Nailed and Bontoc Eulogy -Christine4Heysoo

I believe that culture has become an essential part in an individual and also play a great role in creating diversity that we experience and enjoy on a daily basis. However, I wonder to what extent a culture gets to be until it is consider immoral or wrong. I found the movie “Nailed” to be unethical in many ways. I do not think the woman who portrayed to be ‘Christ’ came close to achieving what really happened in the cross. I found it disgusting to see people who imitate the crucifixion of Christ by torturing and tormenting themselves and leading other people to believe that through them they can be save. I do not accept this and I think it is immoral because it manipulates the truth. It was hard for me to see the movie like how others who are not believers or in faith because I have been expose to what I know is the truth which is very different. First of all, we, all humanity have sin before God and there is no one, not one person who is perfect that will be able to recompense our trespasses and be a perfect sacrifice except Jesus, the Son of God. Second, it is unethical to lead people to believe that through that woman, they can be save and in actuality they are not. It is like what the bible said in Matthew 15 that ‘If the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch’.

In the movie, they mentioned how this event happens every year. I know that there was only one ransom that was made for the sin of the world and he died on the cross only once and that was more than 2000 years ago. The death on the cross was not a ritual and should be seen with great significance and not be taken very lightly. I believe that both culture and tradition has blinded a lot of people from truly seeking the truth. The knowledge of truth had been twisted and changed over the time as it was passed down from generation to the next. Religion also play a great role in developing the mindset of people and how they think about certain practices which can be consider acceptable and that they can save you and help you become a better or a righteous person. In the movie, people pray to this man made images and pray a lot of repetition hoping that the god(s) will hear them and answer their pray or plea. The movie showed how Christmas and a once a week mass became a ritual. I think that it’s hypocrite to go to mass on Sunday and go against everything you learn during the rest of the week. But then people have different perspective of how their religion is. For me, I think it being religious is so easy to do. However, I believe that it is the relationship that is more important when it comes to stand for your own belief and conviction.

In the next movie called ‘Bontoc Eulogy’, I do not quite understand what was going and the overall context of it. The movie started with a very well known phrase, ‘He who doesn’t look back to where he came from will not reach to his destination’. I do not understand why the Americans took Marcud from the place is from or what intentions do they hold for him. This is could violate ethical principles in that giving false hope to coerce an individual so that they submit against his or her will. In the movie, Marcud was taken to a place unfamiliar to him and was not probably educated and given full details about his surroundings, the people, the language, and etc., which make him completely lost from the world. In this film, they (producer and director) interweaved the story of the Negritos and what was going in the progression of the Spanish-Philippine war at the time. I think that the Americans had overstepped their boundaries regarding their exploitation in the Philippines and the people. I think the grandkid of Marcud was telling how his children did not have to experience the pain and anguish that he experience every time he go back to the Philippines because they were not there when the war happened and that they do not have any memory that hunt them like him. However, even if the kids were not present at the time of the war, I believe that history should be past down specially since it came from a primary source. I believe that hiding the truth from kids in order to protect them from getting hurt does not work in a long term. There is this saying that, ‘The truth hurts, but if you know the truth, the truth shall set you free’. I believe that it was immoral for the Americans not to let the family of the two Negritos who froze and died. Are the Americans just using the Marcud to be used as an experiment to gather such information about their language or their growth development? At one point in the movie, I think Marcud or one of the guys was talking on a phone-like device and he did not know what was going on except talking and being recorded. Without consent from the person who is being studied is unethical that was what happened to Marcud and his people. The ‘scientists’ started studying their feet and comparing them to apes. I do not think that the Negritos who came to America was not given equal rights that other residents in St. Luis. They seemed to be exploited and used as an entertainment for people because of the differences physically, emotionally, and mentally. This is completely unethical.

People should act ethically because it is the right thing to do. Code of conduct was established before hand with given consequences and punishment of such who behave wrong. It is so easy to fall short on the bar of moral. However, we have been trained and given the choice to behave like human being and restrained ourselves from hurting or doing harm to ourselves and others. We have the ability to do anything within our power but it is expected of us to use such power for the good of the community. I think culture is relevant in decision-making when there is an agreement or consensus within a party that greatly bring benefits. Human life is guided by culture because culture is learned and passed down. I think culture never remain the same, however, it evolve and change in time. Culture defines the individuality of a person and it makes it unique and different from the rest.