Assuming Montano did a terrible job as Rizal (if I'm not mistaken he won the best Actor award on this one) it does not bring the whole film down. It succeeded in its story telling which is first and foremost (for me) the yardstick from which to judge whether a film is worthwhile or not.
Assuming Montano did a terrible job (which imho he did not, did you even see the stillborn child burial scene? If his performance on this scene didn't touch a nerve, I don't know what will) there were "still" other notable performances in the film, one of which you mentioned was Jaime Fabregas and my other pick, Gloria Diaz.
Montano had to play Rizal and if his transformation wasn't satisfactory for you, well I for one gave him a more forgiving performance rating. Who the F knows how to play Rizal? Who and where will you base it from? The man is dead for more than a century!Montano played Rizal as a compassionate man, a man passionate about family, women, science, country and to a lesser degree(unfortunately for this movie) about religion. He was successful in displaying an aura of bravado BUT was also able to exhibit vulnerability and wisdom for non-conformity to violence.
If the only benchmark from which to judge Montano's performance is on how he delivered his foreign monologues then I say let's strip him off of all the awards he got for this film but I believe that the award giving BODIES were not as narrow minded when they gave him his accolades.
Here are the awards and nominations won by this film:
Awards and nominations
Winner of 16 awards at the 1998 Metro Manila Film Festival including Best Picture, Best Actor (Cesar Montano), Best Director (Marilou Diaz-Abaya), Best Supporting Actor (Jaime Fabregas), Best Supporting Actress (Gloria Diaz), Best Screenplay (Ricardo Lee, Jun Lana and Peter Ong Lim), Best Original Story (Ricardo Lee, Jun Lana and Peter Ong Lim), Best Cinematography (Rody Lacap), Best Editing (Jess Navarro and Manet A. Dayrit), Best Sound (Albert Michael Idioma of Road Runner), Best Production Design (Leo Abaya), Best Special Effects (Mark Ambat of Optima Digital), Best Makeup (Denni Yrastorza Tan), Best Musical Score (Nonong Buencamino) , Best Movie Theme Song (Nonong Buencamino for "Awit ni Maria Clara") and Best Festival Float. The movie was also a recipient of Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award.
Winner of 11 awards at the 1999 FAMAS Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor (Cesar Montano), Best Director (Marilou Diaz-Abaya), Best Supporting Actor (Jaime Fabregas), Best Cinematography (Rody Lacap), Best Editing (Jess Navarro and Manet A. Dayrit), 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) and Best Special Effects (Rolando Santo Domingo).
Winner of 6 awards at the 1999 Gawad-Urian Awards including Best Direction (Marilou Diaz-Abaya), Best Cinematography (Rody Lacap), Best Music (Nonong Buencamino), Best Production Design (Leo Abaya), Best Sound (Albert Michael Idioma) and Best Supporting Actor (Jaime Fabregas).
Winner of 8 awards at the 1999 Star Awards for Movies including 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) and Sound Engineering of the Year (Albert Michael Idioma).
It has been screened and in competition in different film festivals worldwide and included in the Official Selection for Panorama in the Berlin International Film Festival (1998). It also won 2nd runner-up in the Audience Award of the Toronto Filmfest.
If this film is a product of Diaz-Abaya's MASTURBATORY style in film direction, I say she should indulge in her self more