3rd World Hero

De Leon returns to the fray (six years since his last film, and that was only an episode in a portmanteau feature) with a spirited deconstruction of the reputation of Jose Rizal, father of the Filipino revolution and 'national hero'. Two smart young guys begin researching for a biopic about Rizal, who faced a Spanish firing squad in 1896. They read everything they can find by or about Rizal (including his private journals) and then start interviewing the key players: the mother, the brother and sisters, the mistress (the wife, if you believe her), the Jesuit cleric who claims that Rizal returned to the church on the eve of his execution - and finally Rizal himself, admirably played by Torre. It's faintly disappointing that the film doesn't fulfil its own promise to broaden out and ask larger questions about heroism, developing countries and post-colonial struggles. But it's unfailingly witty and unpredictable, and the disrespectful tone and inventive structure give it a unique place in 'Third World cinema'.