Amigo Film Response

John Sayles’s film Amigo tells the events of the little town of San Isidro prior to finding Emilio Aguinaldo and shows a perspective that most American war movies do not depict. The film emphasizes on morals heavily from the beginning by throwing difficult and controversial situations at Lieutenant Compton and his men. John Sayles’ movies are usually more concentrated on character rather than plot and it was interesting to watch the events from the Filipinos’ frame of reference with the “bad guys” being the Americans trying to fulfill “manifest destiny” of expanding “from sea to shining sea” through acquiring Philippines. Being Filipino, I felt disturbed with how the townspeople were being treated especially since I can understand what they were saying rather than relying on the subtitles given which were not always accurate. I found myself relating the main character, Rafael Dacanay, to my maternal grandfather because their values, beliefs and outlook on life seemed to be aligned. My grandfather, just like Rafael, always puts everyone and everything else before him. If there is any help he could offer, he would. Even if he was put in humiliating and difficult situations, he would strive to find the light in those moments. Since the United States are always involved in other country’s affairs, I found myself wondering if Americans were treating indigenous people the same way they treated the Filipinos especially with the conflicts about Syria today. The United States received the nickname “police of the world” since Americans are always involved in other country’s affairs and I always found it interesting that the U.S. always jumps into an issue that’s gone too far before they want to help end disasters like the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide and now Syria.