El Presidente

After last year's surprisingly good period gangster film that is "Manila Kingpin: The Asiong Salonga Story", here is E.R. Ejercito again with an Emilio Aguinaldo biopic entitled "El Presidente", an infinitely trickier film to pull off, scope and exposition-wise.

If E.R.'s previous film focuses mainly on gangland altruism, "El Presidente" is all about patriotic resilience amidst imperialism, and it definitely shows on the film's abundant dose of sentimentalism. And if E.R. seems tailor-made for the role of Asiong Salonga (after all, he has already played Asiong in the '90s film "Asiong Salonga: Hari ng Tondo"), he seems feverishly out of place in this whole historical drama, especially when he's surrounded by character actors that are ten times more talented than him.

Now do not get me wrong, when I think of a more suitable and relatively bankable actor to play Aguinaldo, I can't really think of anyone save for Ejercito himself (as of the moment, that is). Except for his bulldog-ish cheeks, Ejercito nicely fits the title role specifically because of his relative mass appeal and sense of authority. But then, somebody has seemingly forgotten to remind him that "El Presidente" is, after all, a film and not a theatrical play.

With his repetitively oratorical hand gestures and monotonous line deliveries, despite of the stature of the person he's playing, E.R. is easily dwarfed by his co-actors in the film, specifically Cesar Montano, whose brief but strong turn as Andres Bonifacio is a mild cause for celebration. Except for his hair that's anachronistically gelled upwards, Cesar Montano's Bonifacio is so well-portrayed that I wouldn't bother for him to have more screen time than Aguinaldo himself. Granted, "El Presidente" is quite sophisticated with its cinematography and action sequences, but its whole narrative seems fairly derivative and very 'Philippine History 101' that the film's human aspect was left terribly wanting.

Complete with cursive texts beneath every establishing scene that continuously remind us that the film is more of a crash course on the history of pre-republic Philippines rather than a fairly humanizing story of a great man (this, of course, depends on who's seeing the film), "El Presidente" never quite connects on the emotional level. Instead, and this is quite saddening, it merely gives out the occasional 'wow' factor with its action set pieces, mammoth scope and nothing more. And although I also liked Baron Geisler's intense performance as a Spanish captain, the film's supporting cast was fairly uninspired and a tad too unconvincing; indeed, a bunch of artificially mustachioed lads sputtering things about independence and going slow-motion on simulated battles is not enough. Well, maybe that is the ultimate downside of a historical drama: the scope is almost always so big that the characters are rendered as nothing but glorified plot details.

In a way, "El Presidente" is "Jose Rizal's" (the film, not the man) campy and overly sentimental half-brother who gets into too much unjustified scuffles. If Cesar Montano's portrayal of Jose Rizal is one founded upon complexity, dedication and utter intensity, E.R. Ejercito's Emilio Aguinaldo is founded upon monotony, misplaced emotions and uncalled-for action star-ism. In one action scene when he has suddenly pulled out a very gangster-looking boot knife, I even expected E.R. to suddenly show his ever-wriggling tongue and shout "Ako si Boy Sputnik!" His performance is just so all over the place that at the end of the day, "El Presidente" has made me root more for Andres Bonifacio. Now I have this sudden craving to watch Richard Somes' Bonifacio biopic "Supremo".

But in all fairness, the film's final 15 minutes or so is quite powerful. In a way, it reminds me of the final moments of Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor" in how both finely convey the elegy of time in the lives of the most powerful and seemingly immortal leaders. The appearance of Nora Aunor as Emilio Aguinaldo's second wife though, who was cast just so she can be put into the posters as a potential crowd-drawer, is a complete non-event. In my opinion, they could have put Lilia Cuntapay in the role and it wouldn't really even make a strand of difference.

"El Presidente", although admittedly a grand, sweeping production, is a very clunky film that offers little to nothing that our history text books have not taught us yet. Perhaps showing some of Aguinaldo's trivial humanity wouldn't hurt. And yes, "Manila Kingpin" is better.

If you consider yourself a history buff and "know" that what's portrayed isn't what really happened, all you have to remember is that the movie was based on Emilio Aguinaldo's memoirs. So don't bother waiting for anything that would glorify Emilio's enemies, or for anything that would show them in good light. Heck, don't be surprised if they were omitted from the movie altogether! If you're going to yak about inaccuracies regarding guns, ammo, mustaches, haircuts, language, or even the sneakers that can be seen on a few shots, you have to remember that Filipino movie production don't rank in any Top 100 or Top 200 (maybe even larger) list of prop-making accuracy. They could have put an M16 in the huge fight scenes and no one would probably be the wiser--unless you watch it on DVD and you hit PAUSE in the right moment, of course. But hey, consider them Easter eggs. If you're going to complain about inaccuracies in location, you have to remember that the movie outfits in the Philippines don't have huge studios where they can fake all sorts of scenery. They have to rely on outdoor locations that are "believable" approximations. So! Taking all of the above for granted, the movie itself has its merits, if at least to get Emilio Aguinaldo's side of history. And the actors all did their parts quite well. You have to ignore the bit players who broke the fourth wall, obviously. Let me tell you something I really liked, though. That Spanish lisp! It reminds me of Spanish class which I really hated back then. I sthill hate learning it to thith day! Harharhar

Being a history buff, I really made time to watch "El Presidente," an entry in the 2012 Metro Manila Film Fest about the President of the First Philippine Republic, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo. It is about time that that era in Philippine History was given a definitive movie rendition. I had high hopes about this film, since producer Laguna Gov. Jeorge "E.R." Ejercito (as Jeorge ER Estregan) gave us a very well-made biopic of gangster Asiong Salonga in last year's MMFF. It had not been easy to find time to watch since this film had a formidable running time of two hours and thirty minutes.

