Alvero, Leomar Rizal in Dapitan, is a 1997 film adaptation of life of the Filipino national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, starring Albert Martinez Jose Rizal and Amanda Page as Josephine Bracken, the screenplay is by Pete Lacaba. Jose Rizal (Martinez) 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, be friending his student Jose Asiniero (Hernando), and rendering his services as a doctor, including treating his mother, Dona Teodora Alonzo (Carpio), who visited him with his sisters Maria (Pangilinan) and Narcisa (Dumpit). He met his fiancee Josephine Bracken who brought her blinded step father George Taufer (Holmes) 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 closes 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, SYNOPSIS OF THE STORY “THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO”: Alvero, Leomar Edmond Dantes, second mate, and his friend, Fernand Mondego, representative of the shipping company, of a French trading ship, head to Elba seeking medical attention for their captain.
Dantes and Mondego are chased by English Dragoons who believe they are spies for the exiled Napoleon Bonaparte. The Emperor declares they are not his agents, and asks Dantes to give a letter to a friend in France. After the captain dies, they are sent on their way. Dantes is reprimanded by the ship’s first mate, Danglars, for disobeying orders. However, the shipping company’s boss Morrell, commends Dantes’ bravery, promoting him to captain over Danglars. Mondego intercepts Dantes’ fiancee, Mercedes, and tries to seduce her.
When he hears of Dantes’ promotion, Mondego realizes that Dantes will be able to marry Mercedes sooner than expected. Meanwhile, Dantes and Mercedes spend the rest of the day together in a secluded part of the Marseille sea-side, skinny dipping, making love and discussing about the future and about eternal commitment to each other. Mondego gets drunk and tells Danglars about the letter Napoleon gave Dantes. Danglars has Dantes charged with treason and sent to magistrate J. F. Villefort.
Villefort is sure of Dantes’ innocence, but discovers the addressee is Villefort’s father, Clarion, a Bonapartist, whom he denounced to secure a promotion. Villefort burns the letter and fools Dantes into submitting to arrest, then attempts to send him to an island prison, Chateau d’If . Dantes escapes and goes to Mondego for help, but Mondego wounds him so he cannot escape; when Dantes asks why he betrayed their friendship, Mondego says that he is angry that he wants to be Dantes despite his wealth and superior social position. Dantes is imprisoned in the Chateau d’If .
Meanwhile, news spreads that Napoleon has escaped from Elba. Mondego, Mercedes, Morrell and Dantes’ father go to Villefort to plead that Dantes is innocent, but Villefort rejects their efforts. Mercedes thanks Mondego for his support, but after she leaves Mondego and Villefort discuss their reasons for imprisoning Dantes. Mercedes is told that Dantes has been executed. In prison, Dantes befriends Abbe Faria, a priest and former soldier in Napoleon’s army. Faria was imprisoned because he claimed not to know the location of the deceased Count Spada’s fortune.
For 13 years Faria educates Dantes, teaching him mathematics, literature, philosophy, economics, hand and sword combat and military strategy. While escaping, their tunnel caves in, mortally wounding Faria, who gives Dantes the location of Spada’s treasure. When the guards put the priest into a body bag, Dantes removes the corpse, hides himself in the bag and is thrown into the sea. Dantes washes onto a desert island and encounters Luigi Vampa, a smuggler and thief. Vampa persuades Dantes to fight Jacopo, a traitor whom they intended to bury alive.
Dantes defeats Jacopo but makes a deal with Vampa to let him live; Jacopo vows to serve Dantes for the rest of his life. Dantes joins the smugglers for three months, leaving when they arrive at Marseille. Not recognizing him, Morrell tells Dantes that his father committed suicide upon learning of his imprisonment and that Mercedes has married Mondego. Danglars took over Morrell’s shipping company after Morrell made him a partner. Dantes goes to the island of Monte Cristo, finds Spada’s treasure and vows revenge on Mercedes, Mondego and the other conspirators.
