''Quezon's Game'' is a 2018 Philippine

biographical drama film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudr ...

directed by Matthew Rosen. The film centers on Philippine President

Manuel L. Quezon Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina, (; 19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also known by his initials MLQ, was a Filipino lawyer, statesman, soldier and politician who served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 until his dea ...

and his plan to shelter

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and

Austrian Jews The history of the Jews in Austria probably begins with the Jewish diaspora, exodus of Jews from History of ancient Israel and Judah#Roman occupation, Judea under Roman occupation. Over the course of many centuries, the political status of the ...

in the Philippines who were fleeing

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

during the pre-World War II era.

Premise

In 1938, Philippine President

, military adviser

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

, along with other notable figures, set out to rescue Jewish refugees fleeing

. Quezon simultaneously deals with a relapse of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

Cast

Raymond Bagatsing Ramon "Raymond" San Diego Bagatsing III is a Filipino actor, model and aspiring politician. Having jumpstarted his acting career in the early 90s, he is most notable for the role of Jaime Laurel in the hit ABS-CBN series ''Pusong Ligaw''. Ea ...

Rachel Alejandro Rachel Jingco Alejandro (born February 18, 1974) is a Filipino singer and actress. Biography Early life Alejandro's mother and father separated when she was four. Her mother then remarried and moved to the United States. Together with her fat ...

Aurora Quezon Aurora Antonia Quezon ( Aragón y Molina; February 19, 1888 – April 28, 1949) was the wife of Philippine President Manuel Luis Quezon and the First Lady of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944. Although she is recognized as the second First Lady ...

*Kate Alejandrino as María Aurora "Baby" Quezon *David Bianco as

*James Paoleli as

Paul V. McNutt Paul Vories McNutt (July 19, 1891 – March 24, 1955) was an American diplomat and politician who served as the 34th governor of Indiana, high commissioner to the Philippines, administrator of the Federal Security Agency, chairman of the ...

*Jennifer Blair-Bianco as

Mamie Eisenhower Mary Geneva "Mamie" Eisenhower (; November 14, 1896 – November 1, 1979) was the first lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961 as the wife of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Born in Boone, Iowa, she was raised in a wealthy household in C ...

*Audie Gemora as

Sergio Osmeña Sergio Osmeña Sr. (, ; 9 September 1878 – 19 October 1961) was a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the fourth president of the Philippines from 1944 to 1946. He was vice president under Manuel L. Quezon. Upon Quezon's sudden ...

*Billy Ray Gallion as Alex Frieder *Tony Ahn as Herbert Frieder *Hamilton McLeod as

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...

*Natalia Moon as Vera

Production

''Quezon's Game '' is a joint venture production of

Star Cinema ABS-CBN Film Productions, Inc. (doing business as Star Cinema or ABS-CBN Films) is a Philippines, Filipino film studio and film and television production company and film distributor headquartered in Quezon City. It is one of the major film ...

iWant iWantTFC is a Filipino over-the-top content platform and production company owned and operated by ABS-CBN Digital Media, a division of ABS-CBN Corporation, formed in 2020 through the merger of two streaming services iWant and TFC Online. In ad ...

, and Kinetek. The film was directed by Matthew Rosen who is British-Jewish, and the film had a production budget of US$500 thousand. The film produced in color runs for 125 minutes and is filmed in English, Spanish, and Tagalog. Production was finished by October 15, 2018. Rosen spent three months on casting for the film alone. Lorena and Matthew Rosen were responsible for the film's original story idea while Janice Y. Perez and Dean Rosen wrote the screenplay. The film was produced to tell of a relatively unknown account of President

rescuing Jewish refugees from the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

and temporarily providing them shelter in the Philippines. One of the challenges the writers dealt with during ''Quezon's Games research phase was the lack of Filipino historical manuscripts tackling the historical account. They referred to theses and dissertations made by Americans, and corresponded with the descendants of Alex and Herbert Frieder who played a major role in Quezon's plan. Rosen who is an immigrant who moved to the Philippines in the 1980s, became aware of President Quezon's plan after he learned that his Filipino wife knew the lyrics to the Jewish folk song "

Hava Nagila Hava Nagila ( he, הָבָה נָגִילָה, ''Hāvā Nāgīlā'', "Let us rejoice") is a Jewish folk song. It is traditionally sung at celebrations, such as weddings. Written in 1918, it quickly spread through the Jewish diaspora. History ...

" and local children could sing it, while not being aware of its Jewish origin. Rosen started inquiring at a synagogue and its museum in Manila in 2009 which led him to learning about President Quezon's plan for Jews fleeing Nazi Germany.

Release

''Quezon's Game'' was released in various international film festivals prior to its theatrical release. It was released in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

as part of the gala event of the 2018 Cinema World Festival as one of the winning films of the 2018 Autumn Selection. It was also an entry in the IndieFEST Film in California, and the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival in Texas. As part of the film's promotion, a VIP screening was held on May 7, 2019 at the

Power Plant Mall Power Plant Mall is an upscale indoor shopping mall in Makati, Philippines. It is the anchor establishment of Rockwell Center, a mixed-use area north of the Makati Central Business District on the Pasig River waterfront across Mandaluyong. It is ...

Makati Makati ( ), officially the City of Makati ( fil, Lungsod ng Makati), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. Makati is the financial center of the Philippines; it has the highest concentration ...

where ABS-CBN also presented video interviews of Holocaust Survivors Margot Pins Kestenbaum and Max Weissler, who were both provided shelter in the Philippines by Manuel Quezon and currently reside in Israel. The film's theatrical release in the Philippines was on May 29, 2019.

Spin-off

There will be a documentary series in

called ''The Last Manilaners: A Quezon’s Game Documentary'' which tells about the Jews who went to the Philippines describing their experience of prosecution and conflict in Nazi Germany and found new life.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, a review aggregator, reports that of surveyed critics gave the film a positive review. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a score of 36 out of 100 based on 6 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". The film won at least 20 awards as an entry in various international film festivals. In January 2019, ''Quezon's Game'' won 12 accolades at the Cinema World Fest Awards in Ottawa, Canada.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 9611484, Quezon's Game 2018 films 2010s historical drama films 2018 biographical drama films Films about presidents of the Philippines Films set in the Philippines Films set in New York (state) Films set in 1938 Cultural depictions of Dwight D. Eisenhower Cultural depictions of Douglas MacArthur Holocaust films Philippine biographical films Philippine historical drama films Star Cinema films 2018 drama films