At the time of its release, it was the most expensive film in the history of Filipino cinema with a budget of over ₱80 million. The film was an official entry to the 1998 Metro Manila Film Festival, swept most of the nominations with seventeen awards, making it the first film with the most MMFF award wins.
José Rizal is imprisoned in Fort Santiago due to his dissident activities. Meanwhile, in a small field in Balintawak, Andrés Bonifacio and his fellow secret organization, the Katipunan, commence the uprising against the tyranny created by the Spaniards by tearing theircédulas as a sign of freedom from Spanish slavery.
A first lieutenant of the Artillery, Luis Taviel de Andrade, visits Rizal. Taviel de Andrade does not waste time to study carefully Rizal's case. In just a short period, Rizal and Taviel capture each other's sympathy and eventually become friends during their usual meetings in Rizal's cell. Taviel celebrates Christmas with Rizal in the cell where they drink and sing together. Governor General Ramón Blanco also sympathizes with Rizal's cause but is later secretly ousted by corrupt Spanish officials and Manila's archbishop, who replace him with Camilo de Polavieja.
Flashbacks of Rizal's life are shown, from his childhood to his education, until his professional life as a doctor. He soon begins writing his two novels Noli Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo, which are then published. In addition, key scenes from the two novels are also shown.
After Christmas, Rizal is sent to the Real Audiencia, the colonial court of appeal, to hear the trial against him. Soon after, the magistrates decided to condemn him to the firing squad on the morning of the 30th in Luneta.
On the night before the execution, Rizal hallucinates, seeing his alter ego—protagonist, "Simoun" (the former Crisostomo Ibarra), from his second book, El Filibusterismo, tempting him to change the climax of the novel.
On the morning of his execution, his kin receives a small alcohol stove (not a gas lamp as commonly portrayed) from his cell containing his last poem "Mi último adiós". Stopping at the place of execution facing the rising sun, Rizal requests the authorities for him to face the firing squad, but the request is denied. Calm and without haste, he requests to have his head spared instead and the captain agrees. At the moment the firing squad aims at his back, he utters his final words: Consummatum est ("It is done").
In the events following Rizal's execution, members of the Katipunan begin their armed uprising, completely catching the Spanish forces off guard, seizing their mounts, munitions, and rifles. After that, the organization captures a church and the members execute the friars in an act of vengeance. Later that night, Bonifacio and his top generals meet in their headquarters to plan a new offensive seeking to capture ten towns in one week from the Spaniards. As Bonifacio continues speaking, the camera pans to Rizal's picture at the wall of his headquarters before revealing Rizal's hat which sat by the shores of Manila Bay, concluding with the text of events that transpired after his death.
Best Movie Theme Song (Nonong Buencamino for "Awit ni Maria Clara")
Best Musical Direction (Nonong Buencamino)
Best Production Design (Leo Abaya)
Best Screenplay (Ricardo Lee, Jun Lana, and Peter Ong Lim)
Best Special Effects (Rolando Santo Domingo)
1999 Gawad Urian Awards
Best Direction (Marilou Diaz-Abaya)
Best Cinematography (Rody Lacap)
Best Music (Nonong Buencamino)
Best Production Design (Leo Abaya)
Best Sound (Albert Michael Idioma)
Best Supporting Actor (Jaime Fabregas)
1999 Star Awards for Movies
Movie of the Year
Actor of the Year (Cesar Montano)
Director of the Year (Marilou Diaz-Abaya)
Supporting Actor of the Year (Jaime Fabregas)
Adapted Screenplay of the Year (Ricardo Lee, Jun Lana, and Peter Ong Lim)
Editor of the Year (Jess Navarro and Manet A. Dayrit)
Musical Scorer of the Year (Nonong Buencamino)
Production Designer of the Year (Leo Abaya)
Sound Engineering of the Year (Albert Michael Idioma)
The film has been screened and run in the competition in different film festivals worldwide and included in the Official Selection for Panorama at the Berlin International Film Festival (1998). It also won 2nd runner-up in the Audience Award of the Toronto Filmfest and the Chicago International Film Festival.[citation needed]