Dantes becomes the “Count of Monte Cristo”. He hires Vampa to stage a kidnapping of Mondego’s son Albert and then “rescues” him, inviting the boy to his residence. In return, Albert invites the count to his sixteenth birthday at the Mondegos’ residence. Dantes meets with Villefort to discuss a shipment of unspecified property. Mondego meets with Villefort later that evening and mentions that his son heard Monte Cristo use the words gold, shipment and Spada. They believe the shipment is treasure and plot to steal it. At the party, Mercedes recognizes Dantes, with whom she is still in love.
Jacopo allows her to hide in Monte Cristo’s carriage to speak with him, wanting his master to abandon his obsession with revenge and simply live his life. Dantes does not admit to being her former lover, but accidentally say Edmond Dantes, Mercedes had never mentioned Edmond’s last name. Dantes confronts Danglars with the police in tow; Danglars fights Dantes, who reveals his true identity before having Danglars arrested. Dantes gets Villefort to confess that he persuaded Mondego to kill Clarion in return for telling Mercedes that Dantes was executed.
Villefort is charged with conspiracy to murder, and realizes Monte Cristo’s true identity before being imprisoned. Mercedes admits that she still loves Dantes. After spending the night together, Dantes decides to take Mercedes and her son and leave France. Dantes has Mondego’s debts called in, bankrupting him. Mercedes confronts Mondego, revealing she is leaving him and Albert is Dantes’ son; she only married him and claimed that the boy was born prematurely to hide his true paternity. Mondego leaves for his family estate, where the stolen gold shipment was to be taken.
He finds that the chests are filled with dirt and sand, and that Dantes has arrived to take his revenge. Albert rushes to defend Mondego, until Mercedes reveals to Dantes and Albert that they are father and son. Mondego attempts to kill Mercedes, but only wounds her, as Jacopo throws off his aim. Mondego fights Dantes, and Dantes stabs Mondego through the heart. Dantes returns to Chateau d’If to pay homage to Faria and promises him that he has given up on revenge and will live a better life. He leaves the island with Mercedes, Albert and Jacopo. Synopsis of Rizal the movie
By Cesar Montano Jose Rizal is a 1998 Filipino biographical film of the Philippine national hero Jose Rizal directed by Marilou Diaz Abaya and starring Cesar Montano as Jose Rizal. Imprisoned in Fort Santiago under the abusive Spanish colonization, Jose Rizal Cesar Montano was approached by a young uneducated indio asking the importance of education during his life. Mean while, in Balintawak, Andres Bonifacio and his fellow secret organization of Katipunan, commenced the uprising against the cruel tyranny created by the Spaniards by tearing their cedula as a sign of Spanish slavery.
Soon, a first lieutenant of the Artillery, Luis Taviel de Andrade (Jamie Fabregas), visited Rizal. Taviel de Andrade did not waste time to study carefully Rizal’s case. In just a short period of time, Rizal and Taviel captured each other’s sympathy and eventually became friends as they had usual meetings in Rizal’s cell in Fort Santiago. Taviel was even able to celebrate Christmas with Rizal in the cell where they drank and sang together. After Christmas, Rizal was sent to Royal Audiencia (the colonial court of appeal) to hear the trial against him.
Soon after, the magistrates decided to condemn him under firing squad on the 30th of the morning in Luneta. At the night before the execution, Rizal hallucinates, seeing his alter ego- protagonist Simoun of his novel El Filibusterismo tempting the author to change the climax of the story. On the morning of the execution, his kin received a small alcohol stove (not a gas lamp as commonly portrayed) from his cell containing the last poem “Mi Ultimo Adios. ” Stopping at the place of execution facing the rising sun, Rizal asked the authorities for a last request as he faces the firing squad but the request is denied.
Calm and without haste, he changed his request to save his head during execution and the captain agrees. At the moment the shooting squad points at his back, he readily uttered his final words: Consummatum est. (It is done. ) After the execution, members of the Katipunan had ambushed a Spanish military company somewhere in Manila, completely catching the Spanish forces off guard and seized their mounts, munitions and their rifles. They had also captured a church and executed a friar in an act of vengeance for the execution of rizal.
