Norte, the End of History (2013) User Reviews

Lav Diaz's dark nihilistic approach to Fydoror Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment

[willwoodmill · 7/10 · 31 May 2016]

There was a lot of hype for Norte: The End of History before it was released, it went from film festival to film festival winning tons of awards and be praised as one of the greatest films of the past few years. And when it was finally released to more "general audiences," they were split on it. And in Norte's defense, there are few films that could live up to that much hype. Norte: The End of History follows two different protagonists one of them being Fabian (played by Sid Lucerio) a brilliant Pilipino law student who is disgusted by the world, and believes himself to be sort of an übermensch. And the other being Joaquin (played by Archie Alemania) a poor lower class worker, who is just trying to provide for his family. The only thing that links these two characters together is that they both use the same money-lender. One day Fabian decides that he is done with his petty life of having pretentious arguments with his snobbish friends and decides to cut of all relationships with them, and he also decides to kill his money-lender, as both an act to show his dominance and to clear his debt. The money-lender's death is then pinned on Joaquin, who is sentenced to prison with no hope of ever leaving.

Lav Diaz, the director of Norte, was very clearly inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment when he made Norte. Except Lav Diaz takes a much darker and more nihilistic approach to the story. Lav Diaz's films are infamous for their massive length and slow pace. Norte tells a story, that would be told in 2 hours if handled by a more "normal" director, in over 4 hours. So if you're someone who has trouble sitting through long films, Norte might not be for you. And I won't lie even as someone who is familiar with longer films and slower films, there were still parts in Norte that felt like they were going on for too long, and I think it would be better if Lav Diaz did cut back on the films length or quicken its pace. There are some scenes that I think are paced perfectly, like the murder scene and the climax, but there's a lot of stuff in the middle that just feels very unimportant and is really just bloating the run-time.

Even though there is very little in terms of graphic content shown on screen in Norte, it still manages to be one of the most shocking and dark films to come out of the past few years, all on the merit of the film's characters and their twisted view on morality. As you're watching the film you can't help but wonder, what was going Diaz's mind when he made it. All of the actors do excellent jobs in there roles especially Sid Lucerio, who unfortunately hasn't been in anything else of note, yet. The cinematography is also really good. Larry Manda, the cinematographer does a great job of portraying the slums of the Philippines as a desolate hellish landscape of sin and torment. And the last 45 minutes of Norte are executed perfectly. If you're someone who doesn't mind long run-times and slow pacing, then I would highly recommend Norte: The End of History to you.

7.6/10

An ambitious film, by a fascinating director. Its a shame your patience wasn't tested to such extremes, as such this film is only for the most dedicated viewer.

[dipesh-parmar · 7/10 · 9 March 2015]

Lav Diaz's 'Norte, The End of History' is set in the northwest region of the Philippines. This drama is split between the lives of two men, Fabian (Sid Lucerio) and Joaquin (Archie Alemania), whose lives intertwine unexpectedly.

Fabian is a smug, self-absorbed man of privilege in his early thirties, a once gifted law student who dropped out for reasons unknown. He spends his time annoying his friends with his ill-conceived lectures on the defining theories of humanity. Joaquin is a poor man, who has a wife Eliza (Angeli Bayani) and two children. A serious leg injury wipes out their hard-earned savings.

Loosely based on Dostoyevsky's 'Crime and Punishment', these two men have one thing in common, both are in serious arrears to local money lender Magda (Mae Paner). Both men take matters into their own hands, with differing consequences. Fabian flees, Joaquin is sent to prison. Over the next four years, Joaquin tries to make the best of a horrible situation, whilst Eliza struggles to provide for her children. Fabian is consumed by guilt, driven to the point of madness.

Diaz looks at how the people of the Philippines have coped with their changing economical circumstances, people who have grown up in a dysfunctional country where they are encouraged to work outside of the country to make more money. Fabian rages against the memory of his parents being absent, and of being brought up by his maid. Joaquin and Eliza wanted to avoid this, they didn't want their children to be without their parents, however poor this would make them. Its a balancing act we all face, we gain one at the expense of another. Which is more important?

Diaz is renowned for extremely long films, some for over 6 hours, 'Norte, The End of History' is only 250 minutes long! He favours long takes and slow tracking shots, illustrating the slow and monotonous rhythms of life. Its beautifully filmed, interspersed with some superb drama from an excellent cast are huge swathes of emptiness, especially in the second and third hour. The final hour is cruel and deeply disturbing, but the overall impact of these tragic moments of devastation are weakened by the preceding stretches of nothing.

