The goal of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2023 entry GomBurZa is to “shake” and “inspire” the Filipinos to further contribute to the betterment of the country.
“I think the aim is to shake definitely. So that we all get inspired,” affirmed director Pepe Diokno in a press conference after the special screening of GomBurZa at Gateway Cineplex 10 in Araneta City last Monday.
When he first read the story of the three martyred priests, Mariano Gomes, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, collectively known as GomBurZa, direk Pepe was moved.
“It made me think about, ‘Kung mabuti ba akong Pilipino? And what can I do to help the country?’ If these three priests had sacrificed their lives to fight for what is right and their lives eventually helped shaped our country, what more can I do (for the Philippines)?” he mused.
Hence, he dedicated the film to our country and also hoped that the Filipinos will get inspired based on the narratives of the priests in the same way that the Philippines’ National Hero Jose Rizal did.
GomBurZa tells the story of Gomes (played by Dante Rivero), Burgos (Cedrick Juan), and Zamora (Enchong Dee) who were executed by garrote in 1872 after being falsely accused of sedition and treason. The film chronicles the struggle that began with the secularization movement led by Padre Pedro Pelaez (portrayed by Piolo Pascual).
The film is a collaboration between JesCom Films and MQuest Ventures. It also stars Khalil Ramos, Elijah Canlas, Ketchup Eusebio, Tommy Alejandrino, to name a few.
Loaded with heavy scenes, GomBurZa stirred emotions among the moviegoers, including the cast members, who watched the film for the first time.
“Sorry, ‘di ako makapagsalita,” a teary-eyed Cedrick said during the presscon after the film screening.
Maybe, at first, I’m being technical in the first few sequences na mga pinapanood because it’s my first time to watch (the full movie),” he continued eventually. “Actually, I feel like it’s (our) first time watching this film.
“Parang dinala na ako ng kwento to the point na hindi ko na siya iniisip (him almost missing out the audition). Hindi ko na nakikita sarili ko. That’s why I’m in tears because what happened to them (priests) was very painful. I was really moved because of the injustices that happened to them 151 years ago and even way before that, for sure. And until now, it is still happening.
“So, like, imagine those people without proper justice or due process. Ano yung nararamdaman nila? And parang ganun na yung sobrang laki na ng iniisip ko and to think, even though they were priests, there was no exception.”
Veteran actor-filmmaker Carlos Siguion-Reyna, for his part, said that he is “happy and proud” to be part of the cast. “I was moved. I read the script, of course, like everybody else. But when I saw it finally it’s like, ‘Wow parang ang laki ng kwento nila.’
“It really jumps across the page and it really comes to life here. That’s really in large part really to the direction of our director, Pepe Diokno. I think it’s a powerful experience. I was also surprised because marami din akong hindi alam about this story except the bare skeleton of it.”
He highly recommended the film to everyone because “it’s very timely.” He shared, “And not only for students but also for the general public to watch because it gets back in touch (on) what we mean as a people and the beginnings of this feeling of solidarity.”
One of the reporters mentioned that GomBurZa is a great gift for Filipinos this Christmas. Ketchup agreed, “It’s a great (gift) but a heavy (one). Iba yung dadalhin mo and the people will talk about it. The description is correct. It has a very powerful impact and we didn’t really see it while we were doing it pa because we were also focus on what was meant to happen and how we should do it.”
Ketchup then commended filmmaker Pepe and said how proud he is to be working with him.
The part of the story that made an impact on him was how the priests were accused of something that they didn’t do, he added.
Enchong echoed, “It’s still happening to this day. Earlier, I was analyzing the film and said, ‘It’s sad na sa lahat ng mga taong naakusahan, ilan lang yung nabibigyan ng magandang kwento (and) to have this opportunity where their stories are shared.
“And imagine, (it was) after 151 years that we realized that, ‘How I wish we have (proper) justice at that time.’”
With this project, Enchong was proud to say that finally he has something good to offer as a gift to the country.
According to direk Pepe, GomBurZa is a film inspired and is based on historical events injected with “creative license” in some scenes. “So lahat na nilagay namin in the film has a basis in history. That’s it. This is still a film and there are some instances na may pinapakita kami na from dramatic perspective or storytelling perspective,” direk Pepe told The STAR.
One example of the “creative licenses” that direk Pepe made in the film was that of Jose Rizal’s narrative. “Jose Rizal was inspired by GomBurZa. Rizal said in his writings that if it wasn’t for GomBurZa, he probably wouldn’t have written Noli Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo.”
“The story of GomBurZa was shared to Jose Rizal by his older brother Paciano, who was also one of the students of Burgos. I only have one historical account saying na possibleng dinala ni Paciano si Jose Rizal sa Bagumbayan when they (priests) were executed,” he expounded.
“But that was just one account. Honestly, walang akong nakitang corroborating accounts. But dramatically and visually lang, maganda yung makita yung link na parang nakita niya (execution) because he got inspired.”
“Even if there’s a creative license, (it is still) sort of grounded in the truth that Jose Rizal was inspired by their story,” he asserted.
Part of their research entailed searching for court records of GomBurza and they even tried to obtain documents from the military archives in Spain. “But none, we couldn’t find the military records so we really had to sort of reconstruct from a storytelling perspective of what happened to them. Yung idea na luto yung case,” shared direk Pepe.
“We used as a basis the process of what Jose Rizal went through because it has records, but for GomBurZa specifically wala,” he added.
Nevertheless, Burgos and Gomes’ inspiring messages in the last part of the film were delivered word for word. The context of the secularization movement and their squabbles and the ability to administer the parishes were all based on facts, said direk Pepe.
“The newspapers that you see from the screen are from real scans talaga. The texts, documents, for example the books, signed papers, that’s all from research,” he furthered.
In terms of sources, the team did their research in the libraries of Ateneo de Manila University and University of Santo Tomas. “We are grateful for Jesuit Communications under Ateneo… So we had a lot of firsthand information.”
They also have Jesuit priest and Ateneo professor René Javellana who served as their historical consultant. “He was there on set every day to check kung basically grounded din on reality yung ginagawa namin.”
Will direk Pepe invite the Pinoy Big Brother housemates who mistakenly called the three martyred priests as MaJoHa during the show’s history quiz bee?
“When that happened, we were in our pre-production. And yes, natawa kami sa nasabi but at the same time, mas nabuhayan kami to make this film,” he replied. “But it also made me realize that in the same way na hindi kilala na ng maraming Pilipino, especially siguro yung mga youth yung GomBurZa, marami rin ako, kami lahat, we also discovered more about their story that we didn’t know.
“So we’ve learned so many things about their story that we’ve shown in this film. So I really invite, not just the youth, not just students, but also parents, everybody, your family and friends to watch this film to learn about the story (and) also about the experience (of) what happened to the three priests.”
(GomBurZa will be screened in cinemas nationwide starting Dec. 25, as part of the 2023 Metro Manila Film Festival).