QUEZON: From Page to Screen (6/6)

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Viral Event

No need to reheat the issue and offer a blow-by-blow account. I don't mind discussing it in person, but on the internet, things become weaponized. Once they do, we engage in the kind of discourse that devolves into commodified noise. In the end, we change nothing while giving social media companies everything. Let's not play that game for once.

Suffice it to say, thirty minutes before the event, sensing what was about to take place, we made the deliberate choice not to engage and escalate.

After we released an official statement, I only made an appearance on DJ Jhai Ho's radio show and the Nerd Rage podcast. I said no to major news outlets because it would've turned into a televised battle largely for their benefit. Spectacle, not inquiry. It would've cheapened the work and entrenched "Sa pula, sa puti" camps. One could argue that sensational exposure could've brought more interest in the film, sure, but I'll always prefer good faith interactions over scandal to build momentum.

Everything else about this matter has been discussed by other people in helpful and insightful ways. I have nothing more useful to add.

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The Noise

All we wanted with QUEZON was to tell a tragicomic story with the research to back it up, and spark conversations about leadership and nationhood. But, as it tends to happen with the Bayaniverse films, it became something larger, for better or worse.

Was the research spotless? Probably not, but it was extensive. Do we have a grudge against anyone? No. Do we have an agenda? Only to entertain while encouraging reflection. It would be great if our investors got their money back, but if money was all we cared about, we wouldn't make a film like QUEZON in the first place.

There's good faith critique out there, which I appreciate. Positive or negative, they meet the film where it stands and build from there. There's also uproar fueled by the discomfort of revelation, as opposed to the surprise I felt during research. Then there's a chunk directed at me in classic ad hominem fashion. I tend to tune these out because the more it's about your perception of me, the more it's really about you.

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The "Postmodernist"

We've been rejecting postmodernism since I was in college. To see it used by some of the film's detractors to describe the film is the kind of cosmic irony I can appreciate.

To be clear, the word has many meanings. In art, it involves pastiche, intertextuality, irony. In philosophy, it tackles rejection of metanarratives, varieties of subjectivism. In the Western culture wars, it's a wonky umbrella term for intersectionality, identity politics, etc. As I said in Part 1, I'm no philosopher so I'm totally simplifying, but you get the idea.

Is QUEZON a cynical postmodern exercise in destroying metanarratives? If it is, which metanarrative out there is so fragile that a film poses such a serious threat? Decades from now, the Bayaniverse will be mostly forgotten, as is typical with pop culture artifacts. Institutionalized myths, monuments, the names of provinces and cities along with the legends surrounding them, will remain.

Was the film really so sacrilegious and destabilizing? As this series has tried to show, a large number of scenes in the film were based on existing references. It's the framing and satirical tone that makes some people uncomfortable. Cognitive dissonance needs an outlet—rejection, outrage, rationalization. It can also be conflation, like the idea that QUEZON is out to destroy the notion of heroism. Is it really? The Bayaniverse films have always been an encouragement to foster a new and humbler kind of heroism. In the films, we prefer to leave it to the audience to figure out what that is rather than be prescriptive. While outside, we've offered context and alternative framings through the nationwide Bayani Ba'to forums, and we've released companion books and study guides.

We will always need people to look up to. But in a culture steeped in blind hero worship, it's crucial to question the things we hold sacred, especially if our high regard is often aimed at people in power. Is this cynical postmodernism or just healthy skepticism?

To question myths is not to destroy meaning. To revisit buried stories is not to destroy institutionalized ones. A new story does not cancel out an old story. Historical narratives are not zero-sum games.

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Self-inserts

There will always be small aspects of myself in all of the characters I write because writing requires empathy. But to turn myself into a character in a movie I'm directing is not just silly, it's lazy and boring. Why would I spend months on something that bores me? Yes, a story can be a manifestation of the storyteller's ego and world view, but here's another fact: some storytellers are like composers—they write to forget themselves, to be caught in a state of flow and boundless play, to explore other perspectives. I'm at home with this second group.

So, no, I'm not Joven nor Nadia. Or if someone insists I am, why not include Osmeña, Wood and Aguinaldo while they're at it? Commit fully to the armchair psychologizing and say I am Quezon, I am the Philippines.

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The future and that mid-credits teaser

There are currently no plans for a Magsaysay film. TBA head Daphne Chiu-Soon asked me to include a mid-credits teaser in QUEZON just for kicks. I chose Magsaysay because if the trilogy told the story of our independence and how it was compromised, a Magsaysay story would be the perfect encore. Filipinos fought for something they couldn't define, then fought amongst themselves long enough for an even bigger colonizer to dig their claws in, and finally, here is the full package: democracy in appearance, oligarchy and bureaucrat capitalism in practice.

Maybe the Magsaysay idea will come back one day with financing or maybe it won't. I'm not waiting. Instead, once time and energy allow, I will consider turning that story into a novel. I'm still wrapping my head around it. Do I have a novel in me? I don't know, but it sounds like a fun thing to do.

Having said that, I intend to take a very long break from the historical genre. The only exception is if I find myself with no other prospects and an offer to do another one is the only option in sight. In other words, if material conditions say I have to. Let's hope that never happens.

Making historical films is tiring in all the obvious ways, but through the years, one extra point of exhaustion has been the opposing magnetic pull of people damning the films for what they say and for what they don't. "Sins of omission" is especially sigh-inducing considering that film is—altogether now—a medium of omission. Thankfully, I often hear from people who see the value in what we tried to do. It makes up for the exhaustion. I've also learned to let go of things I can't control.

With the exception of post-screening Q&A's, this is the last time I'll be speaking about QUEZON in full detail. This series took months to write. Should be enough.

Lovers and haters rejoice. The Bayaniverse is over. It was an unlikely assignment I hoped to complete. I will always be grateful that I was given a chance to do so.

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