I am an American born and bred from immigrants, and I love my country, not for its mistakes, which sometimes seem to build on themselves, but for the fabulous promise it holds.
So I am surprised that Eddie Romero, a Filipino who should know his own country's history, is the director of this film, a prime example of inaccurate history and bad film making as well.
This film is in no way an accurate depiction of the interaction between Americans and Filipinos at the time shown. And I would hate to believe that it would be received as such.
Before anyone is offended by my review, let me state first that it is historically inaccurate.
Unlike the conditions depicted in this film, the United States was a far worse occupier of the Philippines at this time than the Spanish before them The Spanish at least came to recognize the national aspirations of the Filipinos to some degree. The U.S. Army, however, considered the Filipinos subhuman and raped the women and killed the men without remorse. Ask me to verify this. I can.
No surprise, then, that there was a popular insurrection against the American occupation. The racist attitude of the Americans never completely went away, but eventually a peace of sorts came to be and improved dramatically over time. By World War II, the Filipinos were with us against the Japanese, who were the most brutal occupiers in modern history.
But 40 years earlier, in 1902, the American Army was still indiscriminately slaughtering people who wanted their freedom and their own nation. To help rule the Philippines, the Americans set up an elite class of quislings as the ruling class, a pragmatic mistake that haunts the Philippines to this day and is responsible for their systemic inability to rule themselves effectively.
Before this seems like a condemnation of the United States, let me note the following: The United States had promised before World War 2 to grant the Phillipines their independence in 1946 and, unlike other Western powers, who were interested in holding on to their colonies, the United States did exactly that on July 4, 1946--less than a year after the end of the war-- much to their everlasting credit.
This review was deleted once before because someone was offended by it, which is not the best of reasons. If IMDb has a problem with this review, I ask them to contact me before deleting my review. I am not speaking out of the wrong end, and I can prove it.