'Norte, The End of History' is an ambitious film, by a fascinating director. Its a shame your patience wasn't tested to such extremes, as such this film is only for the most dedicated viewer. Sometimes, a film is just too long for its own good.

Slow burning movie but worth the watch

[Sirfaro11 · 8/10 · 15 February 2015]

To watch this movie, you have to be prepared to give your time and decide to sink into the life of Fabian (Sid Lucero). The slow turn of the movie with Ilocos as backdrop is certainly a treat for the moviegoer who is prepared to immerse in the arguments and debates of Fabian with his friends. Towards the end, we begin to understand the psyche behind Fabian's mind when we meet her sister. His relationship with family was never really a nurturing one and this takes a toll not only to Fabian but also to the man's family who got blamed for his crime. Sid is great here! Perhaps anybody else would not be as great in the role. My only regret with this movie is how unlucky (malas) Joaquin's family is! Joaquin is the man who got blamed from Fabian's crime. I mean, they really had it bad until the end. I didn't get bored at all with this movie. My advise is: set aside time to see it

To Live is a Curse

[3xHCCH · 9/10 · 11 September 2014]

Finally! Today, I can now say that I have seen a Lav Diaz film. Since his multi-awarded "Batang West Side" in 2001, Mr. Diaz has built a name directing artistic opuses that run much much longer than usual feature films, usually more than five hours. His longest was "Evolution of a Filipino Family" in 2004, which clocked at a whopping 11 and a half hours! Running for about 4 hours, "Norte" is fondly referred to as Mr. Diaz's "short" film, and therefore the most accessible of all his films.

"Norte" is set in the northern province of Ilocos Norte. Fabian Viduya (Sid Lucero) was a topnotch law student who quit law school because of his highfalutin philosophical ideas of a society beyond existentialism and anarchy. Joaquin (Archie Alemania) and Eliza (Agnes Bayani) were a poor couple whose dreams of building their own eatery business are dashed when Joaquin suffers a leg injury and they fell deep into debt.

The fates of these three people intersected when a heinous crime was committed in their small town. Since then, these three lives were thrown into a major maelstrom. These events happened in just in the first hour, the rest of the next three hours follows what happens to each of these three characters following that cruelly fateful day.

I will not pretend and say that I did not feel the four hours. I did feel the length of the film with those static shots that seemed to be showing nothing in particular or the very slow telling of events with several details that seemed like they would have been edited out in usual film. However, each of these scenes would usually precede a scene of big importance, building up the suspense very effectively.

If we complain that there is no character development in mainstream film, in this film, there is not shortage of that. We will get to see how the events shaped Fabian, Joaquin and Eliza as they were caught in their consequences. However, for a super-complex character like Fabian, the four hours was not even enough to get to know his innermost core that drove him to do the things he did. Fabian is a big question mark up to his very last scene.

Sid Lucero got wrung through the wringer for his role as Fabian. You'll admire him. You'll pity him. You'll hate him. This is such a complex role and Lucero was more than up to the task. "Norte" is his film. It was his actions that throw the other characters' lives around.

Angeli Bayani has taken over roles that would probably been given to younger Ms. Nora Aunor. Even if her character barely talked, it was her eyes, her face that talked to us. Her scenes with Archie Alemania are tearjerkers without words nor music to build up the moment. Her back was even turned to us. Yet the emotion was so deeply felt. There was also that scene where she was walking with her kids at the crossroads, and following that, a scene with her kids over a ledge -- she can really convey tension that her director requires.

Archie Alemania's character development was rather straight-forward and he played the character very sympathetically. Mae Paner was the usurer Magda, such a hateful character you will feel her effect even if she was only seen in the first hour. Soliman Cruz was another hateful character Wakwak seen in the third hour. That scene where he was singing "O Holy Night" was so insidiously sinister.

This film is not for everyone. Not everyone will have the patience for it. Not everyone will have the time for it. However, for those who do invest their time with this, you will see that this was a film of artistic excellence. The innovative camera angles make mundane household items and rustic scenes look and feel different. This could be your best chance to watch a Lav Diaz film and immerse yourself in the work of a director whose name is already lined up with National Artists for film Brocka and Bernal.

