Lav Diaz’s Magellan Recasts the Explorer as a Brutal Agent of Conquest

Overview

• The 163-minute feature is brief by Diaz’s standards, positioned as a more approachable entry to his work.
• Gael García Bernal plays Ferdinand Magellan in a performance observed largely in distanced long takes.
• The narrative roots itself in early-16th-century campaigns, beginning in Malacca, with images that emphasize slaughter and subjugation.
• Reviews highlight a style that privileges immersion over momentum, including glacial tracking shots and nature-versus-man tableaux that recall Rossellini.
• The film interrogates religious zeal and colonial hypocrisy, contrasting the commander’s worldview with the experience of an enslaved Malay translator.