Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Review of ANG HAPIS AT HIMAGSIK NI HERMANO PULI: Informative But Inert

September 27, 2016



The name Hermano Puli is familiar to me as a historical figure as a revolutionary against Spanish rule. However, honestly, he was a mere trivial footnote for me. I do not exactly recall who he was, or what he did. I look forward to seeing films like this to learn more about these less prominent personalities in history. 

In addition, this film was chosen as the closing film of the recently concluded Cinemalaya film festival. It was also chosen as one of the candidates for the coveted Philippine representative to be sent for Oscar consideration. These factors amped up my curiosity to see this film during its commercial run this week. 

Apolinario de la Cruz, a.k.a. Hermano Puli, was only 18 years old when he founded the Confradia de San Jose in their hometown of Lukban in the province of Tayabas in 1832. It was an organization of Filipino Catholics who regularly met and listened to Hermano Puli as he preached about Bible-based values. By 1841, with this group's growing popularity among its all-Filipino membership, Spanish authorities suspected sedition and insurgency, and banned it. When Hermano Puli and comrades fought back, the Spaniards resorted to violence to totally dismantle it.

The intentions of the production may have been noble, but the final product turned out weak. I thought the main weakness of the film lay on the uninspiring lead performance turned in by Aljur Abrenica as Hermano Puli. He tried very hard to look and act "good" such that it turned out really unconvincing and hammy. Abrenica's Hermano Puli felt like a patronizing charlatan with his put-on air of holiness, which was unfortunate. In big scenes when the Hermano was rallying his people into action at Isabang on Mt. Banahaw, or even in that simple scene when Puli cried when he was told about his younger brother's death, Abrenica failed to connect with any sincerity.

There were scenes that show Hermano Puli in a bad light. When he was in Manila, he requested for Lina (Louise de los Reyes), a barrio lass who obviously has a crush on him, to go to Manila and do his laundry. He rebuked his cuidado (or caretaker) Octavio San Jorge (Enzo Pineda) with harsh words in a letter from Manila after the former was arrested and whipped. When they captured a local Spanish alcalde mayor, the Hermano allowed his lieutenant Apolonio Juan de la Cruz (Vin Abrenica) to violently dispose of the official as the latter wished. The scene where the Hermano was distributing amulets may have been based on fact, but the way it was shown onscreen was too sudden and unreasonable. His turn to superstition went unexplained.

In addition, there was the portrayal of all the Spanish officials and friars as comical caricatures of pure colonial evil. Markki Stroem played Col. Joaquin Juet as a livid raving madman, demonic eyes, demonic laughter and all. Kiko Matos played alcalde mayor Joaquin Ortega as a lisping and inept fool, as did the actor who played the effeminate gobernadorcillo. The very fake-looking tonsure hairstyle of the friars looked hilarious. I am not sure if the humor in these scenes were intentional on the director's part to liven things up, but for me they felt uncomfortably out of place in a film like this.

It was interesting to learn about these lesser known events in Philippine history, telling in more detail about what could be dismissed in a history textbook in a single sentence. However despite being concise, this film by Gil Portes (who once won Best Director for "Andrea" back in the 1990 MMFF) felt slow and flat. It is not the religious subject that made it tedious, as "Felix Manalo" (with a charismatic Dennis Trillo in the lead) was able to be engaging despite its length. The way this film projected Hermano Puli did not even feel favorable to his memory. Aside from a few memorable lines, it did not inspire above and beyond telling the basic historical information. 4/10.

13 comments:

  1. Being honest I have never heard of Hermano Puli from the UK. This was really quite interesting. I studied modern history in my last years of school so this would be a really interesting watch to learn some more about part of your history to if it comes to the UK. Thankyou for sharing!

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  2. I like films about Philippine History especially those that weren't really taught to us in school. For this film though, Aljur Abrenica doesn't seem to be a good choice for the role. I've seen him a few times on TV & I find that he lacks emotions. He usually just has this fixed expression.

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  3. It would have been interesting to see this foot note in history. It looks like they weren't able to spice it up further to be more interesting to the audience.

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  4. There must be so many such gems hidden and forgotten in the history. Good that movies try to revive them.

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  5. It's always nice when producers and writers decide to make a film about a historical figure but it's also disappointing when it's poorly made. This one has such a low rating from you. It's sad that they weren't able to portray him well.

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  6. I don't know anything about Philippines history. Thanks for the heads up. It is definitely difficult to come up with a historical movie that's not like a documentary!

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  7. I don't even understand the title before reading your review.. Great review you have there!

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    1. Sorry. The English translation of the Filipino title can be seen the poster above. "The Agony and Fury of Hermano Puli".

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  8. I always appreciate historical movies like this. Like you said, films like this provides insight about less prominent figures in our history. The amount of historical movies being produced keep growing. This may be because of the flourishing nationalism of Filipinos. Thank you for sharing.

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  9. I think I am not able to watch this in the cineman in my country. Filipinos actors and actresses are very good looking and cool indeed.

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  10. You're honest with your review and I really like it. I've never been fond of studying history books and watching history related movies, maybe because I used to not attend history class when I was in high school (Hahaha).

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  11. I believe there was a movie made of Hermano Puli in the mid 70's with Tommy Abuel in the title role.
    Just a note on caricaturism: in movies and in literature, caricatures are used because of poor character development or to show to the audience, who is the lead and who are those who give comic relief. Historical movies cannot do that because it greatly simplifies a story so great and so complex that there is no black or white but different shades of grey... Perhaps this is why many people love and believe historical epics because we accept what the director wants to convey to us.. thus they become tools for propaganda...

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  12. Hermano Puli sounds familiar to me, too! Just like you, I am not sure if it was ever tackled in my school days about him. Anyhow, I am interested in this kind of film which talks about our history and those people who fought for our freedom. As for your review about the movie, in cases like this, I don't really stick to how actors portray the characters what matters to me is that the story is deliberately delivered. Anyhow, your review helps, though.

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