A Not-To-Be Missed Drama from the Philippines

[georgep53 · 10/10 · 4 September 2014]

A very impressive achievement by director Lav Diaz and his co-screenwriter Rody Vera. In "Norte,The End Of History" they take 250 riveting minutes to tell an epic story about the journeys of two men who choose radically different ways of coping with a morally indifferent universe. Archie Alemania's Joaquin is a poor family man struggling to feed his wife and 2 kids after a disabling injury leaves him burdened with debt and Sid Lucero's Fabian is an angry law student who feels no need to be governed by a political establishment he sees as beyond redemption. Lucero is brilliant as the affable, chameleon-like student who enjoys debating abstruse political issues within his circle of friends while also possessing a darker side. Alemania is compelling as the polar opposite of Lucero: faithful and uncomplicated. Angeli Bayani is excellent in her role as Alemania's wife. A woman of few words her expressions speak powerfully of the unintended victims of injustice. Also noteworthy is the performance of Soliman Cruz as a sadistic inmate. Cinematographer Lauro Rene Manda eschews close-ups relying heavily on long shots which emphasize how little natural or man-made environments share the concerns of the characters. This is a great piece of cinema, one of the best films I've seen in some time. It may take some doing to find it but for any serious cinephile it's well worth the effort. 10/10

An engaging story of connected lives

[plsletitrain · 4 November 2015]

Lav Diaz is famous (or infamous) for long runtimes. This one isn't too long (for Diaz's standards) but it is quite long and stretchy. If it was cut down to say, a 3-hour runtime, the story would still be effectively told. Nonetheless, the film still managed to hold my attention. Throw me a movie with a countryside view, a laid-back province environment, a village by the sea, and a green scenery, and I will surely glue my eyes on it.

The movie revolves around the lives of 3 central characters, played by versatile and veteran supporting casts. These central characters I'm referring to are 1) Fabian- a genius turned lunatic 2) Joaquin- a family man indicted for a crime he never committed and 3) Elisa- the perfect example of a strong woman.

It's so hard to choose which of the three characters most affected us, or who most most realistically depicts how sad and cruel society is. Their lives are so colorful that in the turn of events, one can only ponder on how cruel can fate be.

I would give a special shout out to Sid Lucero, who plays Fabian in the movie. Fabian is an interesting character. He was a former law student whose intellect could have made him bar topnotcher. He likes talking about philosophy, conspiracies, politics, history--smart man. But I guess what he had in intellect, he lacked in rational thinking. He ran out of his mind because he was probably eaten by guilt. He was someone who can't control his emotions. And this led him to do crazy things. And this, ladies and gentleman, was very well acted by no less than Sid Lucero. I can't even think of someone else doing the role than him. Then again, Sid Lucero has already proved his versatility and craftsmanship that it's no longer a question.

At first I didn't know what's the relation between Norte and the movie. I found out later on that the film was shot in the northern most part of the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Thus, the "North". As to the "end of history" part, well, it could be both literal and metaphorical.

The movie has serious and deep themes which spices up the whole movie. There's murder, poverty, guilt, judgement, incest, hope, faith, longing, remorse...name it. All of these are depicted in the three lives connected to each other by fate.

The no. 1 strength this movie has to offer is the brilliant performances from the actors. They brought the whole story, which is already great by itself, even greater.

Epic four hour plus Filipino "Crime and Punishment" highlights an "inexhaustible humanism" despite tedious moments

[Turfseer · 7/10 · 14 February 2015]

Anyone who has sat through the epic four hour plus "Norte, The End of History," deserves a medal. "Norte" is the product of Lav Diaz, the Filipino auteur who has already completed seven films that are even LONGER than this one! When he wishes to introduce each new scene, Diaz has a penchant for holding establishing shots for a minute or two, which can be infuriating. Be forewarned: there is some interesting material here but one has to be extremely patient to appreciate any of it!

Diaz's "Norte" is set in the Phillipines and revolves around three interconnected characters. The prime mover (and perhaps most interesting of the three) is the antagonist, Fabian, a law school dropout who seeks to punish anyone who transgresses his personal moral code. Fabian's idea is to eliminate the "bad elements" in Filipino society. While his friends agree that society must change, Fabian, the bitter psychopath and reactionary, berates all those who believe in "all talk and no action."

In contrast, husband and wife Eliza and Joaquin, come from a poor background and are dependent on a local moneylender, Magda, for their sustenance. When Eliza pawns a precious family ring, Joaquin tries to convince Magda to sell it back to him. When he can't pay her price, Joaquin impulsively chokes Magda and runs off after a housekeeper witnesses the event. Later, Fabian is passing by on the street and sees Magda turn Eliza away at her door, after requesting another loan. Magda's rough treatment of Eliza is enough justification for Fabian to later enter Magda's home and kill the moneylender along with her innocent teenage daughter.

