MMFF2023: Review of GOMBURZA: Persecuted Priests

November 28, 2023

GOMBURZA stood for the surnames of the three priests who had been executed by Spain via the gruesome garrote on February 17, 1872 -- Fr. Mariano Gomez (Dante Rivero), Jose Burgos (Cedric Juan) and Jacinto Zamora (Enchong Dee). Real talk, we barely knew any much about them apart from their names and how they died. This movie focused on how they fought for the cause, and how their death had inspired no less than Jose Rizal himself.  

Director Pepe Diokno told his story in a ver straightforward manner. No grand plot was concocted to connect the three priests to the failed insurrection of La Madrid (Arnold Reyes), to which they were implicated. Burgos and Zamora were arrested from the house of an invalid priest Fr. De Laza (Nanding Josef). Later, Gomez was arrested from his school in front of his students. The three priests were confused as to what had happened, and so are we at the seeming randomness of it all. 

I wish there could have been more information about Fr. Burgos when he before he became a priest. A card at the end of the film showed that he was only 30 years old when he died by the garotte. Despite this very young age, Burgos was already a priest and a professor, plus he had already earned  a Master of Laws degree. Cedrick Juan looked and acted right for Burgos's age, yet he was also able to convey a confidence and maturity well beyond his age. 

Fr. Gomez was already 80 years old when he got involved in all this insurrection ruckus with the Spanish officials. Sir Dante Rivero imbued his senior character with calm and dignity as the role required. It was just too bad that we did not get more details about his involvement in the work of Fr. Pelaez for the secular priests. Why was Gomez specifically named in the subpoena, despite his advanced age? What had he done that they perceived him to be such a threat?

There was no effort to romanticize Fr. Zamora's story to make him more heroic than he really was. The unflattering detail that Zamora was not really involved with the advocacies of Burgos and Gomez was not disguised. The way Enchong Dee portrayed Fr. Zamora was very unexpected. His reaction and behavior was as far from what we would imagine a revered martyr or hero would display. Later, he would just turn into an empty shell of himself, all the way to the garrote.

Piolo Pascual played a vital character, Fr. Pedro Pelaez, who pioneered in the fight of secular priests, mostly Creoles or Spaniards born in the Philippines. They were being treated as second class citizens when compared to priests born in Spain belonging to powerful religious orders, who were easing them out of their parishes. While the fate of Pelaez was not exactly a surprise, the way he met his unexpected end was surprisingly not heroic nor glamorous.

Meticulous attention and generous budget had been spent to make sure that the production design and costumes looked realistic. Director Pepe Diokno and writer Rody Vera did not seem take much cinematic license to enhance any dramatic elements of the accounts on record. This storytelling felt very sincere and authentic. The message to promote patriotism was very eloquent. With the Jesuits as producer, I trust that historical details had been thoroughly researched and accurately depicted. 8/10