‘Goyo’ and historical accuracy

O5, 2018, “will open in cinemas nationwide. This highly anticipated follow- up to the hugely successful “is actually part of a universe that its director Jerrold Tarog wanted to create like our favorite DC or Marvel movies. If this film provides the sufficient returns, he will be able to create the third in the series on President Manuel Quezon.

But history buffs are curious about what Jerrold and his co- scriptwriter Rody Vera used as sources for their film? Because whatever primary sources we have like some of del Pilar’s letters and diaries were lost during the war. We are left with his biography written by Teodoro Kalaw before the war.

But Jerrold was actually inspired to N September

another work, Nick Joaquin’s

He loved the fact that Goyo was not a one-dimensional hero, but a complex, complicated character.

Having been part of the promotion of “but not a consultant to the making of the film, I, together with professor Alvin Campomanes, have had conversations with the director about history and his next project on the young general. When Jerrold began his research, I provided him with copies of the Marcelino Foronda translation of the Kalaw biography,

and General Jose Alejandrino’s memoir,

Historian John Ray Ramos also got some materials for him from the UP Main Library.

Then, he approached Bulacan local historian and del Pilar expert Isagani Giron who accompanied him in trekking to Tirad Pass, in Ilocos Sur, the site of the last stand of the boy general.

Jerrold and his team started to do their own research and created a script not just based on Kalaw and Joaquin but on a host of other primary perspectives: Alejandrino’s memoirs, the letters of Apolinario Mabini, other lesser known testimonies like that of his close friend and aide Vicente Enriquez and people who were with them on their trek to the mountains as recounted in the book,

among other documents. It now appears that Jerrold ended up remembering more details about Gregorio del Pilar’s life than myself which is a good thing.

In our nationwide school tours with Dakila and TBA Studios called “Being X Becoming,” I am often asked, “how faithful is the film to history? how accurate is it?” My answer is that all historical films are fictions created from the imagination of the director based on facts. But facts and documents cannot provide dialogue and emotions so filmmakers have to invent them, gaps have to be filled, incidents have to be merged, perspectives and focus have to be chosen because the film still has to entertain and has to have an easy- to- understand storyline.

Yet, you can only effectively fictionalize history if you have mastered the sources. Because if you got the historical bits, context, milieu, costumes and sets right, it will add value to the film and will serve as a beautiful visual aid for educators in the teaching of history.

Having watched a rough draft of the film, I can tell you that I appreciated the film’s portrayal of things I only read about: 1) the hardships suffered by the heroes of the First Republic when they finally retreated to the mountains of Ilocos to evade the Americans, that was priceless; and 2) The full scope the Battle of Tirad Pass which I never realized before even if I had read about it.

Don’t look for historical facts in “Goyo”; you can read those in books. Watch it to have a chance to re- imagine and feel the past the way you have never experienced before.

Jerrold Tarog says that people should not expect that “

will be

the same film as “Directors, he said, don’t want to repeat themselves. Antonio was fire and fury, but Goyo will be more introspective, the story of a man who has to make difficult decisions because of the heavy responsibilities thrust upon him by history, at the very young age of 23. We always say, “why are there no

- ry?” We lament the lack of meaningful

we don’t even want to invest our time and money for them as much as our willingness to do so with American

money where our mouths are and look at that P250 as our contribution to the building of a Philippine cinema we can all be proud of.

Spoiler alert: Gregorio del will die at the end of the film. Pilar