Maderazo, Dheine Louise L.

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BSA- A1C

A Reflection on the film “Bayaning Third World”

History is a huge part of someone’s and especially a country’s identity— it makes up

who they are now. We, the people of the present, of course only have the slightest idea of what
happened in the past, wherein this knowledge only came from the stories we heard and those we
studied about. Before, we just grasp whatever information about the past which is being given to
us, not analyzing whether it’s true or not; but now, as we grow more conscious and curious, we
learn to question every piece of information about our history that we hear of. This is because we
start to realize that there is a great possibility that we know is only a pinch of the whole story—
there’s always more to it that people who didn’t experience it or wasn’t there, don’t know; even
and especially when it comes to our National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal.

“Bayaning Third World” is a film which is about two filmmakers who are on the process
of producing a film about our national hero, and while narrating what happened, they also give
their comments on Rizal’s heroism, his death, effects on media, etc. It was fun and all since it has
a touch of sense of humor. Due to the comments stated by the main characters of the film, which
were the filmmakers, the film was able to tickle my mind and got it curious about our national
hero. The film made me start questioning—what else don’t we know? I mean, of course there are
still a lot, but how true are those?

The film focused on several points which became controversies regarding Dr. Jose Rizal
such as his gender, the retraction of Rizal’s documents and the involvement of the church in this,
and his marriage with Rizal’s famous lover, Josephine Bracken. Aside from just stating that these
were the controversies regarding Rizal, they also presented what makes them untrue. The film
revolved around the filmmakers’ interview with the significant people in Rizal’s life, and those
that have a lot to say and are credible sources in the said controversies so they would be able to
know if those were true or not.

In conclusion, since the history is something in the past already, not every one of us has
full and exact knowledge about it. What we learn as of now may be distorted and changed
already, and some are not really true—it’s really hard to tell. The film ended with the
filmmakers’ decision to not go on with the film, realizing that it’s really hard to tell this story
about our national hero, with not enough information and unsure facts about him. They realized
that the whole story—the full and exact version of the story—is still the original and only Rizal
knows about it.