As of 2025, One of the Best Films of the 21st Century
Norte, the End of History (2013)
(Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan) (2013)
Filipino director Lav Diaz’s twelfth feature – at four-plus hours, one of his shortest – is a careful rethinking of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, with a tortured anti-hero who is a haunting embodiment of the dead ends of ideology.
With running time of over four hours, Lav Diaz’s crime feature is one of his more concise films (some of features run much longer).
The Filipino writer-director’s Dostevsky-influenced drama centers on a moneylender’s murder, along with the deed’s ripple effect, which lands an innocent man in prison.
There is never a dull moment in this consistently compelling drama. And while it doesn’t shy away from the uglier aspects, Norte is not the sensational work of a shock artist.
Rather, it’s statement from a filmmaker who believes that, ultimately, people can–and do–endure, even at times of great hardship and unbearable injustice.
Credits:
Director: Lav Diaz
Country: Philippines
Running time: 250 minutes
