Established Filipino director Marilou Diaz-Abaya apparently saw lots of promise in Cesar Montano and cast him as her José Rizal; I can think of better actors but otherwise her film is a visually dazzling, well-mounted biography of a Filipino hero. Cesar Montano enthusiastically bites into the quintessential role of José Rizal, with impressive Spanish lines and good affectations. He made Filipino viewers forget his beginnings as a vapid bold actor. 1969 Miss Universe Gloria Diaz is luminous as José Rizal's mom (winning a Best Supporting Actress MMFF award, her first in 29 years), yet her scenes are actually too brief to be considered memorable. Pen Medina, Subas Herrero, Ronnie Lazaro and (MMFF Supporting Actor winner) Jaime Fabregas lend okay support. Gardo Versoza, Tony Mabesa and Joel Torre (usually reliable thespians) are lacklustre here; Versoza's "Andres Bonifacio" is ludicrous. Chin Chin Gutierrez (as the complex character "Josephine Bracken"), acclaimed Broadway actress Monique Wilson (as fictional "Maria Clara") and starlet Mickey Ferriols are totally wasted here. We don't learn anything at all about Bracken, the love interest of Rizal. The effectively moody music of Nonong Buencamino won an award, and I also liked the lavish sets and costumes, starkly beautiful cinematography by Rody Lacap and the stunning visual effects by Mark Ambat. The Ricardo Lee-Jun Lana-Peter Ong Lim script is muddled and lacks a strong dramatic structure (conversations seeming to lead somewhere interesting are left suspended, and questions posed by the characters are never addressed at all) and the novelty of having the real-life José Rizal interact with the lead character of his novel is more confusing than engrossing. The script displays blatant biases, fallacies (a matter of opinion) and a ludicrous "deus ex machina;" it weighs down to actor Montano to carry the film with his insightful delineation of a favorite, if little-understood national hero. Marilou Diaz-Abaya has proven that women directors can come up with substantial gems in filmdom.
