Reviews - Rizal Without the Overcoat: In Commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of Jose Rizal

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Rizal Without the Overcoat: In Commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of Jose Rizal

It’s ironic that not having to take the required Rizal course probably rescued what would have likely been a faltered interest or even cultivated distaste for Rizal and his legacy. Instead I got to approach the historiography behind his stature in my own free time with genuine interest, and am now truly appreciative for our many historians who have attempted to demystify the man and his lasting impact, some of whose writing I was able to read this year while in semi-permanent quarantine, Ambeth Ocampo’s being the most central over the past few decades.

Rizal is a complicated figure who left behind an enormous amount of writings, most of which aren’t currently published, let alone read. And yet he’s been the standard to be molded from generation to generation as they craft their nationalist arguments, sometimes as its hero, sometimes its villain. Each time grossly simplified for narrative’s sake.

I think Nick Joaquin gets it closest when he says that each reads themselves into Rizal, conveniently approximating certain aspects of his character to that which most resembles their own vantage point and position in the world. I would say the same for his many critics as well, painting him in the hues of their most detested archetypes.

And so perhaps as long as no other national myth exceeds his in tragedy, we’ll continue to renew his image every few decades, hoping to inspire some element of fervor that may spark another shift in mass consciousness towards desiring more control over one’s destiny, one’s collective destiny.