MONTAÑEZ, JEBRYLINNE DAWN M.
BS PSYCHOLOGY 1A
RIPH
Reflection Paper: El Presidente
The movie „El Presidente‟ is a 2012 film written and directed by Mark Meily. The movie started
it off by showing General Emilio Aguinaldo as a child, receiving a strange prediction from a
fortune teller. In the film, it did also showed us, viewers, some significant historical events: from
the time he joined the Katipunan, his leadership in Cavite, his conflict with Andres Bonifacio,
the struggle for recognition of the country‟s sovereignty, the tension with Antonio Luna, his
flight from the American invaders, his eventual capture, and his life following the downfall of
the Katipunan until he attained his desire of giving freedom for our country.
As I continued to watch the movie, in elementary, as far as I can remember from our Hekasi
class, we had been taught that Aguinaldo was the one who orchestrated the deaths of Andres
Bonifacio and Procorpio. The film „El Presidente‟ frames Bonifacio as a power-hungry man who
is bitter about losing control over the factions of the Katipunan. Although we may never truly
know what he was like, these exaggerations of his character seem tame in comparison to the
theories that have been brought to light about Aguinaldo. What we know about these two men is
that they have different approaches on matters; Bonifacio preferred using force to engage his
enemies while Aguinaldo preferred talking and in a political manner which was through
scheming and manipulations of perceptions of truth. The movie was fascinating as it aroused a
lot of questions in my head and it made me realized something. Realizations such as the word or
being a „hero‟ is not that simple and just by giving your life to others for protecting your country.
Aguinaldo‟s side of history will always have that controversial aspect to it because of some
things that he‟s done right and wrong. Indeed, there is no perfect hero or the perfect person for
that matter.
After I watched El Presidente, I could also not deny the fact that Aguinaldo only did what he
thinks was the best decision in protecting the country and its countrymen and that he only did it
because Aguinaldo doesn‟t want to give up on our country‟s independence. The saying “There
are always two sides to every story.” goes perfectly well in this as we have different ways of how
we see and perceive Emilio Aguinaldo in the movie. The film did strike something in me. It
opened my mind to some other possibilities and a new perspective on how our country‟s
independence was attained. I was also able to appreciate our heroes more. The hardships, battles,
and decisions that they have done contributed a lot. Overall the film was unique and interesting.
Although the cinematography of the film wasn‟t that great, but the movie „El Presidente‟ is a
must-watch film especially for us, youths who will be the future of our country. Truly, our
independence is indeed a blessing to us Filipinos who lived and will continue on different
generations who benefited from it and enjoyed the privileges they carved for us from the past.
