With the 98th Academy Awards soon approaching this March, I’ve been making sure to watch as many nominations as I possibly can. While perusing the nominations in the International Feature Film category, I also checked which countries entered films into the Academy Awards. I was surprised to see that the Philippines submitted a film by Lav Diaz titled “Magellan,” about the famed Portuguese explorer. Very rarely are historical Portuguese figures the protagonists of major films, especially those not even directed by a Portuguese. I was determined to watch the film. 

The film follows Magellan’s expedition from the Capture of Malacca (a city in what is now Malaysia) to his death in the Battle of Mactan (an island in the Philippines, now known as Cebu). Most of the film, though, focuses on the numerous challenges Magellan faces while on his voyage to the Philippines. Most of these challenges involve either putting down mutinies or handing out harsh punishments to crew members (which have sparked most of the mutinies). Once Magellan reaches the Philippines, he convinces a local chieftain, Rajah Humabon, to convert his subjects to Christianity. This plan falls through once Magellan’s crew burns the tribe’s anitos, woodcarvings of ancestral spirits. Magellan and his crew are soon swiftly annihilated by Humabon’s tribe.  Magellan’s Malay slave, whom he acquired during the Capture of Malacca, Enrique de Malaca, is revealed to be the only survivor in this attack. He lives not only because he was the interpreter, but also because he participated in the killing of Magellan’s crew.

While this is the first Lav Diaz film I have seen, I was already aware that he is associated with the slow cinema genre. General characteristics of this genre include a lack of narrative, an emphasis on long takes (scenes that run long without cutting to a different shot), and a more observational stance. Think of it as “fly on the wall” filmmaking.  

While I generally don’t like this style of art cinema, it’s certainly an interesting choice for a historical drama. Often, historical figures and events are more mundane than how we read about them in history. We certainly see that in this film. There is nothing glamorous about the voyages during the Golden Age of Exploration. Magellan is not a grand, ingenious “explorer” in this film, but rather one part of many in the system of empires. After being rejected by King Manuel I of Portugal over a proposal to circumnavigate the globe, he quickly went to Spain, where his proposal was greenlit. Before traveling to Seville, Magellan is confronted by a friend who attempts to dissuade him from his “bloody” occupation. Before a violent scuffle, Magellan tells him that if he won’t work for an empire, someone else just will. 

Personally, I was a bit disappointed watching this. My common issue with slow cinema is that it can just drag on too long. I find such films to be aimless and have a lack of narrative or visually dull often. Seeing the numerous people who fell asleep in the theater was a testament to that.  I knew coming in that a film by a Filipino, about a man who attempted to colonize his nation, would be focused on ideas about colonialism. The Philippines is no stranger to this, having fought against three major empires throughout history. I felt nothing new was added to this conversation with this film, though. 

Apparently, Diaz was going to write a completely different narrative than what I watched. His original story was about a group of Filipinos who traveled to Portugal to follow Magellan’s origins and his work for the Spanish empire. Now that would’ve been far more interesting, a reverse tracing of the colonized to the colonizer.