Magellan

Lav Diaz's Magellan is methodical, observational, and unbiased at its core. Magellan deconstructs the monotony of bad conquerers and the good conquered; opting instead for a lens that shows both with as much honesty and truthfulness possible, without avoidance of the violent and euro-centric nature of conquest. The first two thirds of the film feels like a solid build-up to the last third that attempts to capture the Spanish Conquest with the same vein of observational work possible. His observational approach is accompanied by a cinematography that I dare say the best I've seen from anything this year (not that I've seen much). Literally every frame is a painting wrought of subtext and detail. Nearly every frame from Magellan calls the cinematography of Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu to mind. The film's setting might've helped, with most scenes set in nature, but the beauty that Diaz was able to put in every frame is astonishing, regardless. Magellan does lack a crucial aspect of Lav Diaz's style that I've come to fall in love with: dialogue. The 2h 43min runtime (the shortest of any Lav Diaz film) takes its toll as Magellan maintains Diaz's observational and mundane cinematic style, but cuts down on the long and extensive dialogue that has accomodated his style. Nonetheless, Magellan considering that feels whole and intentful. On to the elephant in the cinema: revisionism. There will be accusations and it is justified, but Diaz's approach and intent feels honest nonetheless throughout. Not much about Magellan feels revisionist apart from the disregard of Lapu-lapu. Not his best character work in a film (see Norte), but I loved his approach with Enrique's character—which imbued a sense of personalness to a seemingly impersonal film. Para sa sarili kong kalayaan. Is probably one of few lines in a movie that will always stick with me.