1898: Los Ultimos de Filipinas

This is one for the history lovers. A spectacular film on the last days of Spain's hold on the Philippines.

A patriotic film in which Filipino revolutionaries laid siege to a fortified church manned by colonial Spanish troops in the town of Baler . This successful ¨Los Ultimos De Filipinas¨is set during the time of the Spanish-American War , 1898 , at a place located on the eastern coast of Luzon, is some 225 kilometers distant from the Philippine capital city of Manila . There is a Spanish detachment in Baler , in the Philippines, it was garrisoned by a fifty-man detachment of the 2nd Expeditionary Battalion "Cazadores" of Philippines , under Captain Enrique Morenas y Fossí (Eduard Fernandez) , as the Principe district political-military governor , along with lieutenant Martin Cerezo (Luis Tosar ) , Sargento Jimeno (Javier Gutiérrez) and Doctor Vigil (Carlos Hipolito ) . Commandant Morenas realizes that the native people of his district are planning an insurrection . He orders his troops to entrench in the village church and being strongly stranded . On June 1, 1898 , Morenas began work to dig a well , stock food supplies and ammunition and to fortify the church compound of San Luís De Tolosa in Baler's town square against a possible attack . The church was the only stone building in the area , it was besieged by the Tágalos rebels . During their stay , which is prolonged for nearly a year , there are several incidents ; suffering enemy bullets , starvation and illness , such as beriberi , dysentery , and fevers which demonstrate sacrifice and braveness of the Spanish military . At the end took place a peace treaty (Paris) between Spain and USA .There are men they want medals and men they want come back.

The jingoist flick attempts to glorify and praise the bold acts and tenacity of the Spanish people , showing their bravura and comradeship , but there is also a sour critique to useless heroism . A well pace movie with nice narrating structure taken from famous American warlike films , being professionally made . The cast is pretty good , such as Alvaro Cervantes as a valiant and upright soldier as well as a brave courier , Eduard Fernandez as supreme commandant , Luis Tosar as stubborn lieutenant , Carlos Hipolito as a good doctor and the veteran Karra Elejalde as Fray Carmelo . And other important actors appearing as Miguel Herrán , Pedro Casablanc ,Ricardo Gómez , Ciro Miró and Patrick Criado as a deserter .This is a reboot based on the 1945 classy version by Antonio Román with Jose Nieto , Guillermo Marin , Conrado San Martin , Manolo Moran , Tony Leblanc , Fernando Rey and Nani Fernández . This is the best of 40's productions exalting the Spanish heroism , such as ¨Escuadrilla¨, ¨Harka¨, ¨El Santuario No Se Rinde¨, ¨Raza¨ and ¨ The siege of Alcázar¨ .

The film packs a colorful cinematography by Alex Catalá , shot on exotic location in Jungle Equatorial Guinea , and the Village and Church was filmed in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, , Santa Lucía de Tirajana, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Canary Islands,UNESCO Biosphere Reserve . And a thrilling as well as evocative musical score by Roque Baños . The picture pays tribute to a gorgeous song which in first rendition was performed by a beautiful Tágala woman : Nani Fernandez , who sings the famous song ¨Yo Té diré¨ by maestro composer Halpern . This ¨Propaganda¨ motion picture was well directed by Salvador Calvo , a good filmmaker at his best . Here Calvo surprises us with a historical film plenty of feats , adventures and heroic deeds . Salvador is a Spain's very celebrated filmmaker , he has made a lot of of TV movies . Being stunning and compellingly directed by Salvador Calvo who has made successful TV Series and episodes such as ¨Lo Que Escondían Sus Ojos¨ , ¨Mario Conde¨ , ¨La Duquesa¨ , ¨Askrana¨ , ¨Paquirri¨ , ¨Cuentame Un Cuento¨ , and has directed for cinema this hit ¨Los Ultimos De Filipinas¨ .

