Name: Wishnie Izelwyn L.

Daguio Section and Subject: HIS003 A7-1

Activity: Reaction Paper on the movie “The Restless Herod.”

I watched the movie "Restless Heron" on March 22, 2024. It depicted the history and
establishment of the Koronadal Sultanate. The film focused on the people's humble
beginnings as they moved from Buayan to establish their own land, which they called
"Talik," and then protected it from intruders. The movie focused on the Moro people's deep
family relationships, customs, debt, fury, brotherhood, and betrayal.

At first, I assumed it was fiction, but when I asked one of my classmates about it, he
informed me it was the true story of folks near where he had lived, which piqued my interest
even more. The marriage of Bai Pidsigyan, Rajah Zupangan's niece, was first proposed to the
Rajah. There, I learned about one of the Moro nations' marriage traditions, the "bigay kaya,"
in which the husband sends money to the bride's family. I had heard about it before from my
Muslim classmates, who referred to it as "dawry". In the film, this became the source of the
clan's problems because of Rajah Dimasidsing's debt.

Following their marriage, the scene shifted to Rajah and Bai as they grew older and
had children. I enjoyed the film's cinematography, despite the fact that the makers shown
ability in film making. Sultan chose to leave Buayan due to the battles and hardships that
were there. They walked into the forest and searched north, south, east, and west until they
discovered the country of Talik by the waterways. They lived blissfully there until one night
intruders attacked them and grabbed their belongings. Because of the incident, the Sultan's
sickness was exacerbated, and he died. His son, Datu Ngelen, then took over their clan and
reclaimed Talik.

Datu Ali invaded Talik without permission, reigniting the conflict once more. While
hiding in Mindanao from American invaders, he promised to forge an alliance with them
against the foreigners. This was regarded disrespectful to the Talok people, and instead of
accepting his offer, Datu Ngelen shoved them away for fear of causing controversy among
his own people.This aggravated Datu Ali's mental condition. Datu Dimasidsing's "bigay
kaya" debt to his supposed brother-in-law, Datu Ali, exacerbated the situation even more.
Datu Ali was desperate for finances to support his army, but Datu Dimasidsing couldn't pay
him a dime, so he begged Datu Ngelen to collect his debt, which he did in order to pay Datu
Ali while leaving him and his people alone. In the end war broke between two brothers in
clan because of disagreement. Treachery was made by one of the members of the tribe of
Talok as he offered information to the opposing clan because of this a death of one of the
datu happened.

The film reminds me of a lyric from Freddie Aguilar's song Mindanao. It saddens my
heart that, even before strangers attack our country, people are already divided over personal
problems. "Pinoy kapwa pinoy ang nag lalaban duon sa Mindanao." It saddens me that they
are from the same lineage, but owing to money and power, they may go to any length,
including killing a family member. However, in the end, Sultan Ngelen was able to get
assistance from other neighbouring tribes in order to put an end to Datu Ali's terror, and
peace was eventually established in the area that marked the beginning of the new Sultanate
in Korondal.