Joaquin is later implicated in Magda's murder (due to the circumstantial evidence against him) and is forced to accept a plea bargain of life in prison. Eliza is forced to sell vegetables on the street for a living, in order to take care of her children, who are in the care of a family friend. Meanwhile, Joaquin must adjust to prison life and survives a brutal attack by a predatory inmate. Later that inmate falls sick and Joaquin, in true Christian fashion, ministers to him, in a great act of forgiveness.

Echoing Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment," Fabian is haunted by the memory of committing the two murders and eventually digs up money he had stolen and later buried from Magda's house and gives it to Eliza. Fabian, however, remains deeply troubled and on a visit to his sister, who owns a large farm, ends up raping her.

Now with a little money, Eliza is finally able to visit her beloved Joaquin. On the way back, she tragically dies in a plane crash. We see Joaquin (apparently now deceased) levitating, as if he's moving closer to God, attaining some kind of sainthood. Can we assume that Joaquin killed himself or died from grief, following the death of Eliza in the plane crash? Possibly but it's not entirely clear.

The randomness of the death of two good people, Eliza and Joaquin, is contrasted with Fabian, an evildoer, who very much continues to live. Perhaps Diaz is saying sometimes there is no justice in this world and perhaps no God. Diaz hints that perhaps there is still hope as one of the concluding shots focuses on the innocent children of Eliza and Joaquin, who survive, along with the farm animals, who also represent innocence.

Neil Young writing in the "Hollywood Reporter," finds Diaz's characters lacking in complexity: "Fabian's transition from preening bohemian chatterbox to bestial psychotic is seldom convincing, but at least his character gets to change a little over the course of the years. Joaquin and Eliza are little more than plaster saints from beginning to end in a film which simplistically equates poverty with spiritual purity and fortitude."

Peter Sobcynski of "RogerEbert.com," notes that there "are moments of staggering beauty and power on display here," but also notes there are numerous scenes which are quite lugubrious or gratuitous: "The trouble is that there are also extended sequences in which so little happens that the effect is more tedious than hypnotic…This is mostly due to a screenplay that grows less and less psychologically sound the further it drifts from its inspiration—there is a long sequence when Eliza contemplates killing herself and her children that feels like a cheap shot and some of the cruelties on display in the final hour feel like attempts to jolt viewers that may have inevitably drifted off during the slower parts. For these moments to fully work, a filmmaker has to have earned them, and there are times in which Diaz hasn't completely done that."

A.O. Scott, writing in the "New York Times,"holds that "Norte's" value is connected to Diaz's social critique: "Mr. Diaz, patiently surveying the social and physical landscape with his beautiful, asymmetrical wide-screen compositions, makes inequality seem like an aspect of the local climate. The cruelty of laws and economic arrangements is obvious and intolerable, and yet there is no real sense that anything can be done."

"Norte, The End of History," does indeed highlight the tragedy of poverty and its attendant sense of class inequalities. Again, if you're patient enough to ignore some of the more tedious moments in the film, you'll be rewarded by scenes of what A.O. Scott terms, the film's "inexhaustible humanism."

9-10/10 & added to my "masterpiece collection" list

[d-JCB · 9/10 · 15 June 2015]

An absolute masterpiece from Philippines, inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Crime & Punishment" but told through real events & political / social problems of the director's country…

This is the first 4 hour movie that didn't even feel that length, perfectly paced, beautifully shot, deep & reflective, gripping & awe inspiring… this is the human condition in it's most naturalistic state…

Can't wait to see another one of this brilliant film makers films which have running times up to 11 hours… a masterpiece that will take some time to wipe form your memory…

http://samuellbronko.tumblr.com/post/117757930882/norte-the-end-of- history-2013-lav-diaz

Niemand bleibt hier?

[ulf-635-523367 · 6/10 · 18 January 2018]

Niemand bleibt hier. Who said that? A narrator in images widening the knowledge of the other side of the world. Incredible suction and depth in some pictures. Deeply related with Andrei Tarkovsky and Béla Tarr. And Jacques Tati? But most of the time the images co-exist with a story. Sometimes even words. And expressions. Lav Diaz fumbles in terms of dialogue and instruction of actors. Sometimes it slips into the conventional.

A Powerful Movie

[Luca-Aversa · 9/10 · 26 January 2015]

Personally, I would like to edit this film into a much shorter version simply because some scenes are understood and don't need to be repeated.

Apart from that, this is a very powerful film with a very powerful message/premise.

