Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis (2016)

The film opens with the Philippine national poet José Rizal, who, awaiting his execution, writes his final poem, Mi Ultimo Adios. The poem is recited at length twice over the course of the film. Those present at his execution are overcome with grief, and Rizal remains one of the revolution’s leading figures in its aftermath. As the film unfolds, several loosely connected storylines take turns coming to the fore. At the beginning, Simoun has an important meeting with the Captain General of the Philippines, during which Simoun’s transformation into a revolutionary and his status as a man wanted by the Spanish are explained. It becomes clear that the Captain General seeks to fight the revolution by playing its various factions against one another. His lover, Cesaria Belarmino, helped the Spanish achieve a victory over Andrés Bonifacio and the other revolutionaries by betraying them. The Spanish are confident of their success against the revolution and, for example, enjoy a screening with the Lumière brothers’ Cinématographe. The Captain General makes a deal with Tikbalang, who appears in male, female, and androgynous forms, in order to watch the group around Gregoria de Jesus. This is the next major story arc, focusing on national hero Andrés Bonifacio and his wife, Gregoria de Jesus. Bonifacio is wounded, captured, and taken into the mountains, where he is shot and his body hidden. Gregoria de Jesus sets out with the two women Aling Hule and Cesaria Belarmino, and the priest Mang Karyo, to search for her husband’s body. They suspect it is on a mountain, where they spend most of the film searching the surrounding area. They encounter Tikbalang and a woman whose husband was also taken away and who gives them shelter. They also come into contact with a religious sect that is likewise trying to overcome Spanish colonial rule and invokes Sebastian Caneo, described partly as a real-life figure and partly as a mystical being. During the search for Bonifacio’s body, Cesaria Belarmino confesses to Gregoria de Jesus that she betrayed the revolutionary cause, and Bonifacio in particular. Gregoria attacks Cesaria and is on the verge of beating her to death with a stone, but stops because she, too, is not without guilt. The third major storyline concerns Simoun, who is shot by Basilio during an attempt to kill him. Basilio’s friend Isagani then takes Simoun out of the city to his uncle. Because of his injury, Simoun and Isagani depend on a boatman and a farmer to transport them. The two men betray them, but they nevertheless reach their destination in the end. On the way, Isagani witnesses atrocities committed against villagers and, together with Simoun and the farmer accompanying them, encounters the group around Gregoria de Jesus and Tikbalang at a feast held by the sect. Isagani and Simoun eventually reach their destination. Isagani’s uncle tends to the wounded man, but Simoun poisons himself when he learns by telegram that the Spanish are coming to get him. Before he dies, he confesses that he played the various revolutionary factions against each other for personal reasons. The film ends with Gregoria de Jesus, Cesaria Belarmino, and Aling Hule setting off from the mountain. In a voice-over, Gregoria explains that their unsuccessful search lasted 30 days.