Elise Estrella on 
jazzen mae dioneda on 
My fellow MSV writer, Carla Giopaolo kindly sent me tickets to watch Nicanor Tiongson’s Noli at Fili Dekada 2000 (directed by Soxie Topacio) at the PETA Theater Center. It’s been years since I last saw a play, and even longer since I last read Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. While I diligently read both novels in high school, I did so because I needed to, and not because I wanted to, which took out the fun in reading it.
And while I took binder paper-full of notes on both novels, I can’t say that I really, really understood what Jose Rizal wanted me to see. Yes, I studied the plot and the characters and the symbolizations, and read beneath the surface, but, as I was in high school and, sadly, couldn’t care any less for anything other than the latest single released by my favorite boyband or when the next sleepover at my friend’s house would be, I’m afraid Rizal’s message didn’t really reach me.
Until I watched this play.
A contemporary interpretation of Rizal’s novels, Noli at Fili Dekada 2000 (Dos Mil) revolves around Ibarra Marasigan, the newly elected mayor of Maypajo , a town in San Lorenzo in the Southern Tagalog region. When rampaging waters, mud and timber kills three thousand people and destroys houses and livelihood, Ibarra decides to put a stop to deforestation by calling for a total log ban. While he finds support for his project and goes through with it with the zeal of the idealis, Ibarra uncovers a web of corruption that involves his future father-in-law and godfather Governor Santiago Santos, Provincial Commander Colonel Salvador “Salvi” Savatierra and the bishop of the diocese of San Lorenzo, Monsignor Damaso.
Faced with forces (of evil) greater than he, Ibarra’s life takes a turn for the worse when he is removed from office by “people power”, framed and arrested; his fiancée, Clarissa Santos was blackmailed to marry Salvi, and his childhood friend, Kumander Elias of the National Liberation Army was killed while aiding Ibarra’s escape. Ibarra returns three years later as Kumander Simon, a vengeful man bent on making those who caused his downfall pay.
With powerful performances from all of the cast members, I realized that I finally understood Rizal’s sentiments. I realized (sheepishly) that I remembered the little (and pretty useless) details like the tinola, but not the sentiment behind the tinola (the Indios getting the losing end of the deal). I remembered that Joel Torre played Ibarra and that Chin-Chin Gutierrez played Maria Clara, but I didn’t remember the characters beneath the actors and the costumes.
What this adaptation did was bring relevant social issues (the term for which is something that I haven’t heard since I graduated from college and had long stopped joining rallies, “kanser ng lipunan”) one by one by one out into the light. There’s illegal logging and deforestation, graft and corruption, immorality, and the pure and simple ugliness of the dark side of human nature. It tackles each one in its most infuriating and exasperating form.
Then it makes you see.
Times have changed. There are no guardia sibil, and we are no longer under Spanish rule, but the evil within has remained, lurking, masked. But it’s all the same. The tinola today may have Knorr Chicken Cubes, but it’s the same damn tinola. What Rizal wrote about before exists today, just as dark and just as evil as it had been before.
Then, you immediately understand what Ibarra was fighting for. You understand what motivated him as Ibarra, and what caused him to become Simon. And you realize that you still see what Rizal wrote about a hundred and twenty-two years before on the news. You see the same problems in the government. Then, you understand. You finally understand.
And it makes you hope, wish and pray that Ibarra would triumph over evil. But, you know that there is no happy ending for Crisostomo Ibarra, nor is there one for Ibarra Marasigan.
The cast all gave a very, very good performance. I cried at the opening scene, where several members of the cast enacted the raging flood that swept through Maypajo; then again at Ibarra’s death scene. In between, I was rolling my eyes (mostly at Salvi), nodding in frustrated agreement, laughing (“DKD! Diyos Ko, Day!”), covering my mouth in denial (at Elias’ heroic death) and rooting, really rooting for Ibarra Marasigan to win in the end.
How does one react when you see a play like this? Do you say, “Oo nga ano!” then nod vigorously in agreement before you go on about with your normal lives? Or do you do something about it? What can you do?
One of the members of the open forum we joined asked, if there was one word that the cast wanted the audience to use to describe the play’s message, what would that word be? I can only think of one word: HOPE. Hope for our government. Hope for our country and hope for ourselves. Hope “that every Filipino will assume the responsibility of effecting inner transformation even as they combat the evils of their society”.
And that, my friend, is exactly what Jose Rizal wanted us to do. I finally understand it.
—
Visit the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) website here.
