‘QUEZON’ AND THE BIRTH OF OUR BROKEN DEMOCRACY

From the embers of Heneral Luna and Goyo, TBA Studios' Quezon rises not as a sequel, but as an autopsy - of power, ambition, and the roots of our political disease.

- WILSON LEE FLORES

It's an unflinching look at how the foundations of our democracy were laid not only with ideals, but with cunning compromises and egos as vast as empires.

Under the visionary production of Daphne Chiu-Soon and the masterful direction of Jerrold Tarog, who co-wrote the razor-sharp script with Rody Vera, Quezon is easily the most accomplished entry in the “Bayaniverse.” It’s the most technically assured, brilliantly written, and emotionally intelligent of the trilogy — a film that doesn’t just dramatize history, but dissects it.

The surprise is how entertaining it all is. Tarog transforms what could have been a drab reverent biopic into a political thriller — witty, cynical, and disturbingly current. Here, 1930s Commonwealth-era President Manuel L. Quezon is no saint in sepia, but a shrewd, flawed and charismatic tactician.

Jericho Rosales delivers a career-defining performance: his Quezon is equal parts charm and calculation, brilliance and moral flexibility. He is the first true “trapo” — traditional politician — in the cinematic sense: a man who understands that ideals win applause, but deals win power.

The film’s strength lies in how it dares to humanize «heroes.» It shows Quezon as both visionary and manipulator, patriot and opportunist — a political pioneer who understood that to rule Filipinos, one must both inspire and seduce them. By exploring Quezon’s Machiavellian maneuvers, the film holds a mirror to our century-old malaise: the entanglement of democracy and deceit, of populism and patronage.