JOSE RIZAL (1861-1896), Philippine nationalist and martyr, pride of the Malayan race, was a versatile genius. He was a poet and patriot, novelist, painter, sculptor, linguist, physician, ophthalmic surgeon, educator, ethnologist, naturalist, economist, engineer, and theologian. He was an expert swordsman and a good shot. Having studied and traveled extensively in Europe, America and Asia, he mastered 22 languages including Latin, Spanish, German, English, French, Chinese, Japanese, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Russian, Tagalog, and other native dialects. "Jose Rizal" is the most spectacular and controversial Philippine film epic made to date. It was released in Manila, in June 1998, the Centennial of Philippine Independence.
You ever hear of someone having a "martyr complex"? Jose Rizal had it in spades. He was willing to sacrifice everything including life itself for this patriotic ideal of a more democratic Philippines. The irony of course is that the ideals he fought for, i.e., national unity and a national identity seem to have been forgotten after the Americans left in 1946. Unlike most of his countrymen of his era, Jose Rizal was an intellectual and he was prescient enough to realize that there could never be a country unless each Filipino recognized the need for self-sacrifice and putting aside differences for the common good. Sad to say that since his death, the country has degenerated into rival political clans and families - pretty much the same way Filipinos used to be before the Spaniards arrived.
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