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. Rizals
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 Rizals 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 Rizals 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 countrys 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.