Verdict: Do Something Else
Pinoy Rebyu Score: 1.70 (5 ratings)
Genre: Drama, Historical
Writer/Director: Francis Villacorta
Cast: Rocco Nacino, Christian Vazquez, Jestoni Alarcon, Marc Justin Alvarez, Ryan Eigenmann
Synopsis: In the late 1600s, a Visayan named Pedro Calungsod (Rocco Nacino) joins a Jesuit mission to the Guam. He serves as personal steward to the Spanish Father Diego (Christian Vazquez), and quickly gains a reputation for being especially kind and devout. Though the mission is peaceful at first, it grows violent as a Chamorro chieftain takes offense at the foreigners in his land. Father Diego seeks to maintain peace between the natives and the Spaniards, but that soon proves to be impossible. (Click the City)
MTRCB rating: PG
Running time: 110 mins.
Trailer:
Reviews:
2.5 Mari-An Santos (PEP)
“Rocco Nacino portrays the young catechist as less human and more of a living saint. Throughout the film, this ‘raptured’ expression is broken only when he shows extreme anguish and extreme pain. But these last two are when he really shows emotional depth.” (Read full review)
2.0 Philbert Dy (Click the City)
“It becomes painfully clear early on that the film has no insight to offer regarding its subject, never straying from a path of outright lionization. It makes for a terribly boring picture, since we don’t really need a whole movie to tell us that a saint was a pretty good guy.” (Read full review)
1.5 Zig Marasigan (Rappler)
“Church doctrine is repeated ad nauseam and provides little context for Calungsod’s own love for Christ. In the end, it’s hard to see Calungsod as little more than a subservient fool than a devout follower of faith.” (Read full review)
1.5 Nicol Latayan (Tit for Tat)
“The film is so repetitive that I won’t take it against you if you zone off by the half of the film. You can see Rocco Nacino’s dedication to the role, but not even he can save it.” (Read full review)
1.0 Zsarlene Chua (Business World)
“I cried at the end of Pedro Calungsod: Batang Martir — in relief because it was excruciating to watch and too long by half.” (Read full review)
