Ana Katrina Gandionco
G,TTH, 4:30-6:00

A Taste of Filipino Past: Amigo

Amigo is the very first historical film of the Philippines I’ve ever seen. I was

surprised that an American director was able to produce such a film since the economic,

religious, and political settings are very evident and it looks like the work of a fellow

Filipino. It is such an informative film, and it shows where the modern Filipino gets his

qualities from. The movie began when the Americans started occupying the villages, so the

class structure among the Filipinos weren’t very evident. Although it was clear that Rafael,

played by Joel Torre, was the person in charge because of the way he would try to stand up to

the Americans, how the people would sometimes ask him what to do, and since they all voted

for him for the first round of elections in the village. It was also mentioned in the movie that

he was the owner of the land and the other people in the village were working for their

harvest in his land. It was evident that the Americans felt superior to the Filipinos. Aside

from the fact that they had guns, they saw the Filipinos as monkeys, talking down on them.

It’s true that they were probably more intelligent and experienced than the Filipinos, but they

treated them like savages. One part that I think was clear that they didn’t consider the welfare

of the Philippines was when officer in charge of the whole operation scolded the officer in

charge of the village for celebrating their “fiesta” when they should be teaching them to

respect them.

I felt like there was equality between men and women in the Filipino society. Women

were working in the fields and doing household jobs. The men were the ones doing the heavy

work like carpentry. During the election, only men were elected, but that was because of