The film opens with the character Fabian having a heated discussion with two of his lecturers. He tries to elaborate on his philosophies on life and society, how eradication of bad (evil) elements is the only way to progress. From his conversations with his law school friends, we understand that he has left college due to depression and discontent in life, his disillusionment with his country, whose history is marred by betrayals and unpunished crimes. His upbringing and behaviour makes us realise he's a sociopath, feeling distant from almost everything around. Trying to put his theory into practice, he murders an unsympathetic moneylender, and unavoidably (unplanned), her daughter as well.
Loosely based on Dostoyevsky's 'Crime and Punishment', Lav Diaz's four-hour saga explores how a certain crime affects the lives of three individuals - highly intelligent but depressed Fabian who commits the murder, poor and good-hearted Joaquin who's wrongly convicted of the murder, and Eliza (Joaquin's wife) who now has to work endlessly in order to take care of her two kids and Joaquin's sister. The guilt consumes Fabian and drives him to insanity; though he evades getting caught, he feels his soul is corrupted forever. Joaquin maintains his innocence and incorruptible goodness, hoping it results in eventual justice. And Eliza keeps on persevering in the face of injustice, and carries on with her life in eternal despair. Thus, in the three characters we see hope, despair, and the lack of both.
Mostly taken in long takes, with no close-ups or background music, Lav Diaz immerses us into the lives of these three people, with scenes mostly covering their routine activities or conversations. Even without the usual sentimental gimmicks, Diaz gives us his pessimistic and heartbreaking worldview, where life is punctuated with inequality and injustice. I wouldn't exclude a single minute from the movie's 250-minute runtime (which many viewers complain about) because the film progresses at the right pace, giving us enough time to contemplate on the themes surrounding the story - existence, evil (its presence, and whether to destroy the source of it, or evil itself), crime, blame, morality, conscience, injustice, perseverance, hope, universal love and fate; without contemplation and debate (internal or otherwise), watching this film would be wasted potential. For example, blame; who or what should Eliza blame for their situation? The justice system which wrongly but swiftly convicts her husband, or their lawyer who inefficiently pleaded their case, or the murderer who ran away from the scene, or the moneylender herself for being so unscrupulous that her husband attacked her earlier, or the accident which caused the moneylender to have a vicious grip on their lives, or herself for stopping her husband to work abroad before all this mess? So, who is she supposed to be angry at?
With spectacular setting and talented actors (especially, the talented Miss Angeli Bayani), Director Lav Diaz efficiently weaves an sweeping and symmetric tale, in which all the elements make complete sense by the end. No matter how much or what I write, it couldn't possibly illustrate the film's complete worth. Ultimately, 'Norte' is poignant and devastating, and is bound to leave a scar on one's soul.