I have never see a film who's main character's journey is so unpredictable yet so inevitable.

Slowly slowly, it all adds up in the end.

I believe this director's usual work is longer that 4 hours. I don't think I could go through that again, but I hope that the director finds a way to reach a larger audience with the same powerful messages in a shorter space of time (maybe 2 1/2 hours?).

''Norte, the End of History'' and the Cerebral Film-making of Lav Diaz

[mina-radovic96 · 9/10 · 6 February 2015]

Norte: Hangganan ng Kasaysayan (Norte, the End of History) clocking in at 250 minutes is utterly breathtaking in scope and visually remains a staggeringly beautiful, poetic masterpiece. On a symbolic level, it is a transcendent story of exploration, self-discovery and redemption, realistically portraying the strength, and equal fragility, of the human condition. The film elaborately investigates the relationship between man and his socio-political circumstances - in this case the extreme poverty of the Philippines in correlation with brutal capitalism on the rise. Most importantly however it explores the spiritual relation between humanity and God.

Lav Diaz pushes the boundaries of the medium with this tour de force, visually and thematically, leading us on a long, contemplative journey of discovery. Through his deeply intimate approach and glorious camera-work he represents human frailty at its most basic, acting as a resolute, poetic meditation on the human condition.

Diaz's cerebral masterwork is nothing short of high art, proving him to be one of the true visionaries working in contemporary world cinema.

A Rejection of Slow Cinema

[Cineanalyst · 2/10 · 26 September 2019]

I came to "Norte, the End of History" after reading Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment," for which this movie is a loose reworking. Honestly, I often found it a long slog to get through the book--with page after page, chapter after chapter, and book after book of Raskolnikov's sociopathic thoughts and tendencies examined ad infinitum as subplot after subplot arose--some to dwindle and die and others that would prove central. In that respect, this example of "slow cinema," which is to say a filmmaking style consisting of a series of long takes of long shots with minimal editing that goes on for too many excruciating hours, may seem an apt adaptation. In other respects, however, this style is antithetical to its source. Dostoevsky has been credited as a relatively early author to employ god-like third-person omniscient narration to look inside the minds of characters--to read their thoughts. Director Lav Diaz also takes the usual unrestricted narrative approach by floating between the stories of multiple characters and perspectives, but his commitment to long-shot framings always keeps the spectator at a great distance from the characters--and, for the most part, far away from their minds. Moreover, there are only a couple point-of-view shots in the entire some-four-hours-long picture and nary a close-up, with only a few brief medium ones at most. This is an almost total rejection of traditional cinematic techniques to coax the spectator into identification with characters by associating those characters with the camera's gaze.

Ultimately, Dostoevsky's text was also a reassertion of traditional religious values and a rebuke of certain modern and radical ways of thinking, including the violent politics of Russian nihilism. In the history of motion pictures, if there is a mainstream religion--a framework to pin one's existence upon like Dostoevsky's reactionary Orthodoxy--it's continuity editing. Almost every movie and certainly most mainstream Hollywood productions since as far back as the late 1910s has been built upon that foundation. Diaz, however, is a radical; there's hardly any continuity editing here. There is very little scene dissection, with most scenes being comprised of a single, often static, shot. No shot-reverse-shots. No match cuts. No crosscutting. And, again, few to no close-ups and POV shots or eyeline matches. On the other hand, there are a few jump cuts, which is a technique that has traditionally (especially before YouTube videos and the like adopted it) been considered an amateurish sin in violation of the 30-degree rule.

Thus, we're bombarded with shot-scene after shot-scene of characters in positions remote from a mostly un-moving camera view, with these static tableaux generally lingering long past the point of any action on screen or, often, consisting entirely of nothing of interest happening. Furthermore, many shots are from obfuscated positions. Some of these long takes remain obscure throughout (including some of the more violent episodes), while others feature a camera that follows characters to keep them within frame and to reveal previously hidden characters--usually leading to a two-shot for another pointless conversation. And for all of the quiet, uneventful tableaux here, it's hard to decide whether it's not preferable to the picture's inane dialogue. The worst of this occurs in the first part of the picture, where the Raskolnikov type (here, named "Fabian") drinks beer with his buddies as he rambles on regarding his sophomoric philosophizing--generally, a hodgepodge of Marxism, nihilism and hazy radicalism. It doesn't help, either, that the picture insists that this ranting fool is smart--you know, because everyone says he is, and they repeatedly point out what an excellent law student he was before he dropped out. But, I don't care; if in over four hours runtime I'm not shown one snippet, nor hear one insight proving otherwise, to counteract everything else indicating that a character is stupid, then, he's stupid, and all of his fawning friends are too. To claim otherwise is pretentious--as is a picture with a meaningless multilingual title such as "North" and "End of History." Compare that to the sly directness of Dostoevsky's title.

