Watch 123Movies. This RKO short, part of the "This is America" series, details (as much as possible in a 20-minute short) the transformation, following World War II, of the Philippine Islands, from a divided country of six languages and 80 dialects, into a unified democracy-loving nation. The story is told largely through the experience of Thomas Briggs, an Ohio school teacher, who, years before the Japanese invasion of WWII, began his efforts of bringing unity and the story of democracy to the Islands.