Quezon Movie Review

 

So today,  I had the rare opportunity to watch a very important Filipino Movie about Manuel L. Quezon for which this City where I live is named after. Off the bat, I have to say I already liked the movie even before I went inside the theater. After all, it's not everyday that you get to see Filipino movies invested deeply into their own psyche as Filipinos. And what timing it has, with all the political ruckus we're currently having! Filipinos undoubtedly love their "politics"!

But once you talk about "psyche", there surely will be some disputes along the way with the first one being Quezon's own grandson Ricky Avanceña NOT liking the biopic at all! In a heated exchange with its Director Jerrold Tarog and leading man Jericho Rosales, he called the movie "a satire and a joke" because they portrayed his grandfather as a caricature of his real person.

I for one appreciated the movie...for its historical references and artistic approach. At the outset, the movie had the disclaimer that it was indeed part satire, not purely historical and even a social commentary on present-day politics. Even the treatment of the movie...with short black and white videos of a young Quezon interspersed with the main plot was a visual treat! How charming, I thought, even reminiscent of old silent movies! Director Tarog definitely had an artistic touch strewn throughout his movie(s) since this movie is part of a trilogy called Bayaniverse (or Heroverse), Quezon being the last one and closest to the present time. The first one was Heneral Luna, the second one Goyo; all historical figures from the Philippine scene.

At its core, the movie encompassed the years 1935 to 1944 when Quezon was Senator then President of the Philippine Commonwealth and mainly dealt with the concept and actual implementation of our Independencia or Independence from the Americans who were our subjugators then. The Americans, uncertain of how we as a people would be able to manage our Independence without them is at the heart of the story...and if you think about it, is truly an ongoing and a neverending debate. 

Enter Quezon who made it his lifelong avocation. By this, he spared no one to manifest his dream for the Philippines, his Philippines being truly independent of American Domination and Subjugation. With this vision clearly pointed out, you would say he stood out as a hero for the common folk. By sheer hubris and drive, you would think he was and was truly successful in doing so! But this is not a story of a shiny hero more than a flawed Filipino with fellowmen as flawed as him. He simply was a semi-charismatic forbearer of things to come. A leader of a government ruled without much unity and loose morals makes for a shaky foundation in government indeed.

To wrap things up, I would like to critique the movie per se, and not its political implications as I have no real interest in them. No spoilers here. You can read them elsewhere. Director Tarog gave us an insight into our past and present political make-up and for this, he has already accomplished something few people could put in under 2 1/2 hours. This film, with both its bad and good commentaries, is very insightful...of the characters from Emilio Aguinaldo (his political rival), to Leonard Wood (the American governor-general), to Sergio Osmeña (his vice-president), to Joven Hernando (the Alerta journalist), to Quezon himself. And in doing so, he gave us a glimpse of how our government operates in its rawness that sometimes results in futility.

Quezon however, was a character of his own making. He needed no government to prove this.