GomBurZa (2023) review

The cinematography is nice. It has this warm and nostalgic touch, but at the same time, it still feels like it was shot with modern lenses. The colorist did a great job balancing all of that too. Nothing feels forced, or overly stylized just for the sake of looking historical. It all comes across naturally. It must have been really hard to live in a time without free speech, with very little democracy and freedom because of the colonizers. It is as if Filipinos were visitors in their own country. This is also one of the reasons why I don’t like the Catholic Church as an institution, especially when religion is used for power instead of proclaiming Jesus and actually living the way Jesus taught. That hypocrisy! The storytelling is slow, almost like actually reading a history book. I think that gives the movie a more reflective quality. The execution sequence is easily the most memorable part for me. Cedrick Juan is the standout performance. I also like how the ending wraps everything up by showing that their deaths were not simply an ending, but something that would continue to echo through Philippine history.