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Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Yap:‘1896’ Vol. 2
By Januar Yap
Meanwhile
For the benefit of those who missed Vol. 1 last week, “1896” is a chronologically perverted movie, thanks to a soaked up film editor who spliced a clutter of incongruous reels. As a result, the editing yielded an accidental but nevertheless workable epic about the Internet reaching Philippine shores on the eve of the Philippine revolution and the Propaganda Movement, and so on and so forth.
So, where were we?
Ah, yes, La Solidaridad went online and the controversial Noli and Fili became free and downloadable e-books. As a result, the Soli enjoyed a phenomenal hit rate growing by leaps and bounds by the day.
Never before have photographs, testimonies, articles on the injustices inflicted upon the indios been so exposed.
Aug. 30, 1896, at the Spanish arsenal in San Juan del Monte: No, not 800 as our history books would tell us, but thousands of Katipuneros fired the first shots of the Philippine revolution. The Internet pulled together the otherwise cluttered uprisings in the regions. It was an epochal ferment of a people becoming a nation.
At this point, “1896” segued to 1972, around September when Ferdinand Marcos, in his intermediary baritone “aaah” declares Martial Law.
Never before did “aaah” become a virtue in public speaking. Marcos changed that, even our barrio captain would emulate the powerful “aaah,” a sound he'd normally just make after a deep swig of strong bahal. Although this time, it's in baritone.
As a sort of critique to this accidental epic, “1896” shows how new
tools usher in a cultural revolution in any place at any given time.
Its newness, its unexplored possibilities, often works as social leveler. “1896” shows how the Internet hastened an otherwise tedious means in winning back a nation. But that's familiar—text messaging pole-vaulted Edsa 2.
We are so proud our IT professionals are doing well in the global village. Poor, some were once ruthless tinkerers of pirated softwares.
(September 28, 2005 issue)
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