Film Review: Rizal Sa Dapitan

Almost everyone thought that whatever we have learned about Jose Rizal in

grade school and high school is sufficient already for us to really know and

understand Rizal, but it is not true. In fact, there were some parts of the film that

were relatively little-known to the general public. One is how Rizal lived his life

when he was exiled in Dapitan. As I have seen in the film, he was really productive

with his time. He got himself busy with taking good care of plants, teaching his

young students, maintaining his surroundings and the like. He being a teacher of a

number of students was one of the best things he had done for the people. He did

this without charging the students or their families. He shared knowledge to these

young men who cannot afford to go to school. Along with teaching them about

mathematics, geography, science, etc, Rizal also taught them morals and was able

to build a good relationship with them. I saw in the film that he was a really good

teacher just as a good father to the young students.

Another one is how he knew of Josephine Bracken and how their love story

started. They instantly fell in love with each other, and even if Josephine went back

to Hong Kong because she had to, she went back to the Philippines for Rizal. It

seemed like a fairy tale story and true love, but what most people do not know is
the huge fight between Jose Rizal and Josephine Bracken about the issue that the

latter was a spy against him. Rizal’s anger burst, and after that fight, Josephine

suddenly gave birth to their son because of what just happened. Unfortunately, the

baby was premature, and he only lived for three hours. They named the baby

“Francisco” after Rizal’s father.

The way that the film portrayed the life of Rizal when he was in Dapitan has

improved the process of studying Rizal itself. Little or big details about Rizal’s life

that were not famously known to the general public were shown in the film. The

audience would not just learn how he lived on a daily basis while he was living in

Dapitan, but they would also learn about the contributions made by Rizal – may

they be small or big. He developed Dapitan in his own little and simple ways. It

was said in the film that Rizal made water irrigation, built schools and developed

commerce through agriculture. During his stay there, Rizal was also able to

practice what he had learned in medicine. He had performed eye operations to poor

people for free, and by that, he influenced a lot of people in a simple way. He also

operated her mother successfully.

The film was able to show how Rizal had influenced a lot of people back in

his time just through in his own simple ways. Even if it was just a simple gesture
for Rizal, it was something for the Filipinos. Also, the film showed the audience

that for Rizal, violence is not the key to solve the country’s problem. Filipinos

were not ready to fight violently. It is education that will make the Filipinos free. It

was about doing what is right and intellectual, and being nationalistic is indeed

very important, too.