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WHAT MATTERS DEATH IF ONE DIES FOR WHAT ONE LOVES, FOR NATIVE LAND AND CHERISHED
ONES?
 JOSE
RIZAL,
 THE
MOVIE  dvd
- $16.95
GMA RECORDS HOME VIDEO
....................CESAR MONTANO - A FILM BY MARILOU
DIAZ-ABAYA
DVD VIDEO LANGUAGE ORIGINAL ( TAGALOG SPANISH) SUBTITLES ENGLISH TRT 175
MINUTES
A
MUST-SEE MOVIE FOR EVERY FILIPINO!
JOSE RIZAL (1861-1896), Philippine nationalist and martyr, pride of the Malayan
race, was a versatile genius. He was a poet and patriot, novelist, painter,
sculptor, linguist, physician, ophthalmic surgeon, educator, ethnologist,
naturalist, economist, engineer, and theologian. He was an expert swordsman and
a good shot. Having studied and traveled extensively in Europe, America and
Asia, he mastered 22 languages including Latin, Spanish, German, English,
French, Chinese, Japanese, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Russian, Tagalog,
and other native dialects.
The contemporary of Tagore and Sun Yatsen, and the forerunner of Gandhi, he died
before a Spanish firing squad, aged 35, for rebellion and sedition, and for
inciting the Philippine Revolution of 1896-98, the earliest uprising against a
colonial power in Asia.
In the hope of securing political and social reforms for his country and at the
same time educate his countrymen, Rizal wrote and published , while in Europe,
two novels. In March 1887, his daring book, "Noli Me Tangere" (The Social
Cancer), a satirical novel exposing the arrogance and despotism of the Spanish
government and Spanish clergy, was published in Berlin; on September 1891, "El
Filibusterismo" (The Reign of Greed), his second novel and a sequel to "Noli Me
Tangere" and more revolutionary than the latter, was printed in Ghent, Belgium.
Because of his fearless exposes of the injustices committed by the civil and
clerical officials, Rizal provoked the animosity of those in power. This led
himself, his relatives and countrymen into trouble with the Spanish officials of
the country. As a consequence, he and those who had contacts with him, were
shadowed; the authorities found fault and even fabricated charges to imprison
him at the Fort Santiago in Manila and, after a mock trial, execute him at
Bagumbayan Field on December 30, 1896.
Following his martyrdom was the bloody revolution, which culminated in the
declaration of Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898. Eight years later, the
Berlin Anthropological Society met to honor Rizal in death, in a meeting,
wherein his "Mi Ultimo Adios" was read in German translation. The Spanish
philosopher Unamuno described Rizal as the Tagalog Christ, and his life, while
dedicated to his people, remains universally relevant in mankind's continuing
struggle for human dignity and equality.
The film "Jose Rizal" explores the complex universe of the novelist's creative
mind. In prison, as he awaits death, he sums up his life (both real, as well as
imagined) - the people whom he loved as well as those he created in his novels,
and the entire body of his literary and civic works - and agonizes about the
final judgement of his worth as a human being, and as an artist.
"Jose Rizal" is the most spectacular and controversial Philippine film epic made
to date. It was released in Manila, in June 1998, the Centennial of Philippine
Independence.
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