The vicious murder of a pawnbroker lies at the heart of the first of Diaz’s films to be released to theaters in the US. An overt reference to Crime and Punishment, the murder also proves the link between Norte’s two protagonists: a cynical university student and an impoverished street peddler. In color and running only four hours, Norte is somewhat of a departure from Diaz’s other recent work; nevertheless, the filmmaker  remains as bristling with outrage as ever at the moral bankruptcy that sprouts from the political disarray of the Philippines, past and present. Even at a shorter length, Diaz’s mix of everyday episodes, moments of tenderness, off-screen events and sudden cataclysm startles and arrests.