At first, I thought it was just your usual, boring, Filipino history movie that I would not be interested to watch but surprisingly, it exceeded my expectations. It's one of the best movies I have ever had the pleasure to watch. Jerrold Tarog did a wonderful job with this film. This movie took a different approach in telling us how we lost the battle and how the country got occupied by the Americans.

John Arcilla who played Heneral Antonio Luna is indeed fiercely brave and madly passionate, but there is no unity to be found amongst his country men. After watching the film, I started referring to Arcilla as Heneral Luna. Why? Because he is Heneral Luna. I didn't know how he did it but he made the character come alive even though the person is already dead. Arcilla was able to showcase the fierce and volatile man, that we all know from history books, yet he could show us the passionate and softer side of his character. He showed us that Heneral Luna can dive head first into battle without hesitation but at the same time, he showed us that he can share a warm banter with his mother. This film did not portray him as the hero because he was far from it. But instead he was an anti-hero, a flawed hero, and therefore, much more interesting then the more traditional heroes, kind of like Batman.

Arron Villaflor portrays a young journalist, Joven Hernando, who is tasked to interview the general, which was used as plot device to serve as the audience’s perspective.

Don't get me started on Aguinaldo because we will be here for a long, long time. That person infuriates me.

The cinematography was beyond beautiful. It literally took my breath away. Especially when Heneral Luna was sitting on this rock and looking out to the horizon, perfection.

I especially loved the profanity in this film and how the modern world can relate to the Filipino puns. The general's continuous use of the word, "Punyeta" was hilarious. I was always waiting to shout it at his country men while watching the movie.

What I did not like was some people's reactions (young people) to why was Apolinario Mabini sitting the whole duration of the movie. My reaction was, "WHAT THE FUCK!". President Benigno Aquino III noted this as well. In the 2015 Gawad Apolinario Mabini awarding ceremonies on September 29, 2015, he noted the issue was "a reflection of how little some of the youth know about history," considering Mabini's intelligence played a role in building the Philippines' democratic institution.

This film was a cinematic revolution so I was not surprised when it was nominated for the 88th Academy Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film category this 2016. No Philippine film has ever been nominated to the short list for the Oscars’ Best Foreign Language category.

Links:
Heneral Luna Official Trailer
The Making of Heneral Luna