Norte, the End of History

Gifted law student Fabian has withdrawn, but continues to hold debates in which he preaches his vaguely Nietzschean, anti-social philosophy. When he puts it into practice by murdering a greedy moneylender, a farmer's son is made a scapegoat. While his wife fights for his release from prison, Fabian roams the countryside unmolested. Lav Diaz creates a fusion of novelistic depth and cinematic breadth in his epic designs - long “real-time” shots and slow, subtly placed journeys through “everyday scenarios” with symbolic overtones. Diaz also combines painfully precise soul-searching with a grand historical outline. His human tragedies are always also the historical tragedies of his nation: Fabian is both Dostoyevsky's Raskolnikov and ex-president/dictator Marcos. (Christoph Huber)

In the presence of Lav Diaz.

Photo: Austrian Film Museum