Some teachers will ask you to relate your El Fili readings to current events. Well, in Chapter 07, you’ll read about a balete tree.
In terms of current events, in the recent 34th Metro Manila Film Festival, one of the movies was “Dayo”, a full-digital animated film.
The main character, Bubuy (voiced by Nash Aguas), is tormented by bullies. They force him to light a fire underneath a huge balete tree deep in the middle of a forest. Even the bullies are scared of the balete tree.
Bubuy goes and lights a bonfire using small sticks and dried leaves. The tree gets hurt, and by some force of magic from the kingdom of Elementalia, roots and vines sprout and attack Bubuy.
Bubuy runs, the vines go after him, and the chase continues onward even to Bubuy’s house. His lolo and lola get abducted by the creeping vines, so Bubuy now has to go underground to the kingdom of Elementalia to save his grandparents, with the help of a vegetarian manananggal named Anna. (Or is it mananang girl?)
Click on the image below to see the video…
Source: Dayo full cinema trailer (YouTube video)
To learn more about Dayo, the movie, please visit:
http://dayothemovie.com
So what’s the point of all this? We see that even up to now, some Filipinos are affected by the supernatural reputation of the balete tree. Simoun knew it back then, and he used that knowledge for his protection.
Looks like the Philippines of Rizal’s time still feels the same today.