On Being Chaotic Good
I have the same feeling with the ending of Rizal's El Filbusterismo as Law Abiding Citizen. I think the protagonist should have gotten their victory like that other film whose first and second rules state you should not talk about.
I've always hated Isagani. What a simp. Basilio, too, for being a blabbermouth. It's enraging to see Simoun at the cusp of triumph, only to be defeated by a couple of teenagers.
Going back, should we do what Padre Florentino said to Simoun on the latter's deathbed - suffer and work? Wait for the youth "who will generously pour out their blood to wash away so much shame, so much crime, so much abomination?" I was part of that youth, and so are many others, and we have regrettably allowed this farce to continue. Are we fools? Or are we excused because we think about practical things like the next bills to pay or food to eat rather than lofty ideas of "changing the nation"? Really, who but persons with strong will would not lose hope when nepotism and greed are no longer identified as what they are but culture, tradition, and everyday life?
I am at a loss whether chaos is required for the good of the country (to be chaotic good), like what Simoun planned to explode things up with a clean slate. Sometimes, I feel like it is, but I remember we already did it with EDSA, yet corruption and greed still seeped in spots of black on white linen (and see: America post-9/11). Marcos was a thief and should be booted off, but the replacement was still a lackey to the powers that be. What was that song again? Meet the new boss - same as the old boss.
I guess my thinking about the requirement of chaos to introduce order comes from my lack of patience. A contrary thinking would require little by little progress, which may take years, decades, even centuries. Filipinos cannot even follow basic traffic rules, which is the very foundation of a nation with sound rule of law.
What now? Should Isagani let the nitroglycerin lamp go off? Have we forgotten that Ibarra tried the route of piecemeal change through education but failed? Perhaps the failure is stopping at this opportunity - but who can blame him when he was falsely prosecuted for challenging the friars?
If Simoun is wrong to choose violence, Ibarra is too innocent, and Padre Florentino is too ignorant, really: What now? Perhaps, we need a hero-archetype with all three characters combined; someone with the cunning of Simoun, the methods of Ibarra, and the optimism of Padre Florentino.