GOYO

A movie analysis for the movie “Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral” by Rio J. Soliza from Grade 12-STEM6 as a partial requirement for the subject 21st Century Literature and to be submitted to Mr. Prince Chael Villareal.

“Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral” is a movie also known as “Goyo” written, edited, and directed by Jerrold Tagog. Its teaser trailer was released on September 9, 2017 and after almost a year, on September 5, 2018, the film was released.

The lead characters of the film were portrayed by veterans in the acting field which excited the netizens more with the movie even long before its release.

The part of Gregorio Del Pilar, Goyo himself, was played by Paulo Avelino.

Goyo’s brother, Col. Julian Del Pilar, was played by Rafael Siguion-Reyna.

(Note: No photo of the real Col. Julian Del Pilar can be found in the internet.)

Goyo’s accompany throughout the film, Vicente Enriquez, was meanwhile portrayed by Carlo Aquino.

Joven Hernando, the photographer who tagged along Goyo’s journey, was played by Arron Villaflor.

(Note: Joven Hernando is a fictional character made, according to some theories, to represent the modern society.)

Then, Mon Confiado played the part of Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo as sometimes referred by Goyo as “Ka miong”.

And lastly of course, Goyo’s partner Remedios Nable Jose was portrayed by Gwen Zamora.

The film’s first scene was set on the day after Antonio Luna was killed. The men Heneral Luna left were being hunt down by Goyo accompanied by his brother, Julian Del Pilar, Vicente Enriquez and his other men which were the Bernal brothers to be exact. They were able to capture Manuel Bernal from the Nable Jose’s house where Goyo met Remedios Nable Jose. Same as him was liked by many from the opposite gender too. Goyo fell hard for Remedios but the girl didn’t want to give in for she didn’t like the fact that way too many girls like Goyo, even President Emilio Aguinaldo’s own sister. Meanwhile Joven Hernando, the nephew of the photographer Miguel Laureáno, was assigned to be Goyo’s photographer. Joven was very observant of everything, he’s always curious and he was always anxious of the thought that anytime the Americans will attack them again. The following scenes just showed the civil war happening within the Filipinos: Goyo and some characters from the film such as General Jose Alejandrino, Apolinario Mabini and Aguinaldo’s cabinet, and a lot more with glimpses of Goyo being scared of death.

Gen. Alejandrino made a deal with the Americans which later turned out not so good and after months of peacefulness, Joven Hernando’s fear became true. The Americans started attacking the Filipinos from different parts of the country. Goyo had to go separate ways with his brother and must go on a journey with Emilio Aguinaldo to lead their troops and combine with other troops. Before Goyo left, Remedios sent him a letter through her sister. Emilio brought his family and Joven tagged along with them. The journey didn’t go as planned but became an endless run from the Americans, Emilio’s mother and son has been captured already but they continued on their journey despite of it.

With everything seems to be falling apart, Goyo reads Remedios’s letter. Remedios turns out confessed her feelings and explained what she wanted, this gave Goyo an idea and was much more persistent to protect and defend the Philippines from the Americans. Goyo made a plan and lead the troops in Mount Tirad Pass.

Everything went well until Goyo was suddenly shot in his jaw instantly killing him.

✓ The scenes were executed well by the actors. Shots were taken in an angle that gives justice to the beautiful scenery of the shooting locations and the vintage effect gave the film the overall vibe which made it more aesthetic.
✓ No scene were ever boring. Something always happen that either takes our breath away or makes us giggle due to either kilig and frustration mostly just takes us to the edges of our seats.
✓ Dialogues were sharp. Some of my favorite were:

“Kapayapaan na walang kalayaan.”
-Apolinario Mabini

“Gagawin mo talaga lahat nang inutos sayo ni Miong no? Isa kang aso.”
-Manuel Bernal

“Ikaw tapat sa idolo mo, kaming mga pinatay at papatayin mo ay tapat sa isang prinsipyo.”
-Manuel Bernal

“Tandaan mo kung sino ka, lahat ng tao tinitingalaan ka. Ikaw ang Agila.”
-Julian Del Pilar

“Pag bumagsak si Aguinaldo, may bagong titindig. Pero ito…. hindi ito mapapalitan (Habang nakaturo sa magandang tanawin ng Mount Tirad).“
-Pantaleon Garcia