This style does remind of a precedent, though, before continuity editing became the norm. Some of the earliest feature-length films ever made consisted of long shot, long take and static shot-scenes and were essentially no more than filmed plays. The 1912 "Queen Elizabeth," for instance, was no more than a recording to showcase stage-star Sarah Bernhardt's histrionics. But, they introduced the longer film to audiences and, soon thereafter, continuity editing emerged, especially in Hollywood after WWI decimated Europe's and much of the rest of the world's industry. Moreover, some of these films did do some intriguing things with blocking, camera placement and mise-en-scène as an alternative to montage, which has continued a strong tradition in much of European cinema. Indeed, another loose reworking of "Crime and Punishment," Robert Bresson's "Pickpocket" (1959), also subverts traditional continuity editing, but does so to thematic and virtuosic effect in adapting the text. Diaz, on the other hand, seems to do it out of self-indulgence--not entirely unlike his villainous Fabian.

Diaz's digital framings are far less appealing and betray merely a general over-indulgence and a preposterous avoidance of editing. "Norte" is so ludicrously tedious that hours--I repeat, hours--should've been cut from the picture. And an average shot length (according to my count) of about 99 seconds, with many (such as an awful scene involving the stabbing of a dog) lasting over five minutes, is unacceptable when the spectator is offered so little to contemplate in those pauses. Despite the slow pace and lengthy amount of time spent, the plot is badly disordered. It's over three hours in before we learn that Fabian actually comes from a rather wealthy background, or before we learn some details about a trial that we're only ever told about but never see. Even the passage of time is poorly represented as characters rather inorganically are required to mention in conversation how many years have passed between scenes.

Not to diminish the validity of anyone's appraisal of the movie, but I suspect that after enduring such a punishing runtime and lethargic pacing, one may be inclined to validate that experience as somehow a positive reflection of the quality of the picture. At least, I know I desired as much. Some critics justify it by seeing a supposed "humanism" here. Indeed, I see a peculiar over-reverence for poverty in it, which rather runs contrary to Dostoevsky and undermines the rationale behind Fabian's behavior. Besides, it's not as though the lower-class characters of Joaquin, who strangles a woman, and his wife, Eliza, who contemplates murdering their children, are exactly the beacons of sainthood that Diaz sometimes seems to want to make them out to be. They're no Dostoevsky's Sonya, that's for sure. Furthermore, it seems as though DIaz somehow manages to perhaps be even more moralistic than Dostoevsky, and there's certainly more specific socio-political commentary here, while Raskolnikov's admiration for Napoleon is fittingly replaced by Fabian's comments on former Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The story here is even vastly less complex than that of the book (or even other cinematic adaptations). The crime and the punishment is split between the guilty Fabian, who murders a pawnbroker and her daughter as per Raskolnikov, and the innocent Joaquin. The latter also receives the adaptation's redemption and romance, as much of the picture focuses on his wife, Eliza, as well. Others have suggested that Joaquin's plight more resembles a work from another great Russian author, Leo Tolstoy's short story "God Sees the Truth, But Waits." And everything I've said here regarding a comparison to Dostoevsky's style could about as well apply to the writer of "War and Peace." To end on a more positive note, however, I will say that the film obstinately establishes place to rival that of Raskolnikov's wanderings of Saint Petersburg, with some of the long gazes being at least momentarily striking (the disjunction of a modern highway next to a community of shacks, for instance). Diaz, too, briefly comes close to approximating something pictorially transcendent with a series of aerial views suggested to be dream-like visions of Joaquin. It's the closest "Norte" gets to god's eye view.

Poignant and devastating, and is bound to leave a scar on one's soul.

[akash_sebastian · 9/10 · 31 August 2015]

The film opens with the character Fabian having a heated discussion with two of his lecturers. He tries to elaborate on his philosophies on life and society, how eradication of bad (evil) elements is the only way to progress. From his conversations with his law school friends, we understand that he has left college due to depression and discontent in life, his disillusionment with his country, whose history is marred by betrayals and unpunished crimes. His upbringing and behaviour makes us realise he's a sociopath, feeling distant from almost everything around. Trying to put his theory into practice, he murders an unsympathetic moneylender, and unavoidably (unplanned), her daughter as well.