Bonifacio and his top generals met in their headquarters to plan a new offensive seeking to capture 10 towns in a duration of 1 week from the Spanish. Rizal’s picture can be seen at the background of his headquarters. SYNOPSIS OF THE NOVEL “NOLI ME TANGERE”: Alvero, Leomar The novel Noli Me Tangere contains 63 chapters and epilogue. It begins with a reception given by Capitan Tiago (Santiago de los Santos) at his house in Calle Analogue (now Juan Luna Street) on the last day of October. The reception or dinner is given in honor of Crisostomo Ibarra, a young and rich Filipino who had just returned after seven years of study in Europe.
Ibarra was the only son of Don Rafael Ibarra, friend of Capitan Tiago, and a fiance of beautiful Maria Clara, supposed daughter of Capitan Tiago. Among the guests during the reception were Padre Damaso, a fat Franciscan friar who had been parish priest for 20 years of San Diego (Calamba), Ibarra’s native town; Padre Sybila, a young Dominican parish priest of Binondo; Senor Guevara, as elderly and kind lieutenant of the Guardia Civil; Don Tiburcio de Espadana, a bogus Spanish physician, lame, and henpecked husband of Dona Victorina; and several ladies.
Ibarra, upon his arrival, produced a favorable impression among the guests, except Padre Damaso, who has rude to him. In accordance with a German custom, he introduced himself to the ladies. During the dinner the conversation centered on Ibarra’s studies and travels abroad. Padre Damaso was in bad mood because he got a bony neck and a hard wing of the chicken tinola. He tried to discredit Ibarra’s remarks. After dinner, Ibarra left Capitan Tiago’s house to return to his hotel. On the way, the kind Lieutenant Guevara told him the sad story of his father’s death in San Diego.
Don Rafael, his father, was a rich and brave man. He defended a helpless boy from the brutality of an illiterate Spanish tax collector, pushing the latter and accidentally killing him. Don Rafael was thrown in prison, where he died unhappily. He was buried in consecrated ground, but his enemies, accusing him being a heretic, had his body removed from the cemetery. On hearing about his father’s sad story, Ibarra thanked the kind Spanish lieutenant and vowed to find out the truth about his father’s death. The following morning, he visited Maria Clara, his childhood sweetheart.
Maria Clara teasingly said that he had forgotten her because the girls in Germany were beautiful. Ibarra replied that he had never forgotten her. After the romantic reunion with Maria Clara, Ibarra went to San Diego to visit his father’s grave. It was All Saint’s Day. At the cemetery, the grave digger told Ibarra that the corpse of Don Rafael was removed by order of the parish priest to be, buried in the Chinese cemetery; but the corpse was heavy and it was a dark and rainy night so that he (the grave-digger) simply threw the corpse into the lake.
Ibarra was angered by the grave-digger’s story. He left the cemetery. On the way, he met Padre Salvi, Franciscan parish priest of San Diego. In a flash, Ibarra pounced on the priest, demanding redress for desecrating his father’s mortal remains. Padre told him that he had nothing to do with it, for he was not the parish priest at the time of Don Rafael’s death. It was Padre Damaso, his predecessor, who was responsible for it. Convinced for Padre Salvi’s innocence, Ibarra went away.
In his town Ibarra met several interesting people, such as the wise old man, Tasio the philosopher, whose ideas were too advanced for his times so that the people, who could not understand him, called him “Tasio the Lunatic;” the progressive school teacher, who complained to Ibarra that the children were losing interest to their studies because of the lack proper school house and the discouraging attitude of the parish friar towards both the teaching of Spanish and of the use of modern methods of pedagogy; the spineless gobernador cillo, who catered to the wishes of the Spanish parish friars; Don Filipo Lino, the teniente-mayor and leader of the cuardrilleros (town police); and the former gobernador cillos who were prominent citizens Don Basilio and Don Valentin.
A most tragic story in the novel is the tale of Sisa, who was formerly a rich girl but became poor because she married a gambler, and a wastrel at that. She became crazy because she lost her two boys, Basilio and Crispin, the joy of her wretched life. These boys were sacristanes (sextons) in the church, working for a small wage to support their poor mother. Crispin the younger of the two brothers was accused by the brutal sacristan mayor (chief sexton) of stealing the money of the priest. He was tortured in the convent and died. Basilio, with his brother’s dying cries ringing in his ears, escaped. When the two boys did not return home, Sisa looked for them everywhere and, in her great sorrow, she became insane.