The historic facts are : The siege took place for 11 months, or 337 days. On June 1, 1898, Morenas began the impregnable defense . On the night of the 30th , 800 Filipino troops attacked, and the garrison fell back to the church. The town priest, Candido Gómez Carreño, also quartered himself in the church. The first few days of the siege saw several attempts by the Filipinos to get the Spanish to surrender by leaving letters, while they surrounded the church with trenches. On July 8 the Revolutionary Commander, offered a suspension of hostilities until nightfall, which was accepted.On July 18, Calixto Villacorta took command of the Filipinos . He also sent a warning letter, which was rebuffed. The Spanish had to endure confinement in a small, hot, humid space. As the siege progressed, their food supply began to diminish through usage and spoilage. Enemy rifle fire did cause casualties but diseases did more damage. The first Spaniard to die was Gómez Carreño.In September, Lt. Alonso, and then in November, Captain Las Morenas succumbed to beriberi. Command fell to Lt. Saturnino Martín Cerezo when Las Morenas died in December. More than once the Spanish made forays to burn nearby houses to deprive the Filipinos of much needed cover.The Filipinos attempted to smoke them out by setting fires beside the church wall but this was repulsed and their timber captured. Of the fifty men who entered the church, around thirty survived the 11-month siege. Fourteen men died from disease. Only two men died from wounds. There were four deserters from the garrison. Two men were imprisoned for helping in the desertion of another , and executed on orders of Martin Cerezo on June 1, 1899, the day before the surrender . The battle is considered part of the Spanish-American War since the Filipinos were allied with the United States at the outset. That war ended in December 1898 with Spain's surrender and annexation of the Philippines to the United States. However, cut off from communications with their own government and military, the Spanish forces continued their defense against the Filipino forces until 1899

You have to go back ... back into time. Way back into time that is. As the title suggests 120 years ago right now. You did not have many means of communication, so when you found yourself in a compromising situation, you did not have the opportunity to call for help that easily as it might be today. So Spanish Soldiers find themselves in a very strange war situation with a man at helm who seems determined but also one that goes by he book (for better or worse).

The main character has his positive and negative traits. Something we will come to learn during the course of the movie. He is played by a very famous spanish actor. So there is immediately a certain gravitas. But even people who may see him for the first time will feel his screen presence. And while this is a general (no pun intended) war situation, it does revolve around him and what happened ... obviously not everything will have played out as shown on screen (there could not be enough information for that much detail), but overall this is quite draining ... as it should be

Excellent production with a very good cast, and a good score. So enjoyable, it would have been nice as a mini-series.

"1898" actually opens in 1897, as a Spanish garrison in the isolated Philippine town of Baler is massacred by Filipino rebels fighting for Philippine independence from Spain. A few months later a small detachment of young and inexperienced Spanish soldiers arrives to find out what happened. Taking refuge in a local church, they also come under attack from the rebels, which eventually results in an almost year long and hopeless (for the Spanish) siege.

I knew nothing about the siege of Baler until I watched this movie. It's obviously set in the dying days of the once mighty Spanish Empire. Not only are the Spanish fighting the Filipino rebels, the Spanish-American War has also broken out, and the last of Spain's colonial possessions are in the process of falling to the Americans. This siege continues past the Spanish surrender to the United States, and past the official transfer of sovereignty over the Philippines to the United States. These are, quite literally, the last few dozen Spanish soldiers fighting for the glory of the Empire - an Empire that they either don't realize or won't accept has fallen. Even once given evidence in the form of Spanish newspapers reporting the end of the war, the commander of the Spanish troops in the church refuses to believe that Spain is defeated and insists on fighting on, in spite of increasing hunger and sickness among his men; in spite of the desire of more and more of the Spanish under his command to give up; in spite of a few desertions. It's the pride of Empire here; national pride that simply won't bend, even in the face of indisputable reality. The sense of desperation among the Spanish was authentically portrayed, and the scenes of the siege are convincing. Because it is a siege, there's only limited portrayals of actual warfare. The bulk of the movie is about conditions inside the church, and the situation of the Spanish men facing them. And it does seem authentic.

Because I knew nothing about the siege of Baler, I did do some reading after watching this movie. I can see that a few details were changed or omitted - in particular a failed attempt to rescue the besieged Spanish, ironically enough made by the Americans after Spain had surrendered (although we were shown a number of dead American troops near the town, which might be a reference to that, no mention was made that they were involved in a rescue attempt.) But, generally speaking, as far as I've been able to find out this is a pretty accurate depiction of what happened at Baler, as the Spanish Empire fought its last battle. And while there may be a handful of minor inaccuracies, I can't honestly say that they're important enough to make me downgrade this movie. This is a Spanish movie, filmed in Spanish, so if subtitles bother you this will likely not be an enjoyable experience. They didn't bother me, though. This presented, I thought, a powerful reflection on the agonizing last months of the Spanish Empire. (10/10)