Ron Does Stuff

I was already planning on watching this anyway, but the recent controversy just pushed me to actually go outside my hole yesterday and watch a film inside an actual movie theater!

For Filipinos of a certain generation (mine), watching a film about a Filipino historical figure wasn’t exactly the top of one’s favorite things to do. We had some stinkers. Carlo Caparas’ Tirad Pass movie. That Jorge Estregan Aguinaldo film that I actually walked out on despite having paid for a ticket. And I never do that. Even if I don’t like a movie, if I paid for it, I will sit through it.

Things started to change in 2015 when Heneral Luna came out and started what’s now known as Jerrold Tarog’s Bayaniverse. I’ve seen both Heneral Luna and Goyo, Ang Batang Heneral in cinemas and I liked them both, so I was definitely going to watch Quezon.

The film starts out with Quezon celebrating his win as president of the Commonwealth, but it looks like his path to the presidency has been littered with people he abandoned along the way. We then get the other side of the story from Joven Hernando and his daughter, Nadia, who Quezon hired to make films showing him as a hero. Unbeknownst to Quezon, Nadia also made films showing the “true” story, which is how the movie audience gets to see Quezon’s rise to power.

I will be the first to admit that aside from being on the P20 bill, what I knew of Quezon was that he pushed for the establishment of a national language, helped Jews that were being persecuted in Europe to have a home here, and that he died of tuberculosis in New York. So getting to see this portrait of the man that shows all of his flaws — and boy there are plenty — was definitely an experience.

The one thing I kept thinking while watching the movie was that it was very much The Devil Wears Prada: Philippine Senate Edition. The Devil Wears Secosana? And I want to make it clear that I mean this very positively. The Devil Wears Prada is a great movie!

Quezon is depicted as someone with an unquenchable thirst for power, using anything and everyone he can to get it. It was definitely gripping to watch as a viewer, but I can definitely understand why the living Quezon relatives are not happy about it, because Quezon’s stature is definitely lowered by the end of the film. When he shouts “I am the Philippines!”, I couldn’t help thinking of that scene where Miranda Priestly says she’s the only one who can manage Runway and that the magazine would have suffered under Jacquline Follet.

Now, not to sound like a Quezon apologist or whatever since I have no connection to the family whatsoever, but I did feel like this particular depiction wasn’t as layered as the ones of Luna and del Pilar in the previous Bayaniverse films, at least how I remember them, since it has been a while. Quezon the film is as single-minded in its depiction of Quezon as Quezon is in his quest for power, and while it is very compelling and entertaining to watch, I can understand why the living relatives aren’t happy about it.

I think it’s a shame that’s how things turned out, because while the point that the film is trying to make is important, I’m afraid that what some audiences are going to get out of this is that Quezon is to blame for everything we’re suffering from right now and stop at that, when even movie!Quezon points out that everyone, from the media to the people in his circle, were complicit in his rise to power. There’s enough blame for everyone. And don’t tell me this is me underestimating the Filipino audience because I can still remember Heneral Luna being used as unofficial propaganda for Duterte’s rise to power. It’s not what the filmmakers intended, but my goodness did nefarious people twist it for their own purposes.

However, the unflattering depiction of Quezon in the movie doesn’t apply to Jericho Rosales, who I thought was really good in this movie. But the real scene stealer is Mon Confiado, who has played Emilio Aguinaldo in all three Bayaniverse films. The part in the film where he’s confronted by Quezon supporters in Bulacan? Heartbreaking.

The movie is a definite must-watch, but just like the previous Bayaniverse films, I hope that the film doesn’t become peoples’ only reference when it comes to these historical figures. I hope it also inspires and encourages viewers to read up on these figures, see them for the complex and layered people that they are, and learn what they can from the highs and lows in their lives.

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