Magellan

This was my first Lav Diaz film, since this is shorter than most of his works, I found it "accessible". It featured Lav Diaz's way of filmmaking, the long shots that instill in me a deepening reflection of his characters. Historically, as a Filipino, this film is radical in a sense, considering I've been taught history in school. The film presents something different to what I have been taught, the existence of Lapu Lapu. To me, it was quite the mind changer and something I couldn't process much easily as aforementioned, contrary to what I have been taught in school . This film presents as well the brutality of colonialism from both perspectives, the colonizer and the colonized, highlighting as well the colonizers' justifications for colonialism. I as well love the static takes in the film, gives me a new exploration of cinema and the human condition. Watching the film, there was a feeling about these static takes where there are characters far out in the back and characters nearer to the screen. It feels like I have a limited view point of the world. This film was great, very radical and makes me want to immerse in more of Lav Diaz.