https://padlet.com/jackson_butler28/7jwrapa1xkr3 Jackson Butler's Cultural Activities en-us 2017-12-08 04:59:15 UTC 2025-12-16 18:20:45 UTC hello@padlet.com jackson_butler28 https://padlet.com/jackson_butler28/7jwrapa1xkr3/wish/214386097 "Our Last Men In the Philippines"
For my first Cultural Activity, I watched the 2016 film 1898, Our Last Men in the Philippines. This Spanish-language film depicts the 1898-1899 Siege of Baler. During the siege, 54 Spanish soldiers defended themselves in a church against Philippine revolutionaries. I watched this movie with my dad in my hotel room in Hawaii. In the film, the main character, Carlos, is a member of the 2nd Expeditionary Battalion, which is deployed to the Philippines to retake a small village which had been overrun by Philippine rebels in a massacre of 37 of the 50 soldiers stationed there. The soldiers sent to retake the village are met with no resistance, but the day they arrive a wounded messenger tells them that America has declared war and Spain and that Manila is under siege, therefore there would be no reinforcements or supplies coming. The soldiers then fortify the church against an attack, and the next day Philippine rebels launch an offensive. The soldiers defend the church over and over again against repeated attacks. All the while, the disease Beriberi is wreaking havoc inside the church, killing a large number of troops, and eventually the Captain of the battalion, leaving Sergeant Cerezo in charge. The Sergeant, despite multiple attempts to tell him that the Americans have bought Philippines from the Spanish, and that they are fighting for a lost cause, continues to fight the Filipinos until June 2nd, when he surrenders the battalion. They are allowed to pass through their territory, and are not taken prisoner. 
This movie greatly helped me with my word recognition, as the soldiers speaking in context helped me to recognize words as they are used in the real world. Other things that this film helped me with are pronunciation, and the connotation of words as they are used in conversation. ]]> 2017-12-08 05:13:06 UTC https://padlet.com/jackson_butler28/7jwrapa1xkr3/wish/214386097