Perhaps one of the highly anticipated and relevant films in the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2023 is the story about the martyr-priests, better known as the GomBurZa.
For most moviegoers, historical drama is not the usual preference film to flock to in cinemas during the said annual festival, spearheaded by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA). However, the recent win of the said film produced by JESCOM Films and MQuest Ventures as Second Best Picture at the awards night on December 27–has piqued the moviegoers’ interests instead.
The film doesn’t have a more popular movie star in the lead, except for Dante Rivero and Enchong Dee, who played support to its not-too-familiar name and face–Cedrick Juan. But what makes the film worth watching? It is its relevance in our local society’s setting. For moviegoers who took the time to catch GomBurZa–it is one brave move to dig deeper into our roots as Filipinos, our identity, and embrace more of our history, not the revised history.
After I watched GOMBURZA, a National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) documentary–I could say that the depiction was faithful of the lives of the three Filipino martyr priests–Mariano Gómez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, who were executed by garrote on February 17, 1872, in Bagumbayan, Philippines by Spanish colonial authorities on charges of subversion arising from the 1872 Cavite mutiny.
The story of GomBurZa‘s injustice back in the Spanish colonial times can still be reflected in our present-day condition, particularly those who were red-tagged as rebels. What happened before still mirrors the injustices of our society today. For Mariano Gómez (Rivero), who was close to his parishioners and was responsible for his area of jurisdiction to be progressive because of his being charitable–was used as a link to the ongoing rebellion at the time. José Burgos (Juan), on the other hand, the most celebrated among the three priests has seven degrees and was close to Father Pedro Sebastian Pelaez (Piolo Pascual), the identified initiator of secularization in the Church during the Spanish times between 1850s-1860s. He taught and used education to influence the youth and his somehow subversive students identified as Maximo Paterno, Paciano Rizal, and Felipe Buencamino. Together, they were part of a reformist group led by Maximo Inocencio, Ceisanto de los Reyes, and Enrique Paraiso. Lastly, Jacinto Zamora (Dee), who used to be the parish priest in Batangas, Pasig, Marikina, and sometimes alternated with Burgos in Manila; is depicted in the film as someone who frequents underground gambling sessions. A note that said: bring the bullets and gunpowder–code for money used in gambling–implicated him to be part of the accusation of conspiracy.
Sadly, the three priests became the fall guys. Such a scenario is still real even in our present-day society. They were red-tagged as rebels.
As a historical drama, one blatant blunder was the usage of a fountain pen in the film. Some pointed out that the brand of fountain pen that Rafael de Izquierdo used in the movie didn’t come around until the 1930s. It could have been a minor thing since the first patent of a fountain pen was filed by Frederick Fölsch in 1809 in England. However, many sources also claim that Petrache Poenaru, a Romanian inventor, was the one who invented the first fountain pen in 1827. Yet, the film is a historical account, to which some claimed the production must have been careful in using that pen in question. To achieve a believable depiction of that powerful scene–I somewhat agree that the production design could have procured an appropriate fountain pen brand.
Other than that, the Pepe Diokno film (which gave him the Best Director Award) is a must-watch along with the other four best pictures.
But the best thing that ever happened in this GomBurZa film is Juan’s portrayal of Padre Jose Apolonio Burgos y Garcia. The Rody Vera-Pepe Diokno-Ian Victoriano screenplay is a material that made him a real star. He has that uncanny semblance of the real Burgos, and his Best Actor Award is a testament to how good he is as an artist.
Rivero and Dee also delivered impressive performances as Gomez and Zamora. Elijah Canlas as Paciano Rizal and Khalil Ramos as Jose Rizal were noticeable in their participation in the film, too. Even Pascual’s brief but recurring appearance is not to be set aside.
Ericson Navarro‘s production design is cinematically beautiful. It earned him a Best Production Design Award despite the fountain pen hullabaloo. Carlo Canlas Mendoza‘s impeccable cinematography also got the Best Cinematography Award. The Mike Idioma, Jannina Minglanilla, and Emilio Bien Sparks sound design did move the moviegoers whether to create those chills or end up welling in tears, particularly in the death scene of the three priests.
Apart from its story, the mystery behind the innocence of the three martyr priests is a reflection of how injustice, indifference, and inequality were prevalent back then and even up to this day. If one isn’t an ally of the Administration, the accused will suffer the blows.
A theory by a Jesuit historian Fr. John Schumacher, Maximo Inocencio, Ceisanto de los Reyes, and Enrique Paraiso–the masterminds of the mutiny were masons like Izquierdo. Rather than suffering execution, they got arrested and exiled to Guam. And the blame got shifted to the three priests instead.
The term ‘Los Filipinos,’ which has a direct translation in English as ‘The Filipinos,’ is debatable in many ways. First, if we fought for our real identity to be recognized, then why do we have to adopt ‘F’ to describe us ‘Filipinos’ and not ‘P’ as ‘Pilipinos‘? Yes, upon the official adoption of the modern, 28-letter Filipino alphabet in 1987, the term Filipino–is preferred over Pilipino. Locally, some may still use Pilipino to refer to the people and Filipino to refer to the language. However, the word ‘Filipino’ is the usual form for both in international usage.
So what is the appropriate term for us as a race? Is it Filipinos or Pilipinos? And when Michelle Marquez Dee presented and introduced herself as Filipinas in the Miss Universe 2023—I cringed. I thought she’d say Pilipinas. Where did the cry for freedom and identity recognition go if we continue to satisfy what the world tries to impose on us? Does colonial mentality persist one way or the other still?
Watching GomBurZa is a brave attempt for us to look deeper into who we are as a race and as a nation. Are we still allowing ourselves to be in the shadows of our colonizers? Why couldn’t we be ‘consistent’ in pushing for changes (for reforms)–so we could finally achieve that identity and the power altogether? Burgos was clear that we should go out into the world–we must be good Filipinos and educated, too. If we insist on the ideology of being free–then let us embrace what our ancestors had even way before the Spanish occupation began in the Philippine islands. Let us cultivate it and let flourish even more.
Let the film GomBurZa be a wake-up call for us all. Let us stop chanting for the Filipinos if we fail to understand and embrace our real roots.
