Synopsis
Philippines is in need of a newborn hero.
A man named Jesus takes on the ruling military junta.
Jesus the Revolutionary
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Popular reviews
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Pretty much the weirdest Diaz, meaning it's a 2-hour futuristic action movie. Hesus seems to be bulletproof as he goes around the city after murdering his revolutionary squad for suspecting one of them is a mole. Sometimes it looks and feels very amateurish, mostly because of the acting, but Diaz does direct compelling shoot-outs and the noirish feel (yeah, it's kind of a noir too) is okay. Interesting to see his first movies and how he perfected his political, pessimistic style.
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"Hesus Rebolusyonaryo" is far as dystopian Lav Diaz goes, setting his socio-political noir in an immediate future where no forward change is yielded; the damp, frothy, neon-lit city of Brocka's "Maynila" indeed remains -- still and somewhat timeless, decrepit and a tap close to collapsing. Recalling rather explicitly the Marcos regime, the film's depiction of 2011 Philippines is once more pinned down by the Martial Law, somehow bringing the idea of an inescapable cycle, with only enough fascism a nation can waterboard itself into.
The film is in cursed times indeed -- the was, the will and the now. Its [new] hero is played by Mark Anthony Fernandez who turns in with admirable restraint and intensity. Both a poet and…
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Set in 2011, nine years into the future (Editor's note: that's how it is with dystopias, always in danger of going out of date), when the Philippines has been taken over by a military junta; the leader, a General Racellos, wields tight control over the country’s single TV station, radio station, and newspaper.
More: criticafterdark.blogspot.com/2014/10/hesus-rebolusyonaryo-jesus.html
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Hours 11-12
A somewhat good movie that I desperately wanted to be better. Loved the first 20 minutes of this as Diaz interweaves a revolutionary call to arms with an action set piece based on a betrayal within a human rights groups combined with cinematography that make me think that this was Diaz's attempt at remaking Assault On Precinct 13. Unfortunately the movie loses a lot of steam after the initial coup as Diaz retreats into shot after shot after shot of leaders talking to each other about nothing in particular, with none of the same care that was given in Batang West Side.
The movie does start to pick up again in the second half, mostly as Diaz…
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“The Philippine apocalypse is approaching!” screams a military commander, the in-a-nutshell warning of every Diaz film I've seen. This one's under two hours (!) and yes, dwelling on duration or lack thereof is Philistine territory (is it? At least two of the brightest viewers I know find it hard to barrel past two hours), but it's weird to watch Diaz try (?) to at least look like he's checking off the components of a standard action movie. The opening shots — night street, blue light, moody shadows — are pretty representative in terms of his images and pacing; ditto black-and-white imagery of a non-sexual woman in the Filipino countryside, more irritable but still as near-angelic as Jessica Chastain in Tree…
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Yes, Lav Diaz made an 80s-style actioner with about a dozen gunfights in empty nighttime streets and an invincible hero who takes out all his enemies no matter the odds. And it even uses cool non-diegetic music, a slick 80s-style score and a few songs by Filipino rock band The Jerks.
The craziest thing about it is that the action is all *good*—he could have had a career making FPJ-style movies had he wanted to—even though he *clearly* has no interest whatsoever in these scenes. (We can tell because in between them are long stationary shots of people talking about communist politics and reciting poetry and discussing literature with one another.
You know, Lav Diaz stuff.
What an odd, odd movie.
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If HESUS REBOLUSYUNARYO will be shown today, it has still forceful jolt for our contemporary setting. Its Martial Law in 2011 where the movie took off. This is the classic Lav Diaz that I love. Poetic, poignant, not more than 5 hours to dozed me off and the political angst is strong. Mark Anthony Fernandez where his vigilantism runs on his veins as Hesus Mariano is excellent for the part. He should be given more meaty roles like this. Hesus is torn between rebel leader Miguel Reynante played by Ronnie Lazaro and Colonel Arnold Simon played by Joel Lamangan. They were right, Lamangan is superb as the military colonel his best ever as an actor. And those blue background whether…
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A country is condemned to repeat its history if it doesn't learn from its mistakes from the past.