Term Paper - Franz Ubalde

1. Franz Johann T. Ubalde
BACR 2-1
Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon?
This is a movie about an adventure of a young man into the city. The film becomes dramatic by showing friendship, love, deception, and luck with a taste of humor and action that will have you at the edge of your seat.
Nicholas Ocampo or Kulas (Christopher De Leon), a young man from the province is the protagonist of the movie. He portrays the state of the Filipinos, whether it was from the time he lived in or the setting we live in the present. There is not much difference, so to speak. He is arrogant, gullible, child-like, and kind-hearted, which can be seen as innocence in a different perspective. He helps anyone in need and welcomes friends into his home. He could not kill a fly, but knows when to lie just to help somebody out especially when it means his life. And it is because of poverty that he is uneducated. Although he is already a young man, he acts like a child, always so happy and giddy. In spite of facing a problem, or being whipped. But all of us have to grow up sometimes.
As he traverses to the big city to test his fate, everything happened at once. He got lucky and became rich. He thought everything would be that easy from there on, but he changed a lot as his story unfolds. This is what the society does to us. It is trying to eat us up, a dog eat dog world, as what one of the characters said. You have to keep your eyes peeled, and kill or be killed. Filipinos try to bring everyone down so that they could be on top. The Filipinos who have a good life even calls the one below them Indios just to state that they are not equals. It should be your fellow countrymen who will help you out in times of trouble, but in the light of the complexity of reality, they are the ones who aspire for you to stumble and fall. This changes Kulas’ perspective about the world as he was tortured and imprisoned by the person he helped; his fiancé cheated on him with his right-hand man and mentor; and her trusted maid tried to take everything from him. Trust is a dangerous word, it is like holding a two-edged sword. But he was fortunate, not because he got rich, but because, even though everyone around him tries to trick and deceive him, he found someone out there whom he can run to whenever he has nowhere to go. He found a friend, against all odds, boundaries, and cultures. Lim, a Chinese who was born and raised in the Philippines, helped Kulas even if it means his life and endangering the safety of his family.
Kulas was convincing Bindoy, a 7-year old friend who he met through his adventure, to go to school and be educated, so he would not be deceived or cheated on when he grows up. He would learn how the society works because it is a complicated world we live in. And Bindoy told him one thing: “That is why I do not want to grow up.” Reinforcement Theory is evidently

2. present in the movie. It is where your attitudes toward something change based on certain internal and/or external factors. Kulas should have not left the province. He could have stayed there and lived young forever. He was just an easy-going, happy child, but he was exposed to violence and therefore, adapted it. The people around him, the society, got Kulas right in the neck, strangling him, and he has no choice but to fight back. His innocence was eaten up in the big city Yes, it is a cruel world out there and it could drive you to insanity. Life is a sick little game and if you are not prepared to play it, you will be flayed alive. That is what their situation was. And what is ours? The same. Constantly watching our back and fighting for own survival.