Aguila is a film unlike most
other FPJ films. In a way this is because the king of Philippine cinema is not
in a fighting role in this movie but more importantly unlike most of Fernando
Poe Jr. films this one in particular is not a self-glorification of FPJ as an
action star where he fends off a whole army singlehanded. Aguila is about the
Philippines as seen in the eyes of a Philippine clan which is Aguila. The one
thing I love the most in this movie is its lack of favoritism of characters. We
never dwell in one character alone even if that character is interesting. The
proof of such is the way FPJ is shown in the film. He is not present for around
a quarter of the film which is breaking his traditional style of character
focus. Another interesting fact is the way the clan is portrayed in the film. The
director did not hesitate in showing the taboo of the Philippine culture which
is a lot more that I would have asked in a good film. The characters are shown
in the light of a true person which is flawed but nevertheless living life the
way they can.
Although
the focus of the film is the history of the Aguila Clan, we can see a lot of
Philippine history in there from the betrayal of our own countrymen in where
the father of FPJ was killed up to the New People Army era and 70’s
demonstrations. The clan however was anything but clean. We can see from the
start of the Aguila clan that the beginnings of the clan was not noble in where
the patriarch of the clan raped the mother of FPJ to gain her love. The
matriarch although still deeply pained in the actions of her would be husband
still accepted him as her husband. This is the time of Spanish occupation in
where we can clearly see the unconditional acceptance of women of the things
they hate in order to survive. The matriarch has not only survived the trials
but rather thrived in it for the sake of her two new children.
The
character of FPJ although a protagonist was not spared from wrong decisions but
rather insisted on it by impregnating the daughter of a Sultan in Mindanao. He
however tried to amend his mistake by keeping the child. He then married a
female lawyer with severe smoking issues saying that she hates smoking but it
looks cool. After these events the bore children and all was peaceful until the
emergence of his foster father/arch enemy with the news of raping his sister.
FPJ with all his manliness never lay a finger to his foster father and lets the
abuse continue. He later amends this mistake again by offering sanctuary to his
sister. This sanctuary was then abused by his son by sleeping with his sister.
Ladies and Gentlemen the topic of: INCEST.
Finally
after years of wrong doing FPJ was old and he now amends his sins by being a
cast away, turning his back on his fortune and helping the poor people that comes
along his way. Finally we can see the self-glorification trend of FPJ, although
it much less in this movie. Now it is time for his sons to make a mistake. The first mistake is his 2nd
eldest son who wanted to change the Philippines by entering politics. His son
however also struck illegal deals along the way and thus was branded a buwaya.
He was later discovered but he keeps it mum by blackmailing the discoverer
which is also the mentor of his brother’s son. The son killed himself and
instead of the father being angry it was the congressman who was seen in the
film being guilt ridden. The finally
located FPJ and they held each other as father and son.
The
film itself was fun to watch because of the immense blunders the Aguila clan
members made along the way. It however also reflects in our lives as a Filipino
showing us that our ancestors/ family members also made a lot of blunders in
their time and we, ourselves would make mistakes in our time. The importance is
learning from our mistakes and accepting that we are not perfect and just like
how it ended with the father and son holding each other so must we continue to
look for a brighter future.
