Schindler’s List was a film based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who employed Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland during WWII. Directed by American motion picture icon Steven Spielberg, Schindler’s List was a big-budget film backed with the all the “American-muscle horsepower” typical of a Hollywood film: music originally scored by John Williams, an internationally-renowned cast featuring Oscar-winning cast members such as Ben Kingsley, and cinematography shot with cameras valued equal to the price of a modest-sized home.
The “list” was comprised of over a thousand people detained in concentration camps, selected for work in Schindler’s enamelware and ammunition factory. Though many often consider Schindler to be more opportunistic entrepreneur than altruistic humanitarian, names listed on the historical documents were also lives spared from extermination camps such as Auschwitz. Presently, over 8,000 people trace ancestry from the Jews rostered for work in Schindler’s factories.
Where Oskar Schindler made history with a list, former Philippine President Manual Quezon made history with a game. During WWII, Manuel Quezon regularly played card games with foreign dignitaries and businessmen from around the world. Some of the dignitaries the president dealt hands with Quezon included the likes of Jewish businessmen and then-US-General Dwight D. Eisenhower. During these card games, commanding general of US forces in the European theater, Eisenhower brought to the attention the plight of the Jews. Compelled, Quezon devised plans for a Jewish diaspora to the Philippines.
Starring Raymond Bagatsing, Quezon’s Game is arguably considered a Filipino equivalent to Schindler’s List with the former Philippine president as focal point. Directed by Mathew E. Rosen, this ABS-CBN Star Cinema production was budgeted meagerly, valued at $500,000 compared with Universal Picture’s Academy-Award winning production estimated at $22 million in 1993. Released the end of last month in cinemas across the Philippines, Quezon’s Game is causing a buzz throughout the nation.
This Rappler.com review originally posted Sunday, June 2, gives Oggs Cruz’s take of the biopic currently showing in cinemas across the Philippines.