Goyo: The Boy General

Jerrold Tarog's 2018 Philippine film is the sequel to 2015's Heneral Luna and continues the account of the Philippine-American War. After General Antonio Luna's murder, command falls to Gregorio del Pilar, still in his early twenties. The film does not present him as a statue: he is drawn as a young man caught between loyalty to Aguinaldo and his own conscience, vain, in love and afraid of dying. The narrative moves toward the fight at Tirad Pass. Tarog wrote, directed, edited and scored it, and builds a view that questions the idea of heroism itself without flinching from unsettling national mythology. Paulo Avelino leads. Who it's for: viewers interested in Philippine history and war films that interrogate heroic narrative. Who it's not for: anyone who has not seen the first film, or who is unprepared for a history drama approaching three hours.