomplishments and how amazing he is and to just regard him as our hero, but instead tell them to be the judge of him, to read more about him and not just believe everything that we read and is spoken by people about him, for all of us have different perceptions and understanding and in truth, we only know so much. No one was literally there anyway to tell us all of the truth about him. Besides, it is better to not revere at all than blindly revere someone.