Jose Rizal's gothic masterpiece, magnificently adapted by one of Philippine cinema's finest filmmakers, with a towering performance by Pancho Magalona as the dark and brooding Simoun. Gerardo De Leon pushes the novel's social and political details into the background 　　and brings the characters' humanity to fore; Magalona's Simoun isn't just some symbol of social dissatisfaction and revolution but a man haunted by the tragedy of his former life. His mind wavers-- sometimes breathtakingly so--between a determination to execute his plans for bloody vengeance and a sense of horror at the evil he has become.