Ultimo: Different Ways of Killing a National Hero (2008)

Overview

A tribute-cum-reformulation-in-film of Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal's poem "Mi Ultimo Adios," Khavn's "Ultimo: Different Ways of Killing a National Hero" explores identity and nationhood as viewed through the lens of a truly post-colonial individual. Ultimo is a 90-minute black-and-white silent film, with scenes from the director's meanderings in La Palma (Canary Islands, Spain) interspersed with lines from Rizal's poem, which was written a day before the hero's execution in 1896. Waiting, ambivalence, and re-membering —themes usually tackled in literature and criticism— are investigated through a series of images: the mundane elevated to the affective through a sensibility that does not shy away from pushing the boundaries of art. This version is scored by a post-kundiman duet of guitar and banduria.

Keywords