BECERA, Anelyn S.

BSA-II

(Reaction Paper)

Jose Rizal to me was just an ordinary hero until I saw and heartily engaged
myself in appreciating his whole movie about his life. It was then I realized that I
never knew who Jose Rizal really was. The movie enlightened me and caused
that once little knowledge about him to grow and bloom into a sense of being
proud even more to my fellow countrymen, and especially to him, none other
than, José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda.
A number of movie scenes impressed me a lot particularly to the
messages each scene communicates. One of these is during his trial. This scene
stimulated various feelings within me. When Enrique de Alcocer presented his
empty logic to persecute Rizal, which did not even have any evidence but only
mere accusations, this ignited my repugnance. When Taviel de Andrade, as a
defense of Jose Rizal, appealed his stand, he argued by the technicality of the
law, and thus the prosecutor’s accusations being without evidence did not
prove Rizal’s guilt legally. And so, the accused should be restored in the name of
justice instead of being the subject of the Spaniard’s vengeance over Filipinos
as well as to the strong current of the prejudice caused by insurrection. To this
statement of Taviel, added by Rizal’s humble and honest defense, caused me
to highly esteem Jose Rizal even more. I thought that this would make the
Spaniards realize their faults as the colonizer and ruler of the Philippines. But to
my surprise, I was definitely wrong. It was as if pain stroked me that the court’s
decision, despite of Jose Rizal and Taviel’s great efforts to open a possibility of
restoration, was indeed firm and fixed. This scene drew my feeling of sympathy
for how he should end his journey and of course admiration to his amazing and
honorable ways and even fury for the arrogant and conceited Spaniards.
During his execution, it pains my heart to see our innocent hero being
accused and executed for a crime which he never really did nor even
attempted. As for the Katipunan’s heroic unrest after Rizal’s execution, it was
something for me to be proud of that their nationalism-sentiment, commitment
and ideology- was conceived.