Analysis Of The Film La Vida De Jose Rizal - 2089 Words

Introduction Chapter 1 The Problem and Its Background The American occupation (1898 ­1912) gave impetus for varied groups to ignite a political and cognitive battles for independence. Intellectuals found an arena to protest against the colonizers and fight for independence in the arts, primarily through literature and theatre (Tofighian, 2005). During the tail end of this period, 1912, two American businessmen, Albert Yearsley and Edward M. Gross, who operated their respective theaters, competed against each other to produce the first film on the life of one of the country’s national heroes. The film was entitled, â€Å"La Vida de Jose Rizal† (The Life of Jose Rizal); a story from his birth to his martyrdom. Film, often called movie or motion picture, by its general definition is a series of still images shown simultaneously to simulate the illusion of movement. Its early beginnings as said by Brian Manley, â€Å"cannot be credited to one individual as an oversimplification of any history tries to do.† Defending the fact, claiming that its origins are combination of the efforts of different inventions accumulated throughout the years (Fuentes, Labilles, and Reyes, 2013). Four years later, Edward Gross, one of the two American filmmakers, came up with another Rizal Movie entitled, â€Å"Noli me Tangere,† (Del Mundo, 1994). This movie, like that of â€Å"La Vida de Jose Rizal† were made and shown in the Philippines, using portable projectors in a circus tent (Avila, 2009). Hence, cinema began