What pops into your head when you hear the phrase “longest movie ever made?” Maybe one of the old classics like Gone With the Wind or Ben Hur? Or one of the recent superhero releases, like Avengers: Infinity War or the Snyder Cut of Justice League? Or is it an immortal piece of pop culture like Titanic or the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings movies?
Well, guess what? It’s none of those. Because the actual longest movies ever made are much, much longer. They look at Lord of the Rings and they cackle with laughter, “Hold my beer,” they say. “You’re in for a long ride.”
These movies are truly an investment, and not exactly box office smashes. But they’re still an interesting piece of movie trivia to have, and hey, why binge a series all day when you can binge one movie? I mean, is there really that much of a difference?
These are the 10 longest movies ever released around the world—from very long to, well…they might still be playing when you’re old, with regrets about how you spent your entire youth (watching only this particular movie). Enjoy!
10. Heremias (Book One: Legend of the Lizard Princess) (2006)
Time: 519 minutes
Written and directed by Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz (the Philippines are particularly prolific when it comes to long-form cinema), Heremias’ runtime stops just shy of nine hours. Shot entirely in black and white and with long sequence shots, the movie tells the story of the titular character Heremias, a poor farmer who leaves the group of traveling salesmen he was working with and embarks on what will become a life-changing journey—as well as a gripping tale of sorrow.
9. Death in the Land of Encantos (2007)
Time: 538 minutes
Another movie by Lav Diaz, Death in the Land of Encantoes would be more accurately described as a docu-drama—the almost nine hours of its runtime are dedicated to describing the aftermath of the passage of Typhoon Reming in 2006, focusing on the people living in the villages in the area surrounding the Mayon volcano.
8. Tie Xi QU: West of the Tracks (2003)
Time: 551 minutes
Directed and produced by Chinese filmmaker Wang Bing, Tie Xi Qu is another documentary film—and its runtime of over nine hours is divided into three parts, titled Rust, Remnants, and Rails. Filmed over the course of two years, the movie details the story of the slow decline of the industrial Tiexi district in the city of Shenyang—a place that used to be a shining example of China’s socialist economy.
7. Shoah (1985)
Time: 566 minutes
Directed by French filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, the movie—which takes its name from the word used in Hebrew to refer to the Holocaust—is a documentary film that puts together interviews with survivors and perpetrators, as well as visits to concentration camps across Poland. It received stellar critics when it was first released, and it also won a BAFTA Award for Best Documentary.
6. Evolution of a Filipino Family (2004)
Time: 593 minutes
Filmmaker Lav Diaz and the Filipino movie industry return with Evolution of a Filipino Family—boasting a runtime just seven minutes shy of ten hours. This film is a familial saga, detailing the rise and fall of a poor farming clan in the ’70s and ’80s. Like all great family sagas, the stories of each individual are meant to echo the greater tide of history and the development of the nation during and after the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.
5. How Yukong Moved the Mountains (1976)
Time: 763 minutes
Directed by filmmakers Marceline Loridan-Ivens and Joris Ivens—a Frenchman and a Dutchman respectively—How Yukong Moved the Mountains is a series of 12 separate documentaries on the topic of the Cultural Revolution in China. The title comes from the well-known Chinese fable of Yugong Yishan, which focuses on the virtues of willpower and perseverance.
4. Out 1 (1971)
Time: 775 minutes
Also known as Out 1: Noli Me Tangere, this experimental movie was directed by French filmmakers Jacques Rivette and Suzanne Schiffman. The two take inspiration from French 19th-century writer Honoré de Balzac (and his La Comédie humaine) to create a series of loosely connected characters whose stories end up weaving together over the (almost thirteen hours!) film’s runtime.
3. La Flor (2018)
Time: 803 minutes
Written and directed by Argentinian filmmaker Mariano Llinás, La Flor has a runtime of nearly thirteen and a half hours—making it the longest film in Argentinian film history and third-longest overall (I know, we’re not done yet). The movie is divided into six separate episodes, where the same cast of four actresses can be found in widely different situations of equally different genres—from a story featuring a Mummy’s curse to a spy adventure.
2. Resan (1987)
Time: 873 minutes
This docudrama by English filmmaker Peter Watkins was made over the course of two years and it focuses on the topics of nuclear weapons and military spending, as well as their relation to general poverty. The fourteen-and-a-half-hour runtime features a series of interviews with ordinary people about their awareness and opinions on these issues.
1. Amra Ekta Cinema Banabo (2019)
Time: 1265 minutes
Bringing home the crown—as the longest movie ever made—is Amra Ekta Cinema Banabo, also known by its English name The Innocence—a Bengali-language work by Bangladeshi director Ashraf Shishir. Shot in black and white over the course of nine (!) years—the movie explores the aftermath of the Bangladesh Liberation War, burrowing into people’s struggles, aspirations, and dreams.
I’m willing to bet though that the longest movies most of us have sat through are much shorter than the ones listed above. So what is the longest movie you have ever seen? For me, it probably has to be the Extended Version of Return of the King.
(via: We Got This Covered; featured image: El Pampero Cine)
