''Balweg'' (marketed as ''Balweg, the Rebel Priest'') is a 1987 Filipino biographical action drama film directed by Antonio Perez. Inspired by the life of

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest turned communist rebel

Conrado Balweg Conrado Balweg (December 29, 1942 – December 31, 1999) was a former Filipino Catholic priest and rebel who was the founder of the Cordillera People's Liberation Army, a militant group which advocated autonomy for the Cordillera region in th ...

, it stars

Phillip Salvador Phillip Mikael "Ipe" Reyes Salvador (born Felipe Reyes Salvador; August 21, 1953) is a Filipino film and television actor. Acting career Salvador made his film debut in 1971 with ''Adios Mi Amor''. He toiled in minor roles in Philippine movies ...

as the eponymous rebel, alongside

Rio Locsin Maria Theresa Rosario Garcia Nayve-Israel (born October 3, 1961), known professionally as Rio Locsin, is a Filipino actress. Known primarily for her roles in films with underlying social themes, she began her career playing daring characters a ...

Tetchie Agbayani Visitacion Parado (born July 2, 1961), better known by her screen name Tetchie Agbayani, is a Filipino actress, model and psychology instructor. She began her acting career in the film ''Pepeng Shotgun'' (1981), following several stints in pag ...

Johnny Delgado Juan Marasigan Feleo (February 28, 1948 – November 19, 2009), known professionally as Johnny Delgado, was a Filipino television and movie actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for his television work on the TV gag show ''Goin' Banana ...

Pinky Amador Pilar Cristina "Pinky" Roxas Amador (born March 16, 1966) is a Filipino actress, singer, commercial model and TV host. She was in the original London cast of the Cameron Mackintosh musical ''Miss Saigon''. She is seen mostly on GMA Network and ...

, Jose Romulo, Mon Godiz, Bebong Osorio, Eddie Infante, and

Baldo Marro Teodoro Galan Baldomaro (January 1, 1948 – October 22, 2017), professionally known as Baldo Marro, was a Filipino actor, screenwriter, stunt director, film director and producer in the Philippines. He was awarded Best Actor by the prestigious ...

. Produced by

Viva Films Viva Films, Inc. (also known as Viva Films, stylized as VIVA Films) is a Philippine film production and distribution company owned by Viva Communications. It was founded in 1981 by Vic del Rosario Jr. and his sister Tess Cruz. Viva Films is o ...

, ''Balweg'' was released on July 8, 1987, and was a box office success.

won both the

FAMAS Award The Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards, or simply the FAMAS Awards, are the annual honors given by the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS), an organization composed of writers and movie columnists, for achieveme ...

and the Film Academy of the Philippines Award for Best Actor. The film received negative reviews from critics, who deemed it an "opportunistic" film which excessively depicts Balweg as a "larger-than-life hero" at the expense of a fair depiction of his character and motivation. Some members of communist organizations in the Philippines also criticized the film's various historical inaccuracies.

Cast

as Fr. Balweg / Ka Ambo *

as Azon *

as Ka Susan *

as Ka George *

as Terry Guerrero *

Jose Romulo Jose Romulo (born Romulo Alib Zuño; October 11, 1931 – August 5, 2015) was a Filipino actor and one of the leading men of Philippine cinema during the 1950s. Known for his good looks, brown Filipino complexion, and acting talent, he was hailed ...

Macli-ing Dulag Macli-ing Dulag (customarily referred to by his first name, also spelled Macliing or Macli'ing (April 13, 1930 – April 24, 1980) was a ''pangat'' (leader) of the Butbut tribe of Kalinga province in the Philippines. He is best known as one of ...

*Mon Godiz *Bebong Osorio as Ka Jvy * Eddie Infante as Lakay *

as Abraham *Ray Ventura as Ka Efren *

Lucita Soriano Lucita Soriano (born Lucita Soriano Adriano; July 13, 1940 – July 8, 2015) was a Filipino actress, who appeared in more than 215 movies and television shows. She was runner-up in the Miss Philippine Press Photography (PPP) 1964 beauty pagean ...

as Ka Minda *Gwen Colmenares as Ka Rita *Alex Toledo as Ka Badong *Apol Salonga as Fr. de Vega *Ding Salvador as Fr. Torry *Rene Hawkins as military officer *Nemie Gutierrez as Lt. Cruz *Gregg de Guzman *Ernie Forte as Waldo *Ernie David *Eric Francisco

