My first rush line experience of TIFF ’25, I saw The Captive because my sisters came downtown for the afternoon and wanted to see whatever was available. I find that movies I see this way are some of the most exciting.
Directed by Alejandro Amenábar, The Captive is a fictional look into the life of Spanish writer, Miguel de Cervantes (Julio Peña Fernández), while he was held captive in Algiers in 1575. As there is not a lot known for certain about Cervantes’ life, Amenábar builds on plausible events, including his relationship with the Bajá of Algiers (Alessandro Borghi) which he uses to serve him and other captives before he is eventually freed.
The Captive blends fact and fiction, and within the film itself, taking us from the narrative as it happens into stories Miguel tells other characters. He’s not just telling them the story, he’s also telling it to us, the audience watching in 2025. This is a great visual representation of a character who would author what, as I have just found out, is considered the greatest novel of all time, Don Quixote.
At the screening, Alejandro Amenábar made a great point about Cervantes experiencing the lives of people he considered the enemy and, therefore, deepening his perspective of them as more than his captors. In fact, an element that was driven in this film set in a time of intense and violent ‘othering’, is choice. Each of the characters must choose who they want to be of their own volition even when faced with threats and temptations, and this makes their choice much more significant.
The Captive is a beautiful imagination of history, and beckons us to imagine along with it.
The Captive is playing at TIFF ’25. For more information, click here.
