The decision to partake in struggles beyond the personal is gargantuan and its consequences are mortal. It is in this decision that heroism of del Pilar can be found.
By VINZ SIMON
Bulatlat.com
Meditative would be the best adjective that could be appended for Jerrold Tarog’s Goyo ang Batang Heneral. Goyo’s contemplative pacing is contrasted well against its predecessor, the loud and raucous Heneral Luna. The tense encounters and the fiery language of Luna has made cameos in Goyo but for the larger part, Ang Batang Heneral is its own movie.
Goyo serves the narrative of a boy amid a great social upheaval. To this end, the film is seemingly split into two parts, the first explores Goyo the young man, and the second recounts the heroism of General Gregorio del Pilar.
The earlier, slower part of the film is devoted to the deconstruction of heroism, where the least heroic of Goyo’s’ traits were probed: the macho exploits for self-flattery, laxity in leadership, complacency in command, and the blind adulation to Aguinaldo.
Much discussion has already been made about the requisites of heroism and the characteristics of a hero, but the movie was clear in its intent that Goyo was no hero. As a young man, Goyo was prone to exploits that fit his youth. Goyo played, he watched plays, he partied, he flirted, and his elder brother was a constant companion. The Philippine-American war was only a backdrop to the del Pilar’s merrymaking, but it wouldn’t remain so.
The war would eventually reach Goyong and friends, and this is where the film enters its second half. The next and last act for the film is a more familiar and straightforward arc of struggle, sacrifice, and heroism. The young Goyo, whose rank of general and nature as a warrior has thus been suppressed by childish fancy, found himself gritting his teeth as the revolutionary army maneuvered.
The hardships of battle polished the young Goyo into a proper officer, one who was willing to lead in the frontlines, direct tactics, and inspire men. Sure, del Pilar is clearly Aguinaldo’s hound and executor, that fraternal loyalty and confidence between the two has not been eroded. The necessities of battle, however, enabled del Pilar to mold himself into a true general of a revolutionary army.
Aptly, at the close of the second half of the film, General del Pilar, is not found distracted with beautiful women and on the dancefloor of high society, nor does he lavish himself with praise and ilustrado accoutrement, instead the General is found in a trench with a gun.
At its conclusion, it is true that Mr. Tarog’s film can be considered as grim. After all, the 1896 revolution has failed and its heroes, Filipino revolutionaries, embroiled themselves in shameful factional conflicts. But where hope takes root is in the transformation of Gregorio del Pilar from a boy full of petty desires to a general who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of an ideal. Del Pilar lost the Battle of Tirad Pass, but his eternal memory is his victory over his youthful distraction and attend to the needs of the war against the United States.
What Tarog’s film successfully relates then is the capacity of the youth to shed its immediate concerns to assume its rightful historic role as society’s hope, ang pag-asa ng bayan. Like the dominant discourse about the critical understanding of idols, Goyo’s take on transformations is timely. However, unlike the cold critiques towards adulation, what Goyo imparts about metamorphoses is warmer, more hopeful.
The tides of war convinced Gregorio of the distinguished del Pilar family to leave familiar comforts to lead battles against foreign invaders while drenched in blood, mud, and sweat. The decision to partake in struggles beyond the personal is gargantuan and its consequences are mortal. It is in this decision that heroism of del Pilar can be found.
While we must be critical of del Pilar’s unwavering loyalty to Aguinaldo, we must also recognize that the emergent contradiction of his loyalty was the realized capacity for sacrifice – the realized capacity for heroism. In turn, what must be equally clear is that heroism is never innate. The deconstruction of del Pilar came by way of characteristics and acts that, while unbecoming of a hero, is completely consistent with that of a young elite.
What ensured that Goyong the boy became del Pilar the revolutionary general is his participation in the struggle against the Americans. Without the decision to fight invaders, del Pilar would have been another ilustrado peppered with military ranks because of his clientilistic loyalty or an opportunistic bureaucrat like Pedro Paterno.
The implicit hope of Mr. Tarog’s film is in telling its audience that the sacrifice immediate comforts for the dogged pursuit of greater ideals can be made. If the del Pilar left the trappings of wealth and privilege, then so too can anyone.
The struggle against the Americans was the crucible for del Pilar’s turn from a pompous elite to a real soldier; his ultimate sacrifice was the redemption of his ignobility and his transfiguration as a hero.
At the end of the movie and at the conclusion of his life, General del Pilar proves that “Only through militant struggle can the best of the youth emerge.” 