Capitan Tiago, Maria Clara, and Aunt Isabel (Capitan Tiago’s cousin who took care of Maria Clara, after his mother’s death) arrived in San Diego. Ibarra and his friends give picnic at the lake. Among those present in this picnic, were Maria Clara and her four girl friends the merry Sinang, the grave Victoria, the beautiful Iday, and the thoughtful Neneng; Aunt Isabel, chaperon of Maria Clara; Capitana Tika, mother of Sinang; Andeng, foster sister of Maria Clara; Albino, the ex-theological student who was in love with Sinang; and Ibarra and his friends. One of the boatmen was a strong and silent peasant youth named Elias. An incident of the picnic was the saving of Elias’ life by Ibarra. Elias bravely grappled with a crocodile which was caught in the fish corral.
But the crocodile struggled furiously so that Elias could not subdue it. Ibarra jumped into the water and killed the crocodile, thereby saving Elias. After the crocodile incident, was the rendering of a beautiful song by Maria Clara who had a sweet voice and they went ashore. They made merry in the cool, wooded meadow. Padre Salvi, Capitan Basilio (former gobernadorcillo and Sinang’s father) the alferez (lieutenant of the Guardia Civil) and the town officials were present. The luncheon was served, and everybody enjoyed eating. The meal over, Ibarra and Capitan Basilio played chess, while Maria Clara and her friends played the “Wheel of Chance”, a game based on a fortune telling book.
As the girls were enjoying their fortune-telling game, Padre Salvi came and tore to pieces the book, saying that it was a sin to play such game. Shortly thereafter, a sergent and four soldiers of the Guardia Civil suddenly arrived, looking for Elias, who was hunted for assaulting Padre Damaso and throwing the alferez into a mud hole. Fortunately Elias had disappeared, and the Guardia Civil went away empty-handed. During the picnic also, Ibarra received a telegram from the Spanish authorities notifying him the approval of his donation of a schoolhouse for the children of San Diego. The next day Ibarra visited old Tasio to consult him on his pet project about the schoolhouse.
He saw the old man’s writings were written in hieroglyphics. Tasio explained to him that he wrote in hieroglyphics because he was writing for the future generations who would understand them and say, “Not all were asleep in the night of our ancestors! ” Meanwhile San Diego was merrily preparing for its annual fiesta, in honor of its patron saint San Diego de Alcala, whose feast day is the 11th of November. On the eve of the fiesta, hundreds of visitors arrived from the nearby towns, and there were laughter, music, exploding bombs, feasting and moro-moro. The music was furnished by five brass bands (including the famous Pagsanjan Band owned by the escribano Miguel Guevara) and three orchestras.
In the morning of the fiesta there was a high mass in the church, officiated by Padre Salvi. Padre Damaso gave the long sermon, in which he expatiated on the evils of the times that were caused by certain men, who having tasted some education spread pernicious ideas among the people. After Padre Damaso’s sermon, the mass was continued by Padre Salve. Elias quietly moved to Ibarra, who was kneeling and praying by Maria Clara’s side, and warned him to be careful during the ceremony of the laying of the cornerstone of the schoolhouse because there was a plot to kill him. Elias suspected that the yellowish man, who built the derrick, was a paid stooge of Ibarra’s enemies.
True to his suspicion, later in the day, when Ibarra, in the presence of a big crowd, went down into the trench to cement the cornerstone, the derrick collapsed. Elias, quick as a flash, pushed him aside, thereby saving his life. The yellowish man was the one crushed to death by the shattered derrick. At the sumptuous dinner that night under a decorated kiosk, a sad incident occurred. The arrogant Padre Damaso, speaking in the presence of many guests, insulted the memory of Ibarra’s father. Ibarra jumped to his seat, knocked down the fat friar with his fist, and then seized a sharp knife. He would have killed the friar, were it not for the timely intervention of Maria Clara. The fiesta over, Maria Clara became ill.
