Norte, the End of History

A riff on ‘Crime and Punishment’ (and the most intimate epic in a while), Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz’s rich four-hour-plus study of morality introduces us to a law school drop-out (Sid Lucero, amazing) and a farmer’s son (Archie Alemania). Fate connects the two men when one of them commits a double murder and the other takes the fall. In between digressions about politics, nationalism, class, capitalism and history (or the end of it), we’re treated to a sprawling yet compelling tale of social injustice that never feels like a sermon. Novelistic is a term that gets thrown around a lot these days, but Diaz’s film more than earns the adjective. You’d have to go back to Taiwanese filmmaker Edward Yang’s 2000 film ‘Yi Yi’ to find another movie that approaches a marathon-length running time yet still makes you wish it were twice as long.