Would Rizal write another sequel to ‘Noli me Tangere’?

If Dr. Jose P. RIZAL could have watched “Noli Me Tangere, the Opera,” what would he have thought of this new incarnation, produced by Dulaang UP, of his novel that planted the seeds of a  revolution?

Probably, like any author (and he was not just any author), he would have been delighted to have his work given a new form, provided it remained true to the original, and reintroduced to a whole new generation of Filipinos.

Published in 1887, “Noli Me Tangere” brought to the consciousness of the Filipino that he should not be a slave in his own country and should reclaim his birthright.

Composer Felipe Padilla de Leon, National Artist for Music, wrote the opera—the first full length Filipino musical drama—in 1957. Revived in 2011, it was restaged this year to commemorate de Leon’s centennial.

Librettist was Guillermo Tolentino, National Artist for Sculpture, who did the Oblation, the  best-known symbol of the University of the Philippines, in the Diliman campus in Quezon City.

Performed at the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater, named after the playwright, a National Artist for Theater, the recent staging featured dynamic young talents of Dulaang UP.

The audience consisted mostly of students, who were required by their teachers to watch the show. It had been 125 years since the Noli was first published. Generations of Filipino students have read the novel and watched it transformed into a movie, a historical narrative, a ballet, a stage musical and an opera.

Having studied Rizal’s works in high school and college, students have become familiar with the characters and plot of the Noli (and its sequel, “El Filibusterismo”).

But did they understand the nuances of language in this new production? Did they connect with the rhythm of the music, the lyrics of the songs? Did they get a better appreciation of the story, its symbols and meaning? Did they understand that the story remains true today, as Filipinos struggle to search for their soul and identity?

Although some of the  dialogues and lyrics were dated and difficult to understand,  the youthful audience was familiar with Maria Clara’s song “Kay Tamis ng Buhay” (Sa Sariling Bayan).

Many appeared to be jolted by Sisa’s highly charged scenes and moved to tears and spontaneous applause when Crispin (child actor Matthew Anenias) sang to his dead mother.

No suspension of disbelief

But not everyone was into the show. Some young people fiddled with their mobile phones, probably sending text messages or gaming even during climatic sequences. They were impervious to verbal reprimands.

It is probably only a matter of time the youth completely misses the significance of the Indio’s struggle in Rizal’s time, of how the Filipino identity was forged through a revolution.

Perhaps, instead of requiring students to watch,  educators can find ways to involve the  young in the Noli’s story and to motivate them to invest time and effort to read and watch because they truly want to learn about their history, not just to fulfill a class assignment.

Director Marilou Diaz-Abaya did it with “Jose Rizal, the Movie,” which made Cesar Montano a star. Writer Ambeth Ocampo does it with his popular articles and books about Filipino heroes as ordinary persons with ordinary interests and feelings.

Some of those who watched the Noli opera did get the message that, in the 21st century, the Filipino was, in many ways, not very different from the enslaved Indio of Rizal’s time.

The Philippines is supposed to be an independent country but it remains beholden to other countries for its people’s livelihood.

Overseas Filipino workers buoy up the economy, which  remains consumer- and service-based, while neighboring nations have become highly industrialized.

Colonial mentality is very much part of the Filipino mindset. The social climber Doña Victorina and her husband, the fake doctor Don Tiburcio, have many counterparts in today’s society.

The Filipinos are caught in the never-ending tale of a people with a short memory who never learned from the past and are forever oppressed.

Given this situation, Rizal would probably ask De Leon, Tolentino and Guerrero to join him in making another sequel to “Noli Me Tangere.”

Ricci F. Barrios teaches English, Literature and Journalism to students of Colegio de San Lorenzo in Quezon City.