“Ano ba ang halaga ng isang bayani? Bakit tayo pirming naka tingala at sumasamba nang walang pag dududa?”
-Joven Hernando

“Hayaan mong mahalin ko ang isang lalaking mayayakap ko. Hindi isang bayaning nasa ibabaw ng mga ulap.”
-Remedios Nable Jose

“Walang mga bayani sa bundok na ito. Tayo’y mga sundalong puno ng pag-ibig.”
-Gregorio Del Pilar

✓ Props, costumes and shooting locations were made and chosen with effort.
✓ Plot were mixed with fiction without ruining the original story.
✓ Conflict weren’t biased, instead also showed the negative sides of the protagonist.

Everything in the film amazes me. From technical to the elements of the story made the final output, the film itself, to be wonderful.

For instance, props and costumes were chosen and made with effort. Casts were tried to look as near as possible of the characters’ faces in real life. Scenes were shot in a way that the audience could appreciate the scenery as well, especially the aerial shot of Mount Tirad Pass that just gave me the chills. The exchange of dialogues and narration’s choice of words made me more hook with the film. Critically, what I liked the most about the film was there were no dull moments. Manuel Bernal calling Goyo “Aguinaldo’s dog” before getting killed, Remedios mesmering us with her beauty, glimpses of Goyo imagining his death and fearing them and Goyo’s inner struggles. Furthermore, I really loved how they added a fictional character like Joven Hernando without ruining or changing the original story. Especially when the story showed civil war within the lead characters, through Joven the audience was given a third person”s p.o.v.. Through this third person’s p.o.v., I was able to balance more what the filipinos are fighting for on their own ways. As a result, I realized as well how smart the story was created.

At first, the Americans weren’t doing anything to harm the Filipinos and some were on the point to believe that there are no American-Filipino war anymore but there was still a conflict and it was the civil war within the Filipinos. No one was right but no one was wrong as well, everyone just wanted to protect the Philippines unfortunately they had different ideas of “protecting the Philippines” causing them to have a war within themselves. At the same time, Goyo’s war with himself were shown throughout the film. And later on, the Americans attacked them changing the war within the Filipinos to a war between the Filipinos and Americans.

Goyo will help the audience to have a wider understanding of Philippines’ history, especially the young ones who only depends on books with limited pieces of information about our history and who had significance contributions.

I, for example, grew up believing Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo was the perfect president. I remember reading his name on my Social Studies book and being the president who declared Filipinos’ freedom from conquerors by waving the Philippine flag in his home. And as a child, I thought and assumed that we have already achieved freedom during that time and it was all because of Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo because the only information being taught to us at the time was how the first independence day marked. But through movies like Goyo, we’re able to add pieces of information to our pre-existing knowledge. In addition to that, we are able to be thankful for the freedom and life we have in the present and as a result, commemorate the soldiers who fought physically and mentally to achieve the freedom we have today. Which is why I really recommend to everyone in all ages to support the wonderful masterpieces created and will be created to produce this amazing and educational trilogy.

If you haven’t watched Heneral Luna, I strongly advise to watch it first before Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral to have a better understanding of the civil war happening within the characters in the film Goyo. Don’t feel too sad though for there is an upcoming third and last movie of the trilogy which will be now about Manuel L. Quezon and Emilio Aguinaldo’s rivalry.

Literature is described as a written form of works that reflect people’s, places’, things’ and groups’ history, tradition and culture.

It is something that we should continue to pass on to the next generation so that we can allow them to feel what we have felt as we engaged to that specific written work as a result preserve the wonderful masterpieces. And with our current Philippines literature we can observe the following: Uses English unapologetically by young writers, derived from predominantly Western ways, deals with uniquely Filipino experiences and forms of stories are no longer limited to realism.

Through literature we were able to learn a lot of values such as entertainment values, intellectual values, social values, emotional values, moral values and artistic values that improves all our aspects as a person, citizen, family and friend.

Epic, Legends, Folktales and Folk Songs were some of the literatures our ancestors have created during the Pre-Spanish Period which shows our customs, traditions and everyday lives. Not all were able to preseve since it was written in easily destroyed materials like bamboo cylinders and barks of trees but was able to pass on to the next generation through oral tradition.

