Robin won the filmfest best actor award last year for “10,000 Hours”. He has a good chance of bagging it again this year. And we have no doubt “Bonifacio” itself could harvest a lot of awards since it’s the only serious entry that touches on our country’s history while the rest of the entries are mostly unabashed commercial ventures intended mainly for big box office returns.
No doubt “Bonifacio” was made with a big budget. You can see it in the production design alone. This is also technically better made than the other Bonifacio movies we’ve seen. No wonder it impressed the Cinema Evaluation Board and that gave it a high A rating.
But we beg to disagree with Robin when he says that their version aims to show the truth about what happened to Bonifacio, simply because the version of Alfred Vargas, “Supremo” directed by Richard Somes, has already done this. Alfred’s version made an even braver stand in showing how the rich conspired to get rid of Bonifacio. But both versions assert that Bonifacio is the true rebel while Rizal is a mere reformist. Actually, the idea to make Rizal the national hero also came from the ilustrados in connivance with the Americans, not the masses.
Even in revolutions, the poor is still exploited by the rich. The masses are mere “pambala sa kanyon” and it’s the rich who profits from the rebellion. Alfred’s version properly explained that Bonifacio went to Cavite to mediate between the warring factions of the Magdalo (the Aguinaldos) and Magdiwang (headed by Mariano Alvarez.) Both factions come from the rich upper classes, in contrast to Bonifacio who’s more “masa” from Tondo. The film shows that as early as then, our leaders already have trouble uniting and putting their act together.
Robin’s version was not as clear in their portrayal of these chapters in Bonifacio’s life. What holds his “Bonifacio” together is really Robin’s compelling portrayal of the title role. We see a new Robin here, not the usual swaggering over-confident Binoy his fans have learned to expect in his movies. Director Enzo Williams succeeded in restraining some of his usual mannerisms and he comes up with a performance definitely much more improved and intense than his usual work.
He is ably supported by Vina Morales as his wife Oryang. She shines in that scene where she tries to seek audience with Aguinaldo in behalf of her dying husband but was turned down. It was a wordless scene showing her walking in the rain and it’s so heartfelt. Also giving competent support are Isko Moreno, Rommel Padilla and Dennis Marasigan as Fathers Burgos, Gomez and Zamora at the powerful opening scene where they are shown being executed one by one.
Daniel Padilla, along with Jasmine Curtis Smith and RJ Padilla, play students who appear in the present time while they learn more about Bonifacio from the curator (Eddie Garcia) of the Katipunan Museum in Pinaglabanan, San Juan. Sad to say, their scenes can all be totally excised and the movie won’t suffer at all. In fact, they sometimes just get on the way of the narrative. But no doubt, Daniel’s fans will help make the movie more attractive to the younger generation of viewers who are easily turned off by historical and period films. Well, we hope this intention of the movie would be concretely achieved when it opens on Christmas Day.
