Bayaning 3rd World 2000

Two filmmakers (Ricky Davao and Cris Villanueva) are absorbed with the idea of creating a film about the life of presumptive Philippine national hero José Rizal. In particular, the filmmakers are interested in the controversy of whether Rizal retracted his anti-Catholic sentiments before his execution.

The filmmakers investigate Rizal’s life by “interviewing” key individuals, i.e recreating scenes as they go through Rizal’s historical correspondence and other documents. The interviews are done with his mother Doña Teodora, his siblings Trining, Narcisa, and Paciano, his love interest and alleged wife Josephine Bracken, and the Jesuit priest who supposedly witnessed Rizal’s retraction, Padre Balaguer.

Over the course of the investigation, the filmmakers are unable to reconcile conflicting testimonies, their own personal biases, and the doubts and uncertainties that plague accounts of Rizal’s life, writings, and beliefs. Eventually, the filmmakers give up on creating a definitive account of Rizal and uncovering the truth about the retraction controversy, instead concluding that every person has their own concept of the national hero (“kanya-kanyang Rizal”).