Aguila

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 2^nd 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.