1521 The Movie Review: A romance between a babaylan and a slave goes pffffft
By Marivir R. Montebon
New York – I was eagerly anticipating for 1521 (Francis B. Lara Ho, Mary Krell-Oishi, writers; Michael Barder, director) as it opened only for October 2, 2023, nationwide.
I was mighty proud and curious, knowing that it was about my motherland province where Lapu-Lapu killed in 1521 the world’s first circumnavigator, Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan serving the Spanish crown, in what is called the Battle of Mactan.
It was also well timed to open the Filipino American history month of October. But my troupe of friends finished the movie frustrated.
1521 The Movie (Photo from newspapers.ph)
First, I haven’t even warmed my seat yet, I was already uncomfortable hearing English as the medium. The language was making the acting awkward.
1521 was a victorious story of Cebu and Mactan, a recorded first historic win of natives against Spanish colonialists. So, why English? It had to be said in our native language to ensure the cultural expression of the actors. English subtitles could have bridged world understanding.
Second, the love story between Diwata (Bea Alonzo) and Enrique (Hector David Jr.) embedded in the epic of Lapu-Lapu (Michael Copon) was unconvincing and ridiculous.
A babaylan is a respected leader of an indigenous tribe. She functions as healer, teacher, spiritual leader, and if need be, a warrior to protect her tribe. 1521 failed to uphold that esteem of the babaylan.
The character Diwata desecrated such a highly important position. Alonzo personified the babaylan like a silly high school girl (speaking lines included) who’s falling head over heels on a slave interpreter. I was tormented watching her cheesy portrayal.
Poor acting was not only the problem here, but the script and story line itself. Michael Copon as Lapu-Lapu was to me the only good actor in this movie.
In the historical accounts written by Pigafetta, Magellan had an interpreter by the name Enrique, a slave. It may be an artistic license to make Enrique an emissary for the Spaniards and the natives. An over-reach, I’d say, because the merciless Spaniards would not have allowed a slave to wander and mingle with natives.
Nevertheless, Enrique and Diwata fell in love in the short days that they were together and decided to elope. Never mind if the native women were raped and killed by a handful of Spaniards, Diwata relinquished her leadership and decided to run away with her lover.
Third, the script was poorly written. Speaking lines like “I cannot live without you” made me cringe. They were just together for a couple of days.
Fourth, the costumes and the set were off tangent. In our precolonial glory, women and men were tattooed. The more tattoos meant one was from royalty or a higher social status. The women were topless then, and their breasts were covered with jewelry and tattoos.
What I saw in 1521 were natives wearing tattered rugs. Precolonial societies wove silk, abaca, and cotton. Their clothes were beautiful and sturdy. They wore golden necklaces, anklets, and bracelets. This was the reason why the Spaniards were so tempted to steal from them and rape the women.
On the other hand, the Spaniards, especially Magellan (Danny Trejo) and Enrique, had off-era clothes which were trimmed with silver rickrack. They looked tacky. They also wore plastic rain boots at the battle of Mactan.
They were sea farers, they could easily be wearing shabby clothes, tattered leather boots instead of shiny rain boots.
The movie showed native women washing clothes in a mud pool, twice. That was so horrible. Mactan island is majestically wrapped by rivers and streams, even some parts of it in contemporary times.
Finally, the highlight - the Battle of Mactan. Lapu-Lapu had instructed the warriors that he would be the one to finish off Magellan. But when they were face to face in the battle, Lapu-Lapu spoke (why would he have a monologue in the time of battle?) and did not strike at Magellan. The natives instead threw their spears that killed him.
Old anecdotes would have it that Lapu-Lapu killed Magellan by denting his heavy armor and striking him with his long bolo. The battle scene in the movie omitted the most important detail and was anti-climactic.
Instead, we were taken to the scene of Diwata and Enrique, that their love conquered all, waking up reincarnated in a hotel, presumably in Mactan.
My jaw dropped. I was tormented watching the two-hour movie. #
