Magellan - Lav Diaz

Magellan is the latest masterpiece by Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz. Awarded the Golden Spike at the 70th Valladolid International Film Festival, this film offers a decolonial rereading of the life of Magellan, the 16th-century Portuguese explorer. Played by Gael García Bernal, Magellan appears not as a mythical hero but as an idealist who turns into a tyrant, obsessed with conquest and conversion. His journey, marked by violence and rebellion, reveals a reality far removed from the legend. In his first colour film in more than a decade, Lav Diaz collaborates with director of photography Artur Tort to create stunning, lingering images. Magellan is not only a historical film but also a powerful reflection on power, colonisation, and the aesthetics of empire. It dismantles ideals of grandeur and domination while probing the complex relationship between history and memory. A must-see for cinephiles.