GOMBURZA (2023)

Well Deserved Awards at MMFF 2023

Love this movie, I consider this well made. I love that they gave the most prominent priest role to a less well known actor, proven right since he really acted well in this movie and even won best actor at MMFF awards. Cedric Juan, you really did amazing in this movie. All the other actors are great too. Kudos as well to director Pepe Diokno for the great direction of this movie. Great movie, must watch for all but especially Filipinos.
My only main criticism is the costumes. The ties the men were wearing look like modern neckties and not something from the 19th century.

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a religious production with rich anti-colonial flavour

This film caught me unawares. I was not expecting a Christian production from *checks notes* Jesuit Communications to be of this high quality. But that's because Gomburza "isn't just about church politics", to lift a line from one of the characters.

The premise of the movie is relatively straightforward: Filipino-born priests fight to be seen as equals to Spanish-born friars. Eventually, the priests are caught up in broader anti-colonial struggles at great peril.

However, less straightforward is the underlying question of the whole film: what is the Filipino identity? Of course, the film does not – and cannot – answer this. And to be fair, it doesn't try. It is the posing of this question that lends the film an extra layer of sophistication and makes up for some of the poorer writing in the first half.

The narrative premise and the underlying identity question do result in a split focus. The storyline revolves around José Borgos as one of the key individuals fighting to be recognised on equal footing to the Spaniards. But the storyline also diverts, often awkwardly, to follow poorly developed side characters who are meant to form an important part of the broader anti-colonial movement and theme.

Despite the meandering, Gomburza is an intellectually engaging film – at least for me as someone completely unacquainted with the history. It is also a highly emotive film, something I didn't realise until it crept up on me in the last twenty minutes and I found myself bawling my eyes out even though I thought I hadn't developed an attachment to the characters.

All in all, as someone who grew up in Anglican and Uniting Church spaces here in Aus, seeing a religious production with a powerful anti-colonial flavour is incredibly refreshing. Colour me impressed.

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