The Blind Soldiers

The movie “The Blind Soldiers” is a motivational and emotional movie written and directed by
the Dr. Ronald Adamat. It was based from true to life events experienced by Dr.
Adamat’s father during the World War II. The film is a finalist in Canada's Saskatchewan
International Film Festival 2023. The movie was starred by Long Mejia, Soliman Cruz, Gary
Lim, Bong Cabrera, and Dr. Ronald Adamat, who played the roles of the five courageous
Teduray soldiers.
The movie "The Blind Soldiers," which is set during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines,
highlights the plight of the five brave men from the Teduray tribe of Cotabato who
volunteered to join the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE).
The challenges they faced during their training as USAFFE soldiers were significantly visible
by their inability to write, read , and understand the English language. During trainings, they
found it hard to follow instructions because they were provided in English, which made them
to act exact reverse of it or completely contrary to the original order .Their instruction and
daily living in the military camp were also made more difficult because of other
soldiers constant mockery of their lack of literacy. Moreover,due
to their lack of knowledge and inability to understand what was going on around them, they
were also called "Blind Soldiers" as a joke.
Even though they were made fun of and abused by their other soldiers they still stood
their ground than giving up on their training, they made an effort to learn as much as
possible by practicing longer than their companions. Additionally, they made an effort to
acquire English with the assistance of one of their military leaders, which allowed them to
understand instructions given to them and most conversations surrounding them.
With the experiences and battles they have participates there were time that they loses their
friends and there were only three of them , Teduray warriors made it safely home to their
village , and they learnt a lot from it . The most remarkable lesson that was taught there is
how crucial education is to the lives and futures of Filipino people, and how illiteracy can
lead to blindness.