Interesting: A Movie About The Philippine Insurrection (1899 – 1902)

23 Aug, 2011 by Warner Todd Huston

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Let’s hope this isn’t just another bad Hollyweird attempt to be “relevant” about today’s issues by garbling history and imposing modern sensibilities on people that have been dead for a hundred years.

Most Americans have no clue that we fought a vicious 4-year war in the Philippines at the end of the Spanish-American War (1899 – 1902). It was marked by misunderstandings and atrocities on both sides. Hostilities even continued for years after the “official” end of the war.

The action was part of the era when most major western nations engaged in all sorts of imperialist endeavors to enlarge their territories and their power on the international scene. The US was no different in the quest for power in those days — well, maybe a little different — but our country quickly soured on imperialism and never embraced the concept like the European powers did.

Film Synopsis:

AMIGO, the 17th feature film from Academy Award-nominated writer-director John Sayles, stars legendary Filipino actor Joel Torre as Rafael, a village mayor caught in the murderous crossfire of the Philippine-American War.

When U.S. troops occupy his village, Rafael comes under pressure from a tough-as-nails officer (Chris Cooper) to help the Americans in their hunt for Filipino guerilla fighters. But Rafael’s brother (Ronnie Lazaro) is the head of the local guerillas, and considers anyone who cooperates with the Americans to be a traitor. Rafael quickly finds himself forced to make the impossible, potentially deadly decisions faced by ordinary civilians in an occupied country.

A powerful drama of friendship, betrayal, romance and heartbreaking violence, AMIGO is a page torn from the untold history of the Philippines, and a mirror of today’s unresolvable conflicts.

The film is only appearing in a few theaters. To see if it is in your area CLICK HERE.

(I find it interesting they used “unresolvable” in that last bit. That really isn’t a proper word. They should have said “irresolvable.”)