Because of a very slow line at the ticket counter, it was so annoying that I got a seat already 10 or so minutes into film. Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo (Estregan) and his generals were about to launch an attack to take over the town of Cavite Viejo. From there, it follows the life of Aguinaldo, from the events leading up to the declaration of Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898, to his capture in Palanan by the Americans, up to his death at the age of 94 in the year 1964. The battle scenes were very well shot with a huge cast of real extras playing the soldiers of all nationalities. There were some impressive close-up stop-motion special effects during the fight scenes, as we saw in films like "300" or "Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter".

The film did not shirk to tackle very controversial historical issues about Aguinaldo's role in the deaths of Andres Bonifacio and Antonio Luna. They did not hide the fact that all this was based on the memoirs of El Presidente himself, hence the probable bias in point of view. Now, what truly happened is still the bone of historical contentions. Bonifacio in particular was presented in a very negative light here. Montano's acting highlight as Bonifacio for me was his pained reaction to losing the vote for president at the Tejeros Assemby to his breakdown when someone protested his win as Secretary of the Interior. This scene alone was worth his Best Supporting Actor award. Too bad I did not get to watch the recent film biography of Andres Bonifacio entitled "Supremo" to see and compare its version of these same events. Antonio Luna was played by Christopher de Leon in his typical acting style. The script basically concentrated on his nasty temperament, not on his military prowess. But then again this was not a film about Gen. Luna anyway.

So, how was Estregan as Aguinaldo? Unfortunately, as with the problem of Estregan as Asiong Salonga the year before, he tends to be very melodramatic in his acting style. He indicates almost everything he says with some awkward gestures. There was a scene when Aguinaldo was exiled where Estregan silently pours out his emotions in unrealistically exaggerated bawling, accompanied by swelling dramatic music. If this was his attempt to add points to his quest to be best actor, someone should advise him that less is more when it comes to acting nowadays. It is also remarkable that every time the camera focuses on his face, he has skin so flawless that it radiates like a halo. That was some impressive special effect right there.

The huge name supporting cast was a veritable who's who of Filipino character actors. It was actually fun to try and identify all of them when they appear on screen playing all the revolutionary heroes we can think of and more. It can be amusing to see them in very fake- looking stiff hair and make-up though. There was everyone from the expected likes of Ronnie Lazaro, Sid Lucero, Allan Paule, John Regala, Joko Diaz, John Arcilla and Yul Servo, to the unexpected likes of Epi Quizon, Ian de Leon, Dennis Padilla, Will Devaughn and Bayani Agbayani. Baron Geisler is really quite stereotyped as an antagonist, and he really delivers the goods as a smirking Spanish officer, despite the puny mustache they made him wear. He was quite good in sword fights too. The only realistic Spaniard in my opinion was Ian Veneracion who did not need to don fake facial hair. Emilio Garcia, Gary Estrada and Wendell Ramos could have been realistic Spaniards but instead they play Filipinos.

There were only two female supporting roles. The first wife Hilaria, played by Cristine Reyes, was practically a silent role where all she had to do was look pretty, and die later without aging despite after having four kids. Much ado had been made about Ms. Nora Aunor playing Maria, his second wife. Unfortunately, this was such a bad case of miscasting. She looked ill at ease from her first scene as a shy young (?!) lady to her last scene as she lay in bed with Estregan as senior citizens. This last scene was woefully shot in such an ugly angle for Aunor that she looked unrecognizably bad. Too bad as that was an important scene about Aguinaldo's joy upon Macapagal's transfer of Independence Day celebrations from July 4 back to June 12. Oh yes, Sunshine Cruz also had a cameo as Gregoria de Jesus, and you can imagine that it was unrealistic.

Overall though, despite all the imperfections, I still think this was a very earnest film made with the very best of intentions, and obviously produced with generosity of budget. I commend Gov. E.R. Ejercito for taking on this huge project, as this is a story that needed to be told. Students nowadays can use this film to gain interest with the history of the Philippine Revolution as this movie brings all those historical characters to life, from Apolinario Mabini to Gregorio del Pilar. It is up to their teachers to guide them in those contentious issues, especially the events involving the iconic revered hero, Andres Bonifacio. This is a movie that will serve its purpose when it is watched critically and discussed afterwards.

Terrible movie. It is historical fiction which copied battle scenes from Robin Hood, Braveheart, and Asiong Salonga... and portrayed Andres Bonifacio as ego-centric, heartless and a traitor- the worst you can do to a national hero. They said they based the story on Aguinaldo's memoir?? But who provided the details??

I don't know if Ambeth Ocampo said something about this movie, I doubt he did. Even the acting was terrible. Anyway, what will you expect when the actors in the movie are also involved in politics.

Too bad, I read that Prof. Randy David did not see the lies and intentional errors in the movie. Watching this movie was like allowing The Bonifacio brothers to be murdered over and over again, and be silent about it.