The PETA Theater Center is located at:
No. 5 Eymard Drive
(formerly Sunnyside Drive),
New Manila, Quezon City
It becomes ever scarier when you realize that the very things Rizal was trying to fight for are still around today. Makes you wonder if the fight will truly be over any time this lifetime.
bigla akong nahiya sa sarili ko.. hehehe..
galeng ng review mo! makes me cry kasi talagang di ko nakita.. but eneweiz, with this review, it’s as if nakita ko na rin ang play.
great job! (pero teka *esep*, dati pa naman eh! hehe…)
i hated the noli and fili books in high school because like you’ve said, we were forced to read them. it was when i was already in college- in one hot summer day- na binuklat ko ang mga books na ‘yan and read them. actually read them.
i understood what rizal was trying to tell the world. we really need major changes. but like what elias said, we need to shed blood in order to attain this ‘change’. i cried at the end of noli where elias died. it was such a futile death. i can so relate din sa buhay niya. hayz.
i like this play. it’s like a reloaded re-make of noli and fili. hehe! i wish i was there to watch it.
you know what’s so sad? the people in rizal’s time have no ample freedom to fight for changes and we- in this time and age- we all have the rights and freedom to do it. but it’s like nobody gives a shit anymore. to think na madaming nagbuwis ng buhay just for us to have this freedom that we’re enjoying right now.
i seriously think we’re dooming ourselves in apathy.
*sigh*
emo mode na rin lang, i would like to share this last part of a poem i wrote in college:
i am now but a broke gambler who lost everything in a jeopardy
like a tired, frail warrior who won battles but not yet the war
i chase the truth no more for it’s a despairing quest
drawn to the depth of its abyss makes death the only option
i have put myself to the limits
stepped on the edges of cliffs
gave my best shots…
but i could not change the world’s destiny
maybe because i am not god
i cannot perform miracles
so what now?
nothing else to do but to sit back and hope for a happy ending
——-
i just realized, parang si rizala at elias pala ang nagsasalita sa tula. hehe!
wow, elise, you should make a career at making reviews, seriously. galing!
nahawahan yata ako ng emo mode.
ako, i enjoyed noli back in highschool. i liked it a lot. but not because i understood the message behind the story. i just enjoyed laughing, crying with Rizal’s characters. andami kong iniyakang parte run, yung kina sisa, crispin and basilio, elias’ death, etc. With fili naman, wala lang. hindi ko siya ma-gets nun so wala lang. sapilitang pagbasa, like you said.
tama. kakalungkot pero tama, hanggang ngayon yung ‘cancer of the society’ nun, hanggang ngayon present pa rin. Palala pa nga. What’s sadder is we don’t know how to cure it.
@ Kat: There are things that are “timeless”. Sadly, it goes both ways, both good and evil
@ JM: Hehe *blush* thanks, H! Sayang kasi ba’t di ka nakapanood?
Mas maganda talaga ‘pag na-experience mo yung performance.
@ Yumi: That’s true. At least ikaw you read it for fun. I never touched any of the books again after high school. Ngayon lang ulit. The play really gave me a new perspective. Mas naintindihan ko na yung gusto sabihin ni Rizal.
Ngayon din parang andami nang nag-sasabing wala na tayong pag-asa, wala nang pag-asa sa Pilipinas… just makes me think paano magkakaroon ng pag-asa kung yun na lang ang iniisip? Hope doesn’t come to you, you choose to feel it. And then you do something about it. Pero yun nga, mas madali kasing maging apathetic kesa gumawa eh. Kakalungkot lang.
I really, really love your poems. Hindi ako mag-sasawang mag-sabi na idol kita pagdating sa poetry
@ LD: Hehe thanks, Louise! Pero siempre, madali lang i-review ‘pag gusto mo yung irereview mo.
Hindi ko na maalala ang mga pangyayari sa Noli at El Fili. At least not clearly. Sa sobrang labo, nung tumatakas si Ibarra dun sa play, talagang hinawakan ko yung braso nung kaibigan ko at nag-react. “Oh, God! Mamamatay si Elias, ‘di ba?” Dun ko lang talaga naalala. At yun nga, sobrang nalungkot ako kasi funny character si Elias dun.
Naisip ko lang na ang swerte nung mga batang kasama namin sa theater kasi napanood nila yung play sa panahong binabasa din nila yung mga libro para sa school. Sana lang na-realize nila yun.