She was treated by the quack Spanish physician, Tiburcio de Espadana, whose wife, a vain and vulgar native woman, was a frequent visitor in Capitan Tiago’s house. This woman had hallucinations of being a superior Castillan, and, although a native herself, she looked down on her own people as inferior beings. She added another “de” to her husband’s surname in order to more Spanish. Thus she wanted to be called “Doctora Dona Victorina de los Reyes de De Espadana. ” She introduced to Capitan Tiago’s young Spaniards, Don Alfonso Linares de Espadana, cousin of Don Tiburcio de Espadana and godson of Padre Damaso’s brother in law. Linares was a penniless and jobless, fortune hunter who came to the Philippines in search of a rich Filipino heiress.
Both Dona Victorina and Padre Damaso sponsored his wooing of Maria Clara, but the latter did not respond because she loved Ibarra. The story of Elias like that of Sisa, was a tale of pathos and tragedy. He related it to Ibarra. Some 60 years ago, his grandfather, who was then a young bookkeeper in a Spanish commercial firm in Manila, was wrongly accused of burning the firm’s warehouse. He was flogged in public and was left in the street, crippled and almost died. His was pregnant, beg for alms and became a prostitute in order to support her sick husband and their son. After giving birth to her second son and the death of her husband, she fled, with her to sons to the mountains.
Years later the first boy became a dreaded tulisan named Balat. He terrorized the provinces. One day he was caught by the authorities. His head was cut off and was hung from a tree branch in the forest. On seeing this gory object, the poor mother (Elias’ grandmother) died. Balat’s younger brother, who was by nature kindhearted, fled and became a trusted laborer in the house of rich man in Tayabas. He fell in love with the master’s daughter. The girl’s father, enraged by the romance, investigated his past and found out the truth. The unfortunate lover (Elias’ father) was sent to jail, while the girl gave birth to twins, a boy (Elias) and a girl.
Their rich grandfather took care of them, keeping secret their scandalous origin, and reared them as rich children. Elias was educated in the JesuitCollege in Manila, while his sister studied in La Concordia College. They lived happily, until one day, owing to certain dispute over money matters, a distant relative exposed their shameful birth. They were disgraced. An old male servant, whom they used to abuse, was forced to testify in court and the truth came out that he was their real father. Elias and his sister left Tayabas to hide their shame in another place. One day the sister disappeared. Elias roamed from place to place, looking for her. He heard later that a girl answering to his sister’s description, was found died on the beach of San Diego.
Since then, Elias lived a vagabond life, wandering from province to province – until he met Ibarra. Elias, learning of Ibarra’s arrest, burned all the papers that might incriminate his friend and set Ibarra’s house on fire. Then he went to prison and helped Ibarra escape. He and Ibarra jumped into a banca loaded with sacate (grass). Ibarra stopped at the house of Capitan Tiago to say goodbye to Maria Clara. In the tearful last scene between the two lovers, Ibarra forgave Maria Clara for giving up his letter to her to the Spanish authorities who utilized them as evidence against him. On her part, Maria Clara revealed that those letters were exchanged with a letter from her late mother, Pia Alba which Padre Salvi gave her.
From his letter, she learned that her real father was Padre Damaso. After bidding Maria Clara farewell, Ibarra returned to the banca. He and Elias paddled up the Pasig River toward Laguna de Bay. A police boat, with the Guardia Civil on board, pursued them as their banca reached the lake. Elias told Ibarra to hide under the zacate. As the police boat was overtaking the banca, Elias jumped into the water and swam swiftly toward the shore. In this way, he diverted the attention of the soldiers on his person, thereby giving Ibarra a chance to escape. The soldier fired at the swimming Elias, who was hit and sank. The water turned red because of his blood.
The soldiers, thinking that they had killed the fleeing Ibarra returned to Manila. Thus Ibarra was able to escape. Elias seriously wounded, reached the shore and staggered into the forest. He met a boy, Basilio, who was weeping over his mother’s dead body. He told Basilio to make a pyre on which their bodies (his and Sisa) were to be burned to ashes. It was Christmas eve, and the moon gleamed softly in the sky. Basilio prepared the funeral pyre. As life’s breath slowly left his body. Elias looked toward the east and murmured: “I die without seeing the dawn brighten over my native land. ” You, who have it to see, welcome it! And forget not those who have fallen during the night.
