Mark Meily’s Baler is a historical film about the Siege of Baler which, according to Wikipedia.org, was a battle of the Philippine Revolution and concurrently the Spanish-American War. Filipino revolutionaries laid siege to a fortified church manned by colonial Spanish troops in the town of Baler, Philippines for 11 months. The battle is considered part of the Spanish-American War since the Filipinos were allied with the United States at the outset. That war ended in December 1898 with Spain's surrender and annexation of the Philippines to the United States. However, cut off from communications with their own government and military, the Spanish forces continued their defense against the Filipino forces until 1899.
The twist in the movie is that within this war, two lovers seek to find freedom to love each other for one is a half-Spanish, half-Filipino soldier, Celso Resurreccion, and the other is a Filipina, Feliza Reyes. What’s worse is that the father of Feliza, Danial Reyes, is actually one of the heads of such rebellion against the Spaniards. Her father had hated the Spaniards after what they did to him and his family and would kill anyone related to them. He had even hated his son for choosing stay and help the church rather than staying with him to fight the Spaniards.
As the story goes on; days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months and the soldiers starved. One Spanish soldier successfully escaped and tried to help the Filipinos by convincing Capt. Morenas but he failed. The starvation made the Spaniards go mad; crying and shouting. Capt. Morenas died and was replaced. The Filipino soldiers attempted to escape to see their loved ones. Two succeeded but the other two failed. Betrayal between the two occurred which led to the death of Resurrecion. The general found out that the Spaniards had lost and agreed to surrender. Feliza, who gave birth to their son, cried over Resurrecion’s body. The last scene showed Feliza walking at Baler with her son few years older. This goes to show that the film is plot-driven.
Although the film had garnered numerous awards, I still wasn’t that content with the film. It may be different from most of the films done by Filipinos but it still had much to improve on. The setting was actually great as it gives us that 80’s feeling. All of the characters did great although I think Jericho Rosales as Celso was not believable as a half Spanish, half Filipino soldier. He really looked more of a Filipino. Same goes with Anne Curtis which was a Filipina. The both did their roles well but their physical appearance was not appropriate. Philip Salvador, on the other hand, amazed me as he swiftly changed emotions from a furious when his son helped the priest; fearful when he thought of his son’s protection; and then blissful as his son returned to him. Baron Geisler as well is indeed a very good actor and indeed is effective as Capt. Enrique Fossi de las Morenas. He was first seen commanding his troops which might give you a negative impression but during the war, but seeing how he welcomed Gabriel, son of Daniel, would change your mind. The use of music was effective and so did the use of voice over. The use of lights, on the other hand, was disturbing. There was one scene where in Feliza was reading a letter and the lamp she held was below her. How could you read a letter with the light below the paper? It was also clearly shown that the light did not touch her face but for cinematography’s sake, I presume, light was given during medium close up shots.
The symbolisms in the film were pretty simple to me; the use of white flags as a sign of peace or ceasefire; the eating of dog showed how the people were starving, the dog itself, Bravo, symbolizing a link between Feliza and Celso; the church as the Spaniards shelter and which later on symbolized the last war between the Filipinos and the Spaniards and the death of Celso; the flowers blown by Celso trying to get Feliza’s attention symbolized that regardless of what their in to, their love would never be separated.
No comments:
Post a Comment