The Face of Jose Rizal as Medium: The Intersection of Nation, Religion, and Documentary Image

Patrick Campos (University of the Philippines Film Institute)

Every December 30, the Philippine government officially commemorates the life and death of Jose Rizal, the national hero, in front of his “rebulto” or monument, at the Rizal Park. After the official celebrations, a host of “millenarians” who make their annual pilgrimage to Manila, also gather around the monument to hold religious services.

Both these “official” and “folk” events center on a constant image of Rizal – his portrait taken by Edgardo Debas in 1890. This “documentary” image has been the basis of critical engagements that deal with the “local” and “foreign” configuration of the “Filipino.” This has also been the most widely disseminated surface image that functions as a cinematic, photographic, and televisual medium of Rizal and his association with Hispanic history and of the lifestyle branding and emblematization of Rizal in popular culture today. This same image is also the basis of the icon of the “Rizalistas,” which is a folk religion that takes off from Roman Catholicism but anchors itself on the idea of a “national paradise”.

The paper is a reflection on this portrait of Rizal as a medium that ironically contains both nationalist and religious impulses and encapsulates the religious currents present in notions of heroism and martyrdom.

Full paper available for download here !