The movie “Rizal sa Dapitan” is about the life of Rizal’s exile in Dapitan in 1892. Rizal was very generous and helpful when he helped the local residents by giving them knowledge or education for free. He shared his knowledge about almost everything he learned in Europe. I think the movie was really knowledgeable because movie also emphasizes the things that were said in the book. Like the scene of him being a mason, where he joined the mason lodge called “acacia” in Madrid and actually transferred to lodge Solidaridad when he became a Master Mason.
In that film, he shared his knowledge to youngsters and taught them a lot. There is also a scene that Rizal taught the youngster fencing. Also, the film showed where he cared and cured his mother. From the chapter ten of the book by Zaide, the “first homecoming”, Rizal went back to the Philippines for the first time and he immediately treat his mother, but cannot do surgery right away because her eyes wasn’t that ripe. You can also see in the movie how friars blackmailed Filipinos that a women and man shouldn’t be together if they are not married.
There was a scene in the movie where all the priests refused when Rizal was asking for the sacrament of Matrimony. Thinking of that, I was really shocked and I can’t even imagine that in Rizal’s time where the church is almost the government and they were like the head of the states. Religious blackmail is that powerful and you can see people are not happy about it. There is an ongoing debate about church and state whenever RH bill came up, but people in this generation are more aware and open-minded where the church cannot simply and easily say that if RH bill will be approve you are going to hell.
People now a day wouldn’t believe that especially in the Philippines right now is not catholic country anymore since most of the people change their religion to Christian, Muslims, Buddhism and others. I think from the experience of Rizal from the movie gave knowledge to the viewer’s how the priest then was completely and insanely a control freak. They control the country and the publications. Everything was manipulated.
