NORTE (2013)

There are many films by Lav Diaz that could be included here, such as the Silver Bear awarded Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis or Venice International Film Festival best picture Ang Babaeng Humayo. But Norte which premiered in Cannes three years earlier, is still his more definitive work. It was met with universal and worldwide acclaim. Pulitzer winning critic Wesley Morris gave it a standing ovation, writing that when “the lights came up, I stood with tears in my eyes, and clapped as loudly as I ever have for any movie in my life.” He would write later on, after seeing it a second time, that it was more than a cinematic experience for him, it no less than a “call from God.”