I get it! I really do. The whole Dostoyevsky "Crime and Punishment" thing. But, just because a novel runs to 700 odd pages doesn't mean a film maker has to stretch a movie loosely based on the novel to over four hours.I make it a practice not to review a movie on here, or even to give it my own score independent of the score on IMDb, unless I've watched it from beginning to end. To provide myself with that ability was a major undertaking in the case of this movie; Norte etc is glacially slow moving and unutterably boring for the whole of its turgid four hours and ten minutes.Scenes stay in shot for interminable periods with no dialogue and not a flicker of movement. I felt no sympathy for, or connection with, any of the characters, except the lady who had to sell vegetables to feed herself and her family and for her husband who was convicted of a crime he didn't commit.I couldn't possibly have cared less for any of the other characters and I have to say that some of them drove me quietly nuts. The acting was patchy at best and laughably bad at times from some of the characters, especially the guy who killed the pawn broker/usurer (and didn't she just beg to be dispatched?)I paid good money for the Blu-ray of this pretentious and tedious lot of rubbish; it is most definitely NOT a movie I will ever watch again. Perhaps I can find someone on life support that I can give it to.

Lav Diaz is famous (or infamous) for long runtimes. This one isn't too long (for Diaz's standards) but it is quite long and stretchy. If it was cut down to say, a 3-hour runtime, the story would still be effectively told. Nonetheless, the film still managed to hold my attention. Throw me a movie with a countryside view, a laid-back province environment, a village by the sea, and a green scenery, and I will surely glue my eyes on it.The movie revolves around the lives of 3 central characters, played by versatile and veteran supporting casts. These central characters I'm referring to are 1) Fabian- a genius turned lunatic 2) Joaquin- a family man indicted for a crime he never committed and 3) Elisa- the perfect example of a strong woman. It's so hard to choose which of the three characters most affected us, or who most most realistically depicts how sad and cruel society is. Their lives are so colorful that in the turn of events, one can only ponder on how cruel can fate be. I would give a special shout out to Sid Lucero, who plays Fabian in the movie. Fabian is an interesting character. He was a former law student whose intellect could have made him bar topnotcher. He likes talking about philosophy, conspiracies, politics, history--smart man. But I guess what he had in intellect, he lacked in rational thinking. He ran out of his mind because he was probably eaten by guilt. He was someone who can't control his emotions. And this led him to do crazy things. And this, ladies and gentleman, was very well acted by no less than Sid Lucero. I can't even think of someone else doing the role than him. Then again, Sid Lucero has already proved his versatility and craftsmanship that it's no longer a question.At first I didn't know what's the relation between Norte and the movie. I found out later on that the film was shot in the northern most part of the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Thus, the "North". As to the "end of history" part, well, it could be both literal and metaphorical. The movie has serious and deep themes which spices up the whole movie. There's murder, poverty, guilt, judgement, incest, hope, faith, longing, remorse...name it. All of these are depicted in the three lives connected to each other by fate. The no. 1 strength this movie has to offer is the brilliant performances from the actors. They brought the whole story, which is already great by itself, even greater.

Finally! Today, I can now say that I have seen a Lav Diaz film. Since his multi-awarded "Batang West Side" in 2001, Mr. Diaz has built a name directing artistic opuses that run much much longer than usual feature films, usually more than five hours. His longest was "Evolution of a Filipino Family" in 2004, which clocked at a whopping 11 and a half hours! Running for about 4 hours, "Norte" is fondly referred to as Mr. Diaz's "short" film, and therefore the most accessible of all his films."Norte" is set in the northern province of Ilocos Norte. Fabian Viduya (Sid Lucero) was a topnotch law student who quit law school because of his highfalutin philosophical ideas of a society beyond existentialism and anarchy. Joaquin (Archie Alemania) and Eliza (Agnes Bayani) were a poor couple whose dreams of building their own eatery business are dashed when Joaquin suffers a leg injury and they fell deep into debt. The fates of these three people intersected when a heinous crime was committed in their small town. Since then, these three lives were thrown into a major maelstrom. These events happened in just in the first hour, the rest of the next three hours follows what happens to each of these three characters following that cruelly fateful day.I will not pretend and say that I did not feel the four hours. I did feel the length of the film with those static shots that seemed to be showing nothing in particular or the very slow telling of events with several details that seemed like they would have been edited out in usual film. However, each of these scenes would usually precede a scene of big importance, building up the suspense very effectively.If we complain that there is no character development in mainstream film, in this film, there is not shortage of that. We will get to see how the events shaped Fabian, Joaquin and Eliza as they were caught in their consequences. However, for a super-complex character like Fabian, the four hours was not even enough to get to know his innermost core that drove him to do the things he did. Fabian is a big question mark up to his very last scene.Sid Lucero got wrung through the wringer for his role as Fabian. You'll admire him. You'll pity him. You'll hate him. This is such a complex role and Lucero was more than up to the task. "Norte" is his film. It was his actions that throw the other characters' lives around. Angeli Bayani has taken over roles that would probably been given to younger Ms. Nora Aunor. Even if her character barely talked, it was her eyes, her face that talked to us. Her scenes with Archie Alemania are tearjerkers without words nor music to build up the moment. Her back was even turned to us. Yet the emotion was so deeply felt. There was also that scene where she was walking with her kids at the crossroads, and following that, a scene with her kids over a ledge -- she can really convey tension that her director requires.Archie Alemania's character development was rather straight-forward and he played the character very sympathetically. Mae Paner was the usurer Magda, such a hateful character you will feel her effect even if she was only seen in the first hour. Soliman Cruz was another hateful character Wakwak seen in the third hour. That scene where he was singing "O Holy Night" was so insidiously sinister.This film is not for everyone. Not everyone will have the patience for it. Not everyone will have the time for it. However, for those who do invest their time with this, you will see that this was a film of artistic excellence. The innovative camera angles make mundane household items and rustic scenes look and feel different. This could be your best chance to watch a Lav Diaz film and immerse yourself in the work of a director whose name is already lined up with National Artists for film Brocka and Bernal.

A very impressive achievement by director Lav Diaz and his co-screenwriter Rody Vera. In "Norte,The End Of History" they take 250 riveting minutes to tell an epic story about the journeys of two men who choose radically different ways of coping with a morally indifferent universe. Archie Alemania's Joaquin is a poor family man struggling to feed his wife and 2 kids after a disabling injury leaves him burdened with debt and Sid Lucero's Fabian is an angry law student who feels no need to be governed by a political establishment he sees as beyond redemption. Lucero is brilliant as the affable, chameleon-like student who enjoys debating abstruse political issues within his circle of friends while also possessing a darker side. Alemania is compelling as the polar opposite of Lucero: faithful and uncomplicated. Angeli Bayani is excellent in her role as Alemania's wife. A woman of few words her expressions speak powerfully of the unintended victims of injustice. Also noteworthy is the performance of Soliman Cruz as a sadistic inmate. Cinematographer Lauro Rene Manda eschews close-ups relying heavily on long shots which emphasize how little natural or man-made environments share the concerns of the characters. This is a great piece of cinema, one of the best films I've seen in some time. It may take some doing to find it but for any serious cinephile it's well worth the effort. 10/10