‘Quezon’ aims to spark conversations about Philippine history

CEBU, Philippines — Audiences would have watched the conclusion of TBA Studios’ “Bayaniverse” trilogy at home through Amazon Prime Video, which initially stepped in to help with funding, as local audiences, conditioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, increasingly preferred watching films on streamers over cinemas.

But after the tech company folded its Southeast Asian productions, the producers had to go back to square one.

While TBA Studios is not closing its doors to partnerships with streamers, the studio’s president and COO Daphne Chiu said “Quezon” was meant to be seen on the big screen, with its release scheduled for October 15.

“As a filmmaker, I promise myself to always make movies for the big screen,” she said during a press conference held August 29 at Robinsons Galleria Cebu. “There are certain materials that are better seen on the big screen that you can’t capture watching at home: that communal space and sharing the joy and laughter.”

“I watched ‘Superman’ with my parents before they got separated," added Jericho Rosales, who replaced TJ Trinidad as the second president in the Philippines in “Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral.”

"The communal experience of being inside the cinema tells you that we are all created for the big world, and that’s why God gave us a gigantic world to explore. I think cinema is the closest thing to that feeling.”

This marks the Kapamilya actor’s return to the big screen in seven years, his last appearance being “The Girl in the Orange Dress” in 2018.

“I have been working on my film career because I love doing films. When director Jerrold Tarog called and offered me the role of Quezon, I had already planned my 2025 and 2026 to be dedicated to acting. It’s a dream come true to be working in film again because I felt like my career was dead spiritually since I wasn’t getting any movie projects,” he added.

Romnick Sarmenta, who plays Cebuano president Sergio Osmeña Sr., said that watching films in cinemas offers a much more immersive experience than watching at home.

“Even if you have a huge TV, you can still see everyone around you. It’s such a lazy way to watch something because a film is made to be larger than life. The blocking, camera shots, and lighting — it’s all part of telling a story, and why we love films so much,” Sarmenta said. “As an actor, you receive a script for a movie and you know where your character is coming from. Unlike on TV, good luck to us because the story could change three weeks after.”

The cast of “Quezon,” which also includes Ketchup Eusebio, Jake Macapagal, Cris Villanueva, and Ana Abad Santos, visited Cebu City last weekend to promote the film. As part of their press tour, they held a talk-back session at the University of the Philippines–Cebu on August 30.

No caricatures

“Quezon” is set amidst the American occupation of the Philippines, where the then-aspiring president had to navigate the brutal nature of politics. At odds with Osmeña, United States Army Gen. Leonard Wood (Iain Glen), and Emilio Aguinaldo (Mon Confiado) — the latter of whom he faced in the 1935 presidential election —Quezon used his colorful personality to his advantage, setting off a ripple effect on Philippine politics that continues today.

“Every leader has to be intelligent and charismatic. The problem is how we look at them and how we treat them as perfect heroes. That’s wrong because no one is perfect,” Rosales said. “I only realized later on what taking up the role meant because I would be playing a flawed character.”

Tarog wasn’t afraid to put Antonio Luna and Gregorio “Goyo” del Pilar in compromising situations, rooted in the historical record, as a way to demystify the country’s political icons. This approach led to the controversial re-evaluation of Aguinaldo’s legacy following Heneral Luna’s release in 2015.

“Here in the Philippines, there’s an image to maintain. If you’re the leading man, you cannot be the villain. With Quezon, I wanted to play flawed people, which I had no problem with. But for a politician, that’s huge because so many books were written about him,” he added. “He’s not perfect. Quezon did a lot of great things, but he also made unpopular decisions.”

Rosales shared the role with Kapuso actor Benjamin Alves, reprising Quezon’s younger self. “If we turned our backs, we wouldn’t know if it’s Ben or Jericho as Quezon, even if they were from different timelines,” Chiu said.

Sarmenta said they wanted to avoid caricature performances, especially since the portrayals were grounded in the historical books that both Tarog and co-writer Rody Vera extensively studied.

“We want to give justice to the people we play, especially when the documented materials are concerned. We want to put viewers in that time period instead of having them just watch from their seats,” he said.

Playing the influential Cebuano politician, whose descendants include current Cebu City Vice Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Sarmenta admitted it was a struggle to portray political figures. Instead of focusing solely on their political legacy, he chose to highlight their human side.

“I don’t like politics, but I do care about people a lot. When we study characters like this, the objective for us is to look for what is most important for this person in order to understand why they did what they did,” he said.

In his interpretation, Sarmenta described Osmeña as a simple, principled man — to a fault.

“Osmeña is a gentleman who didn’t fight harder. He would give way and let things happen because he didn’t want to cause trouble. But sometimes, that gets us into problems,” he said. “Keep the peace, yes, but fight back.”

Meanwhile, Eusebio, who plays Pedro Janolino, said his character’s desire for personal gain in politics blinded him to corruption as a means of survival.

“For me, Janolino isn’t entirely evil. It’s us, the audience, who view him that way. But from his perspective, he was only doing things that felt right to him. Everyone has their own agenda. If he happens to be part of the corruption, he probably thinks he’s just doing what everyone else is doing,” he said.

Among the film’s fictionalized characters are journalist Joven Hernando (Cris Villanueva and his younger version, reprised by Arron Villaflor) and his wife Carmen (Ana Abad Santos).

“The younger Joven in the last two films represented the youth, but here in ‘Quezon,’ Joven represented the masses,” Villanueva said.

“I play a strong character who, at that time, women were fighting for their place. I had to make myself small for a scene. Even if I had so much to say as a journalist, I had to be careful so I wouldn’t step on the big men’s toes. That was eye-opening to me —that it was a man’s world at that time,” Santos said.

What defines a hero?

On working with Glen, the cast described the “Game of Thrones” actor as humble and friendly.

Most of the cast (except Rosales, who already knew beforehand) only found out that the Scottish actor would play Leonard Wood during their table read. At the time, Glen was also shooting a project in Hong Kong, but still made time to join the session before filming commenced.

“He’s so easy to work with. He was so humble and generous as an actor, and he would get along with everyone. While he may choose his little spot to be quiet, he would converse with you if you approached him,” Sarmenta said.

“We all benefited from working with him. My dream was already to work with the best cast, crew, and script in Philippine cinema. But to have a Hollywood actor joining us...what more can you ask for?” Rosales said.

Just like the earlier “Bayaniverse” films, the team hopes that “Quezon” will spark political discourse as their last hurrah before Tarog officially closes the decade-long trilogy.

“We don’t know a lot about Quezon, just like we don’t know much about Luna and Goyo. That’s the recurring theme of our trilogy,” she told The FREEMAN. “You only knew them from their one-liners in history books. Now, we expanded their lives with details that might not sit well with audiences at first because it’s new information. But if you dig deeper, it did happen.”

She added, “This is a nice finale for us in what defines the word ‘hero.’ It’s bittersweet, but everything needs to have an end, and I think ‘Quezon’ is the best way to end this series. Everything we showed in the film is based on the books. We didn’t make things up for the sake of creative license. Everyone in the production, even the PR crew, read all of the material. It’s like we are students again.”

Rosales hopes audiences, much like in the past films, will re-evaluate the country’s history and reflect on how it led to the present.

“We want to spark conversations and raise questions about history. If we put power in the conversation, what is it about it and why? How does that define a leader and a hero?” he said.

For Sarmenta, the film’s relevance lies in its reminder that history has always placed power in the hands of the people.

“We have gone through so many leaders and through many different types of government. But how come nothing works? It’s because they have always believed they can rule, when it’s actually us who placed them there,” he said. — (FREEMAN)