Pluma: Rizal ang Dakilang Manunulat

The documentary, titled Pluma: Rizal ang Dakilang Manunulat attempts to trace the
evolution of Rizal, showing how Rizal was able to document parts of his life that is reflected
from his writingsfrom his birth up to his last moments. The documentary also highlighted
parts of his life that made a big impact influencing his patriotism; the incident when Teodora
Alonso was accused of poisoning, the death of the GOMBURZA priests, and also his
controversial speech that he made in honour of his friends achievements.
Given the instances during Rizals time, he was from an ilustrado family which helped
tremendously in his development as a child, the right type of environment to be nurtured despite
the influence and tyranny of the friars during his time. He was said to be born as a genius, but I
believe that the concoction of forces paved even further in not just unlocking but also surpassing
his potentials; I became envious of this part because I can somehow associate myself with
Rizals background, being a prodigy, however mishaps do happen, and my development was put
into a halt. I see Rizal as a model of genius that is achievable through building yourself to
become a genius. Ive always desired or wished to be a genius, and Rizal was an example of how
a genius was made not born, he came from a society that prejudice was waiting in their front
door and despite how grand the achievements of one, it would be battered down. Rizals life was
a life of determined mastery of whatever he laid his eyes on, he will see to it that hell acquire
and apply it. It made me feel somewhat associated in him and even inspired because of his will.
My reaction to Rizals life was a fusion of envy, inspiration, gloom, and yearning. Would
I become something as close to him, someone who challenged an empire, whose glory awakened
the consciousness of a nation that eventually lead to its freedom? I think that I may not be
subjected to a place of such recognition, but to a life that I may live like how Rizal lived, a life of
determination, only with him was his pen and paper, and his indomitable will; a life that is like of
a fleeting arrow, built of nothing but direction and intent.
I was really attracted to the idea of his intellect and pursuit; he channelled his life and
works through his writings, a man who thrived in his realm of words, who would have thought
that a mere writing can become even bigger than an empire. It is true that the pen is mightier than
the sword, for swords can only do so little and that it has to be wielded along with violence,
however the pen and paper which he used to communicate his ideas, possess a subtle genius
behind his writings, there is an ideaand ideas are bulletproof, its effect so subtle yet a force to
reckon with. It was he, the great writer, our national hero, Jose Rizal, a genius in his own right.
"Genius has no country, genius burst forth everywhere, is like light and air the patrimony of
all; cosmopolitan as space, as life as God. Jose Rizal