José Rizal is a 1998 Philippine historical drama film directed by Marilou Diaz-Abaya and starring Cesar Montano as José Rizal. The film was based on the true story of Filipino patriot José Rizal, who was imprisoned under the Spanish colonization and tells Rizal's story until the final day of his execution. At the time of its release, it was the most expensive film in the history of Filipino cinema with a budget of over . 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. Plot José Rizal is imprisoned in Fort Santiago due to his dissident activities. Meanwhile, in a small Balintawak field, Andrés Bonifacio and his fellow secret organization, the Katipunan, commence the uprising against the tyranny created by the Spaniards by tearing their cédulas as a sign of freedom from Spanish slavery. Soon, 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 captured each other's sympathy and eventually became friends as they had usual meetings in Rizal's cell in Fort Santiago. Taviel was even able to celebrate Christmas with Rizal in the cell where they drink and sing together. In addition, 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 was 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 30th of the morning 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