GE9 – Life and Works of Rizal

Worksheet 5

Name: SCOTT IAN GIL ALILAY Schedule: 12PM Date: 11/6/2022

Instruction: Answer the following questions.

1. Describe the life of Rizal as represented in the film.

The movie is a mixture of flashbacks and real-time representation of Rizal’s life when his case against the
Spanish government and church was under investigation. Although his life in jail were mostly the
highlights being presented in the film, there are also some relevant flashbacks of his life that were shown
throughout the film.

Rizal’s life in jail seemed to be his days of contemplating

and reflecting what has happened to his life, works, and battles. It can be seen in his flashbacks that his
family is indeed in the principal; there were servants shown, their big house, horse-drawn carriage,
library and all the other description of the families belonging to the middle-class of the social and
economic hierarchy during the time of the Spaniards. The joy of his childhood days were also shown in
the film, along with the happy Mercado family that nourished Rizal.

2. Based on your readings and class discussions, what can you say about the film’s representation
of Jose Rizal?

Rizal Sa Dapitan is a film adaptation of life of the Filipino national hero Dr. Jose Rizal.It stars Albert
Martinez as Jose Rizal and Amanda Page as Josephine Bracken,Rizal's partner.It was directed by Tikoy
Aguiluz.

Jose Rizal was exiled in Dapitan in 1892, and he began adapting to his new home. He helped the local
residents by offering free education to all children, befriending his student Jose Asiniero, and rendering
his services as a doctor, including treating his mother, Doña Teodora Alonzo ,who visited him with his
sisters Maria and Narcisa.

He met his fiancée Josephine Bracken who brought her blinded stepfather George Taufer but later on she
left him for her beloved Rizal. They decide to marry, but are refused a Church wedding on political
grounds. The couple settles for a common-law marriage despite initial opposition from Rizal's family, and
have a stillborn son Rizal names Francisco.

The film ends with Rizal leaving Dapitan as the locals mourn him. An epilogue explains Rizal's intent to
work in Cuba and subsequent arrest, his execution and its birthing the Philippine Revolution.

The movie is about Rizal's exile in Dapitan.It tells how he engaged in many activities as well as how he
managed to develop the place he stayed into a better one and lead it to progress with the use of his
many abilities. One may feel honored to see Philippines' national hero do a lot of things for the welfare
of his countrymen. It will definitely invoke a sense of pride and nationalism in one's nation.
GE9 – Life and Works of Rizal
Worksheet 5

3. What is the main question that the film seeks to answer?

Jose Rizal is a historical film that tells the story of Rizal's life as well as the bitter struggle of the Filipinos
during the Spanish colonization. The key question that is to be answered by the film is that Filipinos have
recognized Dr. Rizal's life and teachings as guiding principles that can help them to meet today’s
challenges. His life serves as a reminder of how people like us should respond to various social and
personal issues He died for the love of our country and his death deeply affected the Filipinos by
triggering the desire to get back the freedom that they fought for.

4. What can you say about the final letters of Rizal to his parents and Blumentritt?

• December 29, 1896 – Rizal wrote his last letter to Ferdinand Blumentritt which read:
“My dear Brother, When you receive this letter, I shall be dead by then. Tomorrow at seven, I shall
be shot; but I am innocent of the crime of rebellion. I am going to die with a tranquil conscience.
Adieu, my best, my dearest friend, and never think ill of me! Fort Santiago, 29 December 1896
José Rizal Regards to the whole family, to Sra. Rosa, Loleng, Conradito, and Federico. I leave a
book for you as my remembrance.”

Rizal's letter expresses deep affection he felt, and the influence Blumentritt must have had on him.
Blumentritt was a catholic who believed in the teaching of the church and wished that his friend Rizal
would return to the church.

• A Letter to his Parents

To my family,
I ask you for forgiveness for the pain I cause you, but some day I shall have to die and it is better
that I die now in the plentitude of my conscience.
Dear parents and brothers: give thanks to God that I may preserve my tranquility before my
death. I die resigned, hoping that with my death you will be left in peace. Ah! It is better to die
than to live suffering. Console yourselves.
I enjoin you to forgive one another the little meanness of life and try to live united in peace and
good harmony. Treat your old parents as you would like to be treated by your children later. Love
them very much in my memory.
Bury me in the ground. Place a stone and a cross over it. My name, the date of my birth and of
my death. Nothing more. If later you wish to surround my grave with a fence, you can do it. No
anniversaries. I prefer Paang Bundok.
Have pity on poor Josephine.
GE9 – Life and Works of Rizal
Worksheet 5

This letter was among the Rizal documents presented to the Republic of the Philippines by Spain through
her ministers of foreign affairs, Martin Artajo on 26 February 1953. It has no date, but it must have been
written at Fort Santiago shortly before he was led to his execution on Bagumbayan, Manila. These
documents are published in one volume, Documentos Rizalinos, Manila 1953, by the Philippine
government.

Paang Bundok literally means foot of the mountain. It is the place in the north of Manila where are the
North Cemetery, a municipal cemetery, and the Chinese Cemetery. Rizal was buried, not in a humble
place in Paang Bundok, as he wished but in the Cemetery of Paco. On 30 December 1912, the
Commission on the Rizal Monument, created by virtue of Law No. 243, transferred his remains to the
base of the monuments erected on the Luneta, very near to the place where he was shot.