Legendary Filipino auteur Lav Diaz recounts a decade in the life of famed explorer Ferdinand Magellan in haunting and poetic fashion, following his colonisation of SE Asia and his tragic descent into damnation.
At the dawn of the modern era, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (Gael García Bernal) persuades the Spanish Crown to fund a daring voyage into uncharted oceans, attempting the first passage across the vast Pacific. The globe-spanning journey becomes a test of endurance and faith, as hunger, storms, and mutiny push the crew to the brink. Upon reaching the Malay Archipelago, Magellan’s dream of discovery hardens into obsession, sparking rebellion and a reckoning with devastating consequences. Vast in scale and hypnotic in its power, Lav Diaz’s Magellan is a visually ravishing historical and spiritual epic. This is not the myth of Magellan, but the truth of his journey.
Variety – “The spirit of slow cinema is alive and languid in this stunningly mounted, politically rigorous work, which confronts any viewers hoping for a sweeping biographical romp with a frank post-colonial perspective, thoroughly and violently dismantling any romanticized legacy trailing the eponymous Portuguese navigator.” (full review here)
RogerEbert.com – “Magellan, about the titular Portuguese explorer, clocks in at a relatively tidy two hours and 45 minutes, making it practically an ideal starter picture for those curious about Diaz’s work.” (full review here)
IndieWire – “A hypnotizing historical and spiritual epic that’s immersive in a way that few decades-spanning stories successfully pull off.” (full review here)
