The most important filmmaker of our era is Jerrold Tarog
by Raymund Magno Garlitos
September 27, 2015 from Manila Bulletin Lifestyle
The director du jour, on what he thinks about the film’s Oscar nomination (he doubts the ethos will translate); the length of time Heneral Luna was in the making (20 years); and why he’s set on making more of the same movies.
More than being a filmmaker, Jerrold Tarog is first and foremost a diligent student of history. His adherence to facts and historical references is something not too many daring directors would be particular about. Despite his versatility in handling various genres — from short films to horror to drama and, eventually, history — he does not lose focus on how to portray a particular character in film. And his main goal is to make history engaging, especially with his most successful film thus far, Heneral Luna.
From being social media hot topic to becoming the country’s official entry to the foreign language film category in the Academy Awards, Jerrold’s Heneral Luna took hold of the country’s movie houses, with audiences queuing up even for the last full shows. This recent turn of events, of course, gives him enough reason to celebrate the success of his latest venture.
“Masaya naman kami na ganoon iyong nangyari (I’m glad it turned out well),” he said. “Whenever we make movies, we don’t set (too high) expectations from the audience. We just want the audience to be excited by what we offer.”
Patience and passion pays off
Jerrold reveals that the script for the Heneral Luna has been sitting in his mind for the longest time. “This movie is roughly 20 years in the making — 17 years of writing, a year each for pre-production and post-production, culminating with a three-month shoot.”
The inspiration for (making) Heneral Luna, according to Jerrold, is not the person, per se, but the personality behind what is essentially a history textbook character. “Luna was ‘bastos’ (irreverent), so it’s nice to portray him for what he was. People can relate to his character because he was not what most Filipinos are — mahiyain.”
This uncompromising pride and braggadocio of Antonio Luna, known in history as an ilustrado and a revolutionary with a fiery temper and a trucker’s mouth, make a hero character interesting, Jerrold said. He based Luna’s character on his readings of Vivencio R. Jose’s The Rise and Fall of Antonio Luna and Nick Joaquin’s A Question of Heroes. “I haven’t seen a character in movies where the main protagonist is hated by practically everyone,” he explained.
Instrumental though for its staging on film is the film’s unlikely “fairy godmother,” businessman Fernando Ortigas, who along with the Artikulo Uno team, financed the film by infusing P70 million to jumpstart the production. “I think he was fascinated by the idea that the problems from before are basically the same things that plague us to this day. So gusto niyang ilabas yung ganoon ka-strong na message,” he said.
While the film’s nomination to the Oscars is most welcome, he has no high expectations of how it will fare in the tightly-contested category. He admits he has doubts with how people in the Academy can relate to the film.
“To be honest, personally parang di ko ma-imagine na maa-appreciate siya ng Academy, kasi parang sobrang Filipino ang mga tema. ‘Yung mga issues na ina-address ng pelikula, parang mga Pinoy lang ang makaka-relate. So hindi ko ma-imagine right now kung iyong Academy mismo eh, maiintindihan nila iyon. Kung maiintindihan nila, eh di okay (I can’t imagine the Academy appreciating this film. The theme is very Filipino, and it looks like only the Filipinos can relate to the issues being addressed. But if they get it, great),” he mused.
A trilogy of flawed heroes
Jerrold, however, has plans bigger than Heneral Luna, and this is revealed right at the end of the movie (for those who left soon while the credits were rolling, you missed out on the bonus part): a teaser on a future film on one of the characters in the movie, played by Paulo Avelino: Gen. Gregorio ‘Goyong’ del Pilar, whose every appearance in Heneral Luna, every one of them brief, elicited appreciative reactions from the audience.
“Yes, we are doing a film on Del Pilar,” he revealed, as the second in a trilogy started by Luna. “It’s like Marvel, where kunektado lahat ng characters. It’s the same concept: flawed heroes that are struggling with their faults and their humanity.”
The last movie in this trilogy, which Jerrold hopes he would be able to accomplish, is a movie on the “El Presidente” himself, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, who challenged future president Manuel L. Quezon, once a deputy in his army, to the presidency of the future Philippine Commonwealth. He will be the only character to appear in all the three films in this trilogy.
Though viewers of Heneral Luna might be quick to judge Aguinaldo as a sly (tuso) character, or even weak and indecisive as portrayed by Mon Confiado, Jerrold wants to explore why he should not be demonized. “In the end, with hope, we will be able to portray him as someone who only dealt with the cards that other people lay in front of him. It just so happened na marami siyang maling desisyon na ginawa kaya tuloy naging negative iyong perceptions tungkol sa kaniya sa history (It just so happened that he made a lot of bad decisions in his life, which contributed to the negative perceptions about him).”
Filmmaker as history’s ‘narrator’
Recognizing the role of his film as an important material in studying history, Jerrold shared how filmmakers doing historical films put it themselves. “As a filmmaker, my goal is to make history exciting. We can simplify or embellish things, but we have to stick to the facts and research. I’m not really concerned with what other people feel we should do to portray history,” he said.
“In my opinion, our job is not to answer the questions of history or solve society’s problems. Our role is to raise questions, in the hopes that once the audience has seen the film, they will be the ones find answers.”
