Filipino? Who?
a review on the movie ‘Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon?”
The film, “Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon?” by Eddie Romero, presented the state of the Filipino independence during the Spanish Colonial Period up to the American Colonial period. Although the film was quite dragging at times, It was able to tackle important but sensitive topics in a very creative, comedic and symbolic manner that barely left an opportunity for boredom; these topics include the maltreatment of the Spaniards on the Filipinos, the conflict between the rich and the poor, the ignorance or lack of education of the Filipinos in the provinces during those years, and most importantly, the varying definition of the word “Filipino.”
What is your definition of a Filipino? Or how do you distinguish a Filipino from other nationalities? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a Filipino is “a native of the Philippine Islands” or “a citizen of the Republic of the Philippines.” Based on these current definitions, it is easy to identify a Filipino but in the year 1521–1946? Not quite so.
At first, I didn’t really understand why the identity of a Filipino was so unclear at the time, but then I realized that the Philippine islands were separated by large bodies of water, which may have caused the confusion. Moreover, the perplexing concept of national identity may have also been affected by the Filipino’s inferiority against the Spaniards.
Kulas, the main lead in the movie, always asked who the term “Filipino” was referring to and he always got different answers. At one point, Father Gil Corcuera and Lim stated that the Spaniards were the Filipinos. On the other hand, Don Tibor mentioned that the Filipinos were those who were ready to accept responsibilities. However, it didn’t matter who Kulas asked because there was no single way to describe a Filipino. He would always get different answers because all of us represent the Filipino people; all our habits, attitudes, and mishaps make up the Filipino identity which is why we have to take care of this identity and make sure that it is for the betterment of our country.
I personally liked this concept because it doesn’t only depict a simple farmer who is trying to understand what it takes to be a true Filipino; it also symbolizes everyone in this world today who is constantly and painstakingly looking for his/her purpose as a Filipino citizen. May it be through service in the healthcare-related departments or planting large amounts of rice for the Filipino people’s consumption, they all make up the Filipino identity.
Another concept that I found interesting was how Kulas’ level of happiness greatly decreased as he started to learn more about the world. In the start of the film, you can clearly see his happy-go-lucky attitude even as he loses his house, his horse, and all his other belongings but as he started to read books and learn more about the social issues and feuds in the Philippines, his happiness started to fade away. This is really relatable for me, as a STEM student, because I wasn’t really that exposed to social issues back in high school. I learned more about the laws of thermodynamics than our territorial feud with the Chinese. However, as I started studying in UP, I was being opened to so much new information about social conflicts and Philippine politics. This is was what made me understand how dark and treacherous our history is. It also made me wonder if I was a Filipino back then when I didn’t even care about what was happening to my country; especially as I watched the movie and heard Don Tibor state that Filipinos were those who were ready to accept responsibilities and serve the country. Although Kulas mentioned in the end that we (e.g. Tagalog, Bisaya, Ilocano) were all considered Filipinos, It still made me ponder on the fact that I haven’t actually done anything to improve the state of our country and if I was worthy of being called a Filipino.
Kulas’s pagkamang-mang or ignorance may have been funny to us during the movie but laughing at him is no different from laughing at the farmers from the province who had no source of education during the Spanish and American Colonial Period. He may have had some conflicts with other people due to this lack of knowledge but he never gave up. Nothing ever stopped him from learning more than what he had already known. I believe that he, himself, represents the Filipino identity; his unending search for knowledge, dire respect for each individual, and willingness to fight for the country. These are the attitudes and values that should serve as a guide for our future endeavors because these are the same attitudes that helped us, Filipinos, break free from our colonizers and prove our national worth as more than the Indios they labeled us to be.
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