A belated salute

Heneral Luna has succeeded in making Gen. Antonio Luna immortal.

It doesn’t entirely put him on a pedestal — it paints him with all his warts and moles and fatal flaws. It depicts the cracks even as emphasis is made that, Luna, “was the only general the Filipino army had.”

Heneral Luna is a tragedy.

I remember from English 101 class at the University of the Philippines under Prof. Sylvia Ventura that a tragedy isn’t just a story with a bad ending. It’s the story of a “fall” from an exalted position because of a fatal flaw of the lead character.

In Jerrold Tarog’s Heneral Luna (portrayed vividly by John Arcilla) — we witnessed in sensational color (I felt I was staring at moving Amorsolo canvases, especially during scenes shot in the rice fields. And the final scene and its likeness to the Spoliarium brought double masterpieces to my mind) the fall of a great man. He was a man in command, the Alpha and the Omega of Articulo Uno.

And what was Luna’s fatal character flaw that led to his fall — his assassination and the defeat of his cause? For sure, it wasn’t just President Emilio Aguinaldo’s (essayed by Mon Confiado) alleged treachery. Luna had a character flaw that was a chink in his armor, and that chink allowed that alleged betrayal to find its mark.

All of you who have seen the movie have the answer. And I’m pretty sure your answers mirror each other.

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And that is how great men fall into the wayside. For some, it is their lust for power, for others, their insatiable appetite for money. For others, it is pride and ego. Loving too much could also be a flaw, as molten anger is a flaw. The latter, Antonio Luna bubbled with. Alas, too much. Too much.

In the end, Luna’s unquestionable love of country was not enough to win its freedom. His brilliant strategy to vanquish the enemy could not have succeeded unless he first vanquished the enemy within. As we all must conquer our own insurrections within before we win the war beyond.

A leader must be feared, I concede, especially among followers reared in the Tower of Babel.  Tragically, Luna’s inability to keep his temper in check — which led to grumbling in the ranks — made a significant few hate him, not just fear him. The egos that Luna trampled on in his sincere desire to get his job done was fodder for the conflagration waiting to consume him — a conflagration believed stoked by someone feeling threatened by him.

One wonders: If Luna had better control of his temper, if Pedro Janolino had not been caught with his pants down and humiliated in public, if Aguinaldo did not believe the disgruntled members of his Cabinet who were Luna’s enemies — would we have driven away the Americans with Luna’s guerilla tactics that later proved so effective in Vietnam?

Character is destiny. Luna’s. Aguinaldo’s. Ninoy Aquino’s. Yours. Mine.

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But if you value history’s judgment more than present-day glory — don’t you think Luna’s character flaw led to his finest moment? Standing up to traitors unflinchingly? He was only 32. His fall and the repercussions of it made arbiters of history revisit his story.

Antonio Luna’s legacy may have been buried with his bones. But because of the movie Heneral Luna, and the revisiting and discussion of Philippine history that it inspired and galvanized,  it has been unearthed.

And judging from the reactions of those who have seen it — making Heneral Luna the highest grossing Filipino historical film of all time — Filipinos are giving the general the belated salute due him.

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)Photos from henerallunathemovie.com and Facebook.com/Heneral.Luna