SCREENING IN THE BERNARD OSHER FOUNDATION AUDITORIUM
“A hypnotizing historical and spiritual epic that’s immersive in a way that few decades-spanning stories successfully pull off.”
163 minutes. Not Rated. Directed by Lav Diaz. In Spanish, Portuguese, Tagalog, and French with English subtitles. DCP.
At the dawn of the modern era, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (Gael García Bernal) navigated a fleet of ships to Southeast Asia, attempting the first voyage across the vast Pacific Ocean. On reaching the Malay Archipelago, the crew pushed to the brink of madness in the harshness of the high seas and overwhelming natural beauty of the islands, Magellan's obsession leads to a rebellion and reckoning with the consequences of power. A vast, globe-spanning epic from Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz (Norte, the End of History), Magellan presents the colonization of the Philippines as a primal, shocking encounter with the unknown and a radical retelling of European narratives of discovery and exploration.