People are voting emotionally.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

From the beginning of the movie some of the details are not accurate such as the ammunition used for their revolver during the introduction scene, it displayed a .45 ACP (not existed during that period) instead of .45 LC.Some of the scenes uses slow motion effects kinda like the Matrix stuff which really ruins the movie, the selection of actors are also not matching their character.Their fictional characters such as "Inang bayan" also makes the movie more Sci-Fi or Paranormal, they could have shown the love for the mother land in a different way.There are a lot more unless you are interested on the negative comments about this movie then watch.

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.

I enjoyed watching the movie.. i cant believe that this movie didn't become the best film, but at least they become 2nd runner up, that means most of the people here in the Philippines enjoyed this film because it's about Emilio Aguinaldo (the first president here in the Philippines), i cannot say anymore about this film but I'm gonna tell this that this movie is worth watching and you will learn more about the life history of Emilio Aguinaldo and how he became a president. I rate this movie 7.2/10 because this film means something rather than the other films in the 38th Metro Manila Film Festival.This movie is awesome/great! and i recommend it to people who haven't watched this film yet! El Presidente!!

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.