Ang hirap naman talagang gamutin nung mga problema. Kung sino pa yung magaling, yung tama, yung gustong tumulong, sila pa yung lumalabas na masama at kadalasan napapahamak
So sad.
i love the books but i hate them too in a way na tragedy kinalabasan nila. parang resistance is futile talaga kahit noon pa. kaya ako, tumigil na sa pagiging idealistic. ang motto ko ngayon: “ah, what the hell?” hehe!
nah, deep inside, may wishful thinking pa rin ako na someday, makikita ng mga anak o apo ko ang bukang-liwayway na hindi na nagisnan ni pareng elias.
naku, kinareer ko ang pagbabasa ng Noli at Fili right after I graduated highschool.
just like u, nung compulsory pa siya sa HS, talagang nagmura ako dahil hindi naman ako sanay na magbasa ng mga ganung books. tagalog and english pocketbooks lang! hahaha..
then, one boring summer day, naisip ko siyang basahin dahil sa recommended ng bestfriend ko. basahin ko daw with all my heart at maa-appreciate ko.. and indeed.. i love noli and fili!
@elise: okay lang.. ganda ng review mo eh… naiimagine ko yung play..
@ Yumi: LOL Yuming Yumi yung motto mo! Natawa ako ng malakas doon! Hay naku, oo nga. Kalungkot lang na daang taon na ang lumipas eh hindi pa din nakikita ang bukang liwayway na iyon hahaha sana soon…
@ H: Buti ka pa! Ako talagang tinamad na ng tuluyan. Ang binabasa ko na lang ay yung mga notes ko dun sa libro. Mas malinaw siya sa books, pero babatukan talaga ako ni Kuya Pepe kung pwede! As in nakakaloka pala ang mga notes ko! May commentaries at mga tanong pa wahaha
Babasahin ko sila ulit, one of these days. Buti na lang nasa high school ang kapatid ko. Sayang nga at hindi siya nakasama dun sa play. Ang naaalala ko kasi ay yung part III noon. Yung Ibong Mandaragit. Nalimutan ko na kung sino ang nag-sulat pero sa book na yun ipinakita kung ano ang kinahinatnan ng kayamanang naiwan ni Ibarra/Simon.
Hmm… nakakainggit naman kayo! Gusto ko ding maging favorite ang Noli at Fili! haha Favorite ko kasi na ganyan yung Classic Tagalog na novel, yung Canal dela Reina ni Liwayway Arceo. Yun binasa ko talaga yun. Hay naku. Babasahin ko talaga ulit yung Noli at Fili one of these days.
nyeyeyehehe, i rember, nung hs ako, ang role ko si Imutis..ung pugot ung ulo. nyahaha.
musta ate? nareciv mo ung reply ko? ahehe..mishooo
ate yumi how are you na? tagal ko nawala sa sirkulasyon, nyahaha, kamusta ang dyeta?
musta ate Harriett with h?hehehe
hi din sa lahat!!!tc lahat tayo,
T.O.D–No one can tell you how little you are. You decide how big you will be
bwahaha, parang seryoso oh,, nyeheh hindi bagay…
cheers sa lahat..nagtimpla ako ng choquick!!!
things i knw ’bout rizal
he’s not perfect, hindi pantay ang balikat niya, malaki ang ulo niya, maraming babae(although hindi naman niya pinatulan lahat), teka, itutuloy ko pa ba ito? hehe parang walang sense eh, nyehehe,,,
ok…bakit ko nasabi iyon? nyahaha, kasi nung bata ako, idol na idol ko si Rizal, kasi mantakin ninyo naman, everyschool, may rebulto siya. so i said,, “ang galing-galing siguro niya gusto ko paglaki ko eh may rebulto din ako sa bawat school na pupuntahan ko”
but, how would i do that.? “ahhh, ok, siguro si Rizal ay perfect, siguro siya ang pinaka mabait siya, siguro siya pinakamatalino , siguro siya pinaka ganito, siya pinakaganoon,” see that’s how i perceived that before, nyehehe.. siya ang PINAKA kaya napili siya na pambansang bayani.
so high school, hindi ko na siya idol, lumalaki na ko hindi ko pa rin alam kung bakit nga ba siya ang pambansang bayani. ammff, sila recca at eugene na ang idol ko noon kasi sila ang nagliligtas ng mundo(ng anime) at least sila alam ko ang ginagawa. eh si Rizal? basta sabi ni teacher, ang pambansang bayani ay si Rizal. iyon ang palaging sinasabi so, kapag tinanong mo ko..
—-: alam mo ba kung sino ang pambansang bayani?
bernice: oo naman po (nagmamalaki pa, itinaas ang ulo at proud na proud)
—-: sige, tell me nga sino ang pambansang bayani?
bernice: eh di si Jose Rizal (naks!ganda ng ngiti)
—-:wow ang galing naman! eh bakit siya ang pambansang bayani?
bernice: (nanlamig) may i go out?
alam ko, alam ng lahat na siya ay pambansang bayani, pero alam ba ng lahat kung bakit?
then, hs,, nakasulubong ko si Noli at Fili sa hallway……
to be continued, inaantok na ko.. hahaha
nyt everyone