Production

''Balweg'' is director Antonio "Butch" Perez's first film in six years, after his solo debut feature film ''Haplos''. It is also actress

's first film since she came back to the Philippines from Hollywood. Perez asserted that they did not fictionalize any element in

's story for the film, stating that "The people concerned are still alive we had to be very careful. It was only a matter of putting things to dramatic structure." According to the cast, filming in the

Cordilleras A cordillera is a chain or network of mountain ranges, such as those in the west coast of the Americas. The term is borrowed from Spanish, where the word comes from , a diminutive of ('rope'). The term is most commonly used in physical geogra ...

was a difficult experience, with actor

suggesting that "Butch was doing the most difficult movie of the year."

Music

Richard Reynoso Richard John Pelimiano Reynoso (born October 16, 1969) is a singer, host, and actor from Makati. He was popular in the 1990s for the songs "Hindi Ko Kaya," "Paminsan-minsan" at "Maalala Mo Pa Rin" and released six studio albums. A member of The ...

sang the theme song to ''Balweg''.

Release

''Balweg'' was released on July 8, 1987, with free tie-in T-shirts and stickers handed out to "lucky" moviegoers. The film was a box office success.

Television broadcast

The film received a terrestrial television premiere on June 23, 1990, as a feature presentation for ''Tagalog Movie Greats'',

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

's Saturday night movie presentation program.

Historical accuracy

In the magazine ''Philippine News and Features'' (PNF), five members of the

Communist Party of the Philippines The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP; ) is a far-left, Marxist–Leninist–Maoist revolutionary organization and communist party in the Philippines, formed by Jose Maria Sison on 26 December 1968. The CPP has been fighting a gue ...

and the

New People's Army The New People's Army (; abbreviated NPA or BHB) is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). It acts as the CPP's principal organization, aiming to consolidate political power from what it sees as the present "bourgeo ...

(CPP-NPA) who allegedly knew Balweg while he was an NPA member released a collective critique of the film, stating that the film unfairly treats Balweg as a central figure in the struggle of people in the

. They also highlighted the numerous inaccuracies they found within the film, such as the claim that the Cordillera people did not accept the CPP-NPA; according to them, "hundreds and hundreds" of Cordillerans were already recruited to the CPP-NPA. They also claimed that instead of the film's depiction of Balweg's group confronting the military in the early 1980s and being decimated, in actuality Balweg's unit was not actively battling anyone during that period of time.

Reception

Critical response

''Balweg'' received generally negative reviews from critics. Mike Feria, writing for the ''

Manila Standard The ''Manila Standard'' is a broadsheet newspaper in the Philippines which, as of 2017, is owned by the Romualdez family. The Romualdezes, through incumbent speaker of the House Martin Romualdez, also own Journal Publications, Inc., the owner ...

'', criticizing the film as " confused and opportunistic film about a confused and opportunistic personality." He faulted its lack of "dramatic intensity", with there being no satisfactory explanation for Balweg's motivations as a rebel, and considered it as another example of a film that does not seek to illuminate the "rationalization" of rebellion by the depicted person, but instead highlights the exploits of a rebel through a larger-than-life depiction for a mass audience. However, Feria noted that there were competent performances given by

and Eddie Infante, while the action scenes were adequately staged. Later in his year-end assessment of Philippine cinema, Feria observed that ''Balweg'' was one of the few films given serious effort by filmmakers that "were at best, adequate in technical aspects but largely manipulative...." JC Nigado, also writing for the ''Manila Standard'', shared Feria's negative sentiments on the film, finding it to be a "self-serving" film in its glorified depiction of Balweg. He wrote that "In trying to portray Balweg as a larger-than-life hero, ..the movie only succeeds in doing the opposite as it unwittingly depicts the man as an opportunist wanting in direction."

Accolades

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0185905 1987 films 1980s action drama films 1980s biographical films 1987 action films Cultural depictions of Filipino people Filipino-language films Films about communism Films about rebels Films set in 1974 Films set in 1979 Films set in the 1980s Films set in Abra (province) Films set in Kalinga (province) Philippine action films Philippine biographical films Viva Films films Films with screenplays by Amado Lacuesta Jr.