Reviews
Bayaning 3rd World (2000)
Amazing...
This is the best movie ever made about Jose Rizal as both seen in the past and now. Although we just finished watching it 2 days ago and have to make a deconstruction paper about it for tom., I realize that it is the only movie that gives you 2 sides of the life of Rizal and gives you all the "facts" that can help you make you own opinion about our National Hero. It also has humorous ideas that somehow makes you very interested to see what, how, where and when it really happened. It's like a sherlock Holmes' case and you are Watson who is trying so bad to find out the truth. Although you don't go through dark alleys, you go through time and even meet the characters themselves... The way the movie was presented was not even confusing. The writer must have been a very organized person to think of how the whole movie would go...wow....I really love this movie....not to mention that you can really feel the "times" because of the color used.. Every person should watch it and it is true, as one of the comments said, that the director is a hero for making such a movie...Amazing!....now...ponder ponder ponder......was Jose Rizal really heroic enough to be our national hero..or heroic for that matter...or does Andres Bonifacio have a chance of stealing the title from the Pilibustero? or was he even a pilibustero?......hmm...... watch the movie.......
Helen of Troy (2003)
Agamemnon as a Father and as a Villain: is he almost less than Evil?
"It doesn't matter who my Father was; It matters who I remember He was" (Anne S.)
Helen of Troy is mainly a tragic movie tinted with romance, which was released in 2003. Adam Shapiro produced a 175-minute movie, which I eagerly watched in the last week of July. The most famous author of this Greek mythological story is Homer. The movie is taken from Homer's epic, "The Iliad" and this specific part is about a ten year war that was fought by both men and gods, between the Greeks and the Trojans because of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. The movie starts in Sparta, Helen's homeland, and already, lust is in the atmosphere as seen in most male characters but most especially, in Agamemnon, Helen's brother-in-law and the High King of Mycenae. He was portrayed to be the worst villain in the movie because not only did he kill his daughter, Iphigenia, to sail to Troy, bully his little brother Menelaus and cheat but he also coveted and raped Helen in front of Menelaus, the loving husband. Thus, a lot of viewers think that Agamemnon is as evil as can be but I dare to disagree. Even though Agamemnon killed his daughter to pursue his ambition, it could not be denied that he cared for his daughter. The only time you see him sincerely smile is when he played with his daughter, when he spent time with her in the garden. Also, before killing her, he needed a moment to think and didn't immediately say yes to the gods' demand. Then after he killed his daughter, you see him shaken and unstable for a moment. He also got hurt. Later in the movie, during his conversation with Helen, you can see that in his stone heart, there is still a soft spot for his daughter Iphigenia. Other than a mad man, he was also a father in whom his daughter would feel such happiness and safety in his arms.
The acting, sound effects and lighting was praiseworthy although I was not particularly happy with the script because I felt that the romantic scenes were forced into a very tragic movie. In the end, I really enjoyed the movie, especially the fight scenes and because it made you think. I would rate this movie a nine. I firmly believe it's worth watching!