The TIFF Film Review: Alejandro Amenábar‘s “The Captive” / “El Cautivo“
WORLD PREMIERE – Spain, Italy | 2025 | 134m | Spanish, Arabic, Italian
By Ross
Forgoing any tales that include “magic spells and secret children,” Alejandro Amenábar’s new film, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, “El Cautivo“, or as translated, “The Captive“, is awash with poetic and captivating drama. Profoundly enlightening, the direction leads us through and delivers us to the shore of understanding. We are in expert hands with “El Cautivo“, as we are captured in the bold and ferociously stunning visuals of 1675 Algiers, and held firmly to our eventual release.
It’s an intricate, exciting retelling of plausible events delivered with careful opulence by visionary writer-director Alejandro Amenábar (“The Others“; “The Sea Inside“) that begins when a Spanish ship and its (somewhat devout) Catholic passengers are held for ransom by the Bajá of Algiers, played seductively by the hypnotizing Italian film star Alessandro Borghi (“On My Skin“). One young gentleman, a nobody soldier who happens to have a letter that elevates him from the common man (who are quickly sold off as slaves), by the name of Miguel de Cervantes, a name that will eventually go down in literary history as the author of the foundational masterpiece Don Quixote, discovers within himself an unexpected refuge in the art of storytelling.
Unaware, even to himself, Cervantes is on the road to becoming one of history’s greatest storytellers, and as he is held in the gentleman’s prison under the watchful eye of the Bajá’s men, a transformation begins to happen; to keep boredom at bay, but also to delight the other men who find themselves imprisoned like beasts with no real end in sight. As this soon-to-be-famous storyteller, Miguel de Cervantes, played with a soulful elegance by Julio Peña Fernández (“Through My Window“), finds use in editing the written word of an older gentleman, our narrator, and his fellow scholastic inmate, but it’s in the sublime act of escape, both fantastical and literal, where his essence and true calling is found.
Far from a mere factual recounting of the scant remnants of history, this production breathes new life into the story, transforming it into a daring, vivid retelling of plausible events. As we watch Peña Fernández Cervantes’s fingers move in the air, as if typing out a manuscript in his imagination, his performance astonishes with its fully realized, complex presence, delivering forth humanity in a seemingly alien world and captivating us all with his character’s strength and ingenuity. While Cervantes’s literary work reshaped the Spanish language, bringing it into the modern era, little is known about the man behind the words. Even amid the bleakest circumstances, Cervantes utilizes his talents—his wit, his resilience—to forge a shifting, fragile connection with Hasan, the Bajá of Algiers, a relationship that holds the power to change his destiny forever.
From the opening frames to its final glimmer of hope in the Bajá’s pleading eyes, thanks to the excellent work done by cinematographer Alex Catalán (“Marshland“), El Cautivo locks us inside its exquisitely wrought world, a place of shifting shadows, secret plans, and desperate bargains, where words become keys and imagination the only escape. Yet, when the credits roll, we emerge from its hold transformed, like Cervantes himself, freed but still marked, holding the lingering echo of his wit and resilience within our collective soul. The aching beauty of Amenábar’s vision sheds light on inspiration and storytelling. Like the prisoners themselves, we find release at the end of El Cautivo, but also a strange longing for home, even if the captivity was the very thing that made us feel most alive.
