FERRER, Chresus Vince Paolo M.

08/09/19
10-1 Physical Education 10

Eskrimadors
The Eskrimadors is a 2010 Philippine documentary film about the Eskrima. The Eskrima
is Filipino martial arts, this is the indigenous fighting art of the Filipinos, it is also known as the
Arnis or Kali. It is one of the fastest and deadliest martial arts of the world. It is composed of
mastery of short and long bladed weapons and as well as a variety of empty hand techniques. The
spiritual home of the Eskrima is in Cebu. The history of Eskrima began in the 13th century, where
Srivijayan Empire ruled most of South East Asia, unfortunately, they were overthrown by the
Majapahit Empire, and was forced to flee North, to the Philippine Islands. The Srivajayans, were
a warrior culture. When they were raided by the Spaniards, they were already practicing the art of
the Eskrima. Whereas, Ferdinand Magellan met his demise in the hands of these Visayan warrior,
in the Battle of Mactan. But they went back to seek revenge, and later on conquered the Visayan
Islands. After 300 years of Spaniards reining over the Visayan people, there was a growing fear of
a rebellion. Which in fact was happening, because masters of Eskrima, were practicing
underground and preparing for a rebellion.
As I was watching this documentary film; Eskrimadors; I learned that and was astonished
by the fact that Eskrima or Arnis did not actually originated in the Philippines, but rather, from the
Srivajayan Empire. If it wasn’t for the defeat of the Srivajayan Empire, Eskrima would’ve not
reached the Visayan Islands, and spread through out Philippines. I was actually impressed by the
cinematography of the film, because it was recorded and edited well, thus giving out an impression
about Eskrima itself. In the documentary film, it was well explained everything about Eskrima,
may it be the history of Eskrima, the equipment needed in Eskrima, the different defensive styles
and techniques, the variety of fighting skills of Eskrima, because of how well it was explained
through the video, I can say that the documentary film is and informative and enlightening.
My personal thoughts for the Eskrima, would be, being mesmerized by the Eskrima itself.
As I was watching the film, I thought of actually partaking classes to learn Eskrima, and practicing
it day by day. Well if you will think about it, martial arts in general, has so many benefits to people.
Not only, in the physical aspect, but also to your mentality, your emotional being, your alertness,
your consciousness, etc. I was really thankful of the events that happened way back then, because
if it wasn’t for those events that happened, Eskrima would not be a thing of the Philippines, it
would’ve not been a trademark of the Philippines. Because of this film, I badly want to try Eskrima
in a professional way.