Roman Alphabet replacing the Alibata, teachings of Christian Doctrine becoming the basis of religion, Spanish language being lend, European legends and traditions having influence on our corridos, ancient literature being translated to Tagalog and other dialects, grammar books being printed on Filipino and periodicals gaining religious tone were some of the many influences Spanish have contibuted to the Philippine literature during the Spanish Period (1565 – 1898).

A Propaganda Movement (1872-1896) emerged, which was leaded by Dr. Jose P. Rizal, Marcelo H. Del Pilar and Graciano Lopez Jaena, under the Spanish Colonial Period. Here they had the objectives of to get equal treatment for the Filipinos and Spanish under the law, make the Philippines a colony of Spain, restore Filipino representation in the Spanish Cortes, to Filipinize the parishes and give Filipinos the freedom of speech, press, assembly and redress of grievances.

Then these objectives weren’t met and the Period of Active Revolution (1896-1898) marked and the noted leaders were Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto and Apolinario Mabini with some notable contributions from Jose Palma and Pio Valenzuela as well.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Bible, Koran, The Illiad and The Odyssey, The Mahab-harata, The Divine Comedy, El Cid Compeador, The Song of Roland, The Book of the Dead, The Book of the Days and One Thousand Nights and One Nights of The Arabian Nights are literary compositions that have influenced the world (Kahayon and Zeulueta, 2000).

Recognize it through its 2 forms: prose which uses simple language and poetry that treats man’s overflowing emotion subjectively and its 5 distinct types: poetry, essay, short story, novel and drama. And most importantly,

Encourages readers to engage to a lot more activities and broaden what we know. And being able to possess such knowledge, we’re able to be much more aware and educated which opens to a lot more possibilities to be able to share to other people what we know and hopefully preserve the beautiful written works that was, is and will be created.

Not only it taught me a lot of things, but it also sparked my interest which is reading. I really love reading books and some books just amaze me with how the creator is able to process and create such an amazing masterpiece with an incredible twist or ending. And because of this love of mine with reading, I happen to have already cross with some of the literatures that were mentioned during the past discussions.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was something I read when I was still in 6th grade because it was given as a gift by a friend of mine at that time. At first I thought it was just like any stories that just aim to teach a lesson to its readers especially when the story just focused on how black people were being enslaved by white people.
However on 7th grade I was surprised when it was mentioned on my Araling Panlipunan class, it was actually not just like any stories because that book contributed something to history and it was the birth of democracy on United States which made me more interested with the story.
Then on 9th grade the introduction for Noli Me Tangere was being started by my Filipino teacher and once again, I was surprised when Uncle Tom’s Cabin was mentioned in the discussion again. My teacher explained that Dr. Jose P. Rizal read the very same book as well which also inspired him, alongside with the goal to open Filipino’s eyes with their current state at that time, to write Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.
And now on 12th grade, it was mentioned again in my 21st Century Literature class because it turns out that it was also a literature that have influenced other compositions in the world.

Then The Illiad and The Odyssey was mentioned as well in my Literature class. I’ve always loved greek mythology and I’ve been reading stories that were depicted from that genre ever since.
My interest for greek mythology started because of the release of the movie Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, I can’t remember how old I was at that time but I could tell that I wasn’t even in high school yet. Then my older sister, decided to give me The Illiad and The Odyssey as a gift on 8th grade.
Unlike Uncle Tom’s Cabin, my interest sparked already when I read these 2 books (The Illiad and The Odyssey). Because not only of its greek influence, but because it involves the trojan war that some argued that was a historical event.
And reading for me is much more fun when it mentions real life events.

This subject have changed my opinions and views on literature more. It made me to be more appreciative of the pieces of literature I cross with.
To not easily judge a certain masterpiece because behind each literature has a meaning and another story that wants to tell the world which is either the author’s current situation (such as how Dr. Jose P. Rizal wanted to open Filipino’s eyes during the Spanish Colonial Period using his literary compositions or stories that at first reading you would assume was just a simple fictional story but turns out has a more deep meaning) or just to serve a purpose (such as to entertain people, widen a certain concept, and make people feel what they have felt as they have created their works). But all with the same goal, intentionally and unintentionally, which is to preserve cultures and traditions through writings even if current or modern lifestyle changes, evolves and develops over time.