Loosely based on Dostoyevsky's 'Crime and Punishment', Lav Diaz's four-hour saga explores how a certain crime affects the lives of three individuals - highly intelligent but depressed Fabian who commits the murder, poor and good-hearted Joaquin who's wrongly convicted of the murder, and Eliza (Joaquin's wife) who now has to work endlessly in order to take care of her two kids and Joaquin's sister. The guilt consumes Fabian and drives him to insanity; though he evades getting caught, he feels his soul is corrupted forever. Joaquin maintains his innocence and incorruptible goodness, hoping it results in eventual justice. And Eliza keeps on persevering in the face of injustice, and carries on with her life in eternal despair. Thus, in the three characters we see hope, despair, and the lack of both.

Mostly taken in long takes, with no close-ups or background music, Lav Diaz immerses us into the lives of these three people, with scenes mostly covering their routine activities or conversations. Even without the usual sentimental gimmicks, Diaz gives us his pessimistic and heartbreaking worldview, where life is punctuated with inequality and injustice. I wouldn't exclude a single minute from the movie's 250-minute runtime (which many viewers complain about) because the film progresses at the right pace, giving us enough time to contemplate on the themes surrounding the story - existence, evil (its presence, and whether to destroy the source of it, or evil itself), crime, blame, morality, conscience, injustice, perseverance, hope, universal love and fate; without contemplation and debate (internal or otherwise), watching this film would be wasted potential. For example, blame; who or what should Eliza blame for their situation? The justice system which wrongly but swiftly convicts her husband, or their lawyer who inefficiently pleaded their case, or the murderer who ran away from the scene, or the moneylender herself for being so unscrupulous that her husband attacked her earlier, or the accident which caused the moneylender to have a vicious grip on their lives, or herself for stopping her husband to work abroad before all this mess? So, who is she supposed to be angry at?

With spectacular setting and talented actors (especially, the talented Miss Angeli Bayani), Director Lav Diaz efficiently weaves an sweeping and symmetric tale, in which all the elements make complete sense by the end. No matter how much or what I write, it couldn't possibly illustrate the film's complete worth. Ultimately, 'Norte' is poignant and devastating, and is bound to leave a scar on one's soul.

Aesthetic

[sanwolfx · 8/10 · 3 May 2022]

Diaz has an enormous sensibility when it comes to portraying the mood and emotions of his characters through his use of time and setting. There are plenty of scenes where you just get a feeling of tender humanity, of quiet loneliness and bare compassion. It's an experience anyone who appreciates slow and meditative films will appreciate.

However, when it comes to the plot, during the last hour of the film the story drifts into complete nonsense. Gratuitous violence, last-minute twists, and a pretentious vagueness which doesn't fit the straightforwardness of the rest of the story. Matter of fact, I'm sure that if you cut all of that and end the film at the moment that Joaquin and Eliza reunite, you get a much more coherent and engaging story. Sure, Diaz wanted to explore some more themes, he wanted to make it more complex than a simple story of resilience, redemption and love. But he failed completely, and as far as I'm concerned the "simple" Crime and Punishment plot was working wonderfully up to that point.

Finally, a movie from my country that's in the same tier as "Parasite", "The Godfather", and all the other masterfully crafted movies out there

[someguythatdrawsbetter · 10/10 · 28 September 2021]

Finally, a movie from my country that's in the same tier as "Parasite", "The Godfather", and all the other masterfully crafted movies out there.

I finally have faith in what my country makes now.

Very probably the most boring and dull movie I've ever seen

[jmvscotland · 2/10 · 10 November 2016]

I get it! I really do. The whole Dostoyevsky "Crime and Punishment" thing. But, just because a novel runs to 700 odd pages doesn't mean a film maker has to stretch a movie loosely based on the novel to over four hours.

I make it a practice not to review a movie on here, or even to give it my own score independent of the score on IMDb, unless I've watched it from beginning to end. To provide myself with that ability was a major undertaking in the case of this movie; Norte etc is glacially slow moving and unutterably boring for the whole of its turgid four hours and ten minutes.

Scenes stay in shot for interminable periods with no dialogue and not a flicker of movement. I felt no sympathy for, or connection with, any of the characters, except the lady who had to sell vegetables to feed herself and her family and for her husband who was convicted of a crime he didn't commit.

I couldn't possibly have cared less for any of the other characters and I have to say that some of them drove me quietly nuts. The acting was patchy at best and laughably bad at times from some of the characters, especially the guy who killed the pawn broker/usurer (and didn't she just beg to be dispatched?)