The novel has an epilogue which recounts what happened to the other characters. Maria Clara, out of her loyalty to the memory of Ibarra, the man she truly loved, entered the Santa Clara nunnery. Padre Salvi left the parish of San Diego and became a chaplain of the nunnery. Padre Damaso was transferred to a remote province, but the next morning he was found dead in his bedroom. Capitan Tiago the former genial host and generous patron of the church became an opium addict and a human wreck. Dona Victorina, still henpecking poor Don Tiburcio, had taken to wearing eye-glasses because of weakening eyesight. Linares, who failed to win Maria Clara’s affection, died of dysentery and was buried in Paco cemetery.
SYNOPSIS OF THE NOVEL “EL FILIBUSTERISMO”: Alvero, Leomar Simoun, a wealthy jeweler, has recently come to the Philippines. His wealth and connections–he is a friend of the Governor-General’s–make him sought-after in society and influential as well. He uses his influence to encourage government officials to become corrupt and further abuse the people. Only Basilio, now a young medical student, recognizes his true identity. Simoun is actually Crisostomo Ibarra from Noli Me Tangere, turned bitter and vengeful. He has returned after thirteen years to foment revolution and to rescue his beloved Maria Clara from the convent. He tries to convince Basilio to join him. Basilio owes him a debt of gratitude for helping him bury his mother in the Ibarra forest.
Furthermore, Simoun knows of what his family sufered at the hands of the authorities. He tries to convince Basilio to join him so that he may also take his revenge but Basilio refuses. Simoun’s first attempt at revolution fails when he hears of Maria Clara’s death and breaks down. Then Basilio, along with other students, is arrested for forming an allegedly seditious organization. His sweetheart Juli goes to plead with an influential friar to assist her in securing Basilio’s release. She is killed trying to escape the friar’s amorous advances. When Simoun arranges for Basilio’s release, Basilio is now also bitter and vengeful, as well as grateful to Simoun.
He offers his full support to Simoun’s second attempt at sparking a revolution and watches as Simoun plants a bomb at the house where the wedding reception of Paulita and Juanito Pelaez is taking place. There are many illustrious guests at this mansion, formerly the house of Noli Me Tangere’s Capitan Tiago, including the Governor-General and Padre Salvi. Seeing all the people, most of them innocent guests who are about to be harmed, Basilio’s conscience starts to bother him but he knows he has to escape. As he starts to run away, he sees his best friend Isagani standing disconsolately near the house. Isagani had been working toward reform and with his idealism, intelligence, and eloquence had become something of a leader among the students. Until recently he had been the beautiful Paulita’s sweetheart.
Paulita had been charmed by his poetic nature but she was bored by his patriotic ideals. The arrest of students convinced her that it would be more practical to marry Juanito, a rich businessman’s son who did not involve himself in such dangerous matters. Basilio feels compelled to tell Isagani of the plot. Knowing that the woman he loves is inside, Isagani runs into the house, grabs the bomb and throws it into the river, averting the explosion and the revolution. Simoun takes refuge in the home of a kind Filipino priest, Father Florentino, knowing it is only a matter of time before he is arrested. Having abandoned all hope, Simoun takes fatal poison. Before he dies, Padre Florentino hears his last confession.
He expresses his conviction that Simoun’s plans failed because he chose to do them by unjust means. He assures Simoun that there is still hope for the liberation of the country. Upon Simoun’s death, the priest takes his jewels and commends them to the sea, praying that the wealth that was once used for bribery and corruption would one day be found by one who would use it for a just purpose. The plot is similar to that of Alexandre Dumas, pere’s French classic The Count of Monte Cristo. Both narratives revolve around a man’s determination to avenge himself and reclaim his beloved fiancee. The protagonist of each novel disguises his identity and comes up with an intricate plot of revenge and retribution.