I paid good money for the Blu-ray of this pretentious and tedious lot of rubbish; it is most definitely NOT a movie I will ever watch again. Perhaps I can find someone on life support that I can give it to.

A funereally slow, nasty, implausible bladder-burster

[bootlebarth · 4/10 · 12 January 2015]

Fabian, a pretentious, pseudo-intellectual leads a small adoring clique of fellow law students. Imitating Raskolnikov in 'Crime and Punishment', he brutally murders Magda, a heartless money- lender, and her teenage daughter.

For unexplained reasons Joaquin, a poor man with a young family, is convicted of the crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Fabian gives the deprived wife some money and asks his friends to do what they can for Joaquin. He then rapes his god-fearing sister and slaughters a dog to round off the nasty, sadistic episodes that punctuate what passes for a story. The film ends with him taking a canoe ride.

How can this implausible, unresolved plot occupy 250 minutes of screen time? No problem, just point a camera at something and let it roll while next to nothing happens. Scenes go on and on for no obvious purpose. They can be repeated knockings on a door with cries of 'Fabian, are you in there', to lighting and smoking cigarettes, to plodding along paths, to observing landscapes. More than four hours could have been edited to, say, 90 minutes without any significant loss of material.

What director Diaz has produced is a semi-motion picture, a mildly intriguing but generally tedious variant of the wham, bam, thank you ma'am school of frenetic film-making with eternally swooping and sliding cameras and cuts every few seconds.

Diaz changes the appearance and tempo slightly with fuzzy landscape shots, probably taken from a drone with an inexpensive camera, and some jerky hand-held footage that could have been borrowed from Lars von Trier.

Almost at the end, Diaz cocks a snook at his audience with a ludicrous levitation scene.

Norte, despite its faults in pacing and plotting, is not short of striking visual images. If they had all been reduced to about a third of their displayed length and allied to a plot that made some sense, a watchable film might have been the result.

Tiresome and Pretentious

[whiteboiii30 · 1/10 · 16 October 2020]

Some of the scenes are unnecessary, you don't have to show us a long wide shot without boring the audience. Some film makers were successfully express artistic and literary value without sacrificing the entertainment side of film making.

I can sit on slow pacing movies but this one is just unwatchable, it's shame the characters are interesting especially the law student, but I cannot finish the whole thing.

I like slow cinema, but this isn't very good

[andrewpoe · 1/10 · 16 April 2024]

This movie just really isn't that good. I haven't nothing against slow cinema - in fact, some of my favorite movies recently have been part of that approach to movie-making (Perfect Days, The Turin Horse, Neighbouring Sounds, The Zone of Interest). I almost feel like there was no one around the director Lav Diaz who told him 'no' on any of the choices made for this movie.

The movie took four hours when it only needed two hours or two and half to tell its story. The first hour and 45 minutes worked and told the story succinctly. In order to have a movie go for four hours and still be compelling, either the story needs to carry it, the actors need to carry it, or how the movie was put together would need to carry it.

Sid Lucero (Fabian) is about the only decent actor in the whole movie. The character he plays is bad from the start - he starts as an annoying intellectual to eventually becoming an annoying psychopath. Yet he carried the sections of the movie he was in.

Joaquio (Archie Alemenia) is decent at times through the movie albeit with a character that's rather wooden. The other people involved simply can't act or aren't very good. I wasn't really upset that Magda (Mae Paner) got killed; she seemed to exist to stand in the way of Joaquio's family although they seem to make poor choices or expect a malnourished pig to be acceptable.

I was practically yelling at the screen when Joaquio's wife Eliza (Angeli Bayani) was trying to ask for an appeal for her husband's conviction 30 days later - what the hell was her character doing in that time?

Hours two through three were unmemorable and virtually an exercise in the director enjoying the smell of his own farts. The last 30 minutes or so actually picked up and Fabian is an absolute psycho by that point. The movie never explains what happened to Joaquio - Fabian's lawyer friends seemingly got him released (although it's never shown but only assumed). Joaquio floating on the bed could have been a great conclusion to the movie to be honest. The car accident and the introduction of Fabian's sister seemed rather out of nowhere rather than carefully crafted.

Just because a director can make a four hour movie doesn't mean the director should. By the end of it, I felt that the director needed to fire his editor, which is himself. Hopefully, Lav Diaz can work with better actors in another movie and make a movie that can tell its story sufficiently and succinctly.