The Captive, which had its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, tells the story of Miguel de Cervantes (Julio Peña Fernández), who many will recognize as the writer of “Don Quixote of Al Mancha”, during a very tumultuous, but enlightening, period of his life.
Written and directed by Alejandro Amenábar, known for films such as The Others, Vanilla Sky, and Agora, The Captive draws from historical sources from the 16th century to reimagine de Cervantes’ story and contextualize his life before he became a famous author.
What is The Captive about?
The Captive opens with a Spanish Christian crew being kidnapped and brought to Algiers by Moors. Among the many nobles is Miguel de Cervantes, decidedly not a noble. However, Miguel is armed with papers that can be generously misinterpreted as being for a nobleman.
But it does him little good. The captives can only be freed if their families pay good money for them. And unfortunately, Miguel’s family simply doesn’t have the means to pay for his freedom. Miguel faces a long life of imprisonment in a strange land.
Instead of wallowing in misery, Miguel buries himself in the books that his friend and mentor, Antonio de Sosa (Miguel Rellán), has collected. When the rest of the captives get bored and uneasy, de Cervantes regales them with made-up tales where he woos the daughter of the Bey—the leader of Algiers—and hatches an escape plan.
These stories reach the ear of the actual Bey (Alessandro Borghi), who quickly becomes infatuated with Miguel’s stories, and then, with Miguel himself.
Can Miguel leverage this relationship to free his fellow captives? Or will the small pleasures the Bey promises entice Miguel to remain in Algiers?
How much of The Captive is true history?
Writer-director Alejandro Amenábar said during the Q&A at TIFF that he had started researching this story eight years ago. There was some information about de Cervantes’ life that could be made into a movie, but Amenábar didn’t want to go down the biopic route. It was a producer who recommended he focus on one part of de Cervantes’ life, when he was held a captive in Algiers. The producer believed that the story could become an adventure film. Narrowing down the focus helped propel production.
Then, during the research process into Algiers, Amenabar learned that homosexuality was much more accepted there four centuries ago than people think. That ended up unearthing a storyline opportunity with Miguel and the Bey. To ensure the fiction was still accurate to the history of the time period, the creative team hired a historical consultant.
According to Amenábar, the queer setting and romances had historical basis. There was historical evidence that Miguel and the Bey would have met and interacted. The real difference was that, unlike in the film, the pair may have conversed in Italian, not Spanish, since the Bey was Italian and de Cervantes was well-versed in the language.
Interestingly, actor Borghi mentioned in the Q&A that earlier scripts didn’t have that aspect of the relationship. While there was some implication, the decision was eventually made to explore Miguel and the Bey’s relationship instead of ignoring it. “This is a movie about the importance of telling stories,” said Borghi about the decision to let the queer story direct the narrative of the film.
The choice was correct. Despite being two hours and fifteen minutes long, you never feel the length. There’s so much happening, so many characters, so many political machinations within the prison and palace walls, it’s a feast for the senses that never slows down.
Excellent production values and a strong message
The Captive is a gorgeous film. The film was shot entirely in Spain, despite being set in Algiers, and every set is beautiful. Even the dingy compound where the captives are held had its charms. But the interiors, especially of the palace, were breathtaking. The camera lingers on the lush gardens, the fountains, and the intricate tiles—albeit for Miguel to take in the opulence, but it’s really the audience who’s drinking in that splendor.
But at the start of the film, I couldn’t concentrate on the stunning locations. I was thrown by the portrayal of the Moors and Muslim characters—they were brutal, harsh captors. The Spanish Christians, on the other hand, were shown as innocent, lost souls. As the film progressed, these divisions became less obvious, with characters calling out Spanish brutalities, and marveling at the freedoms enjoyed by the Moors. It felt like The Captive had found a balance.
Having said that, we live in a world where media literacy has gone out the window. I kept wondering how people would receive this film outside of the festival environment in North America. Would they take the portrayal of the Moors at face value? Would they see the many layers of the film examining and questioning the cultural divides humanity creates?
Fortunately, someone at the Q&A asked Amenábar directly about whether he considered portraying the Moors negatively in a time of rampant Islamophobia. Amenábar had a ready answer—what we see is entirely through Miguel’s eyes. When he’s first captured, he’s terrified, and he sees his captors as terrifying ‘others’. In the same vein, when Miguel gets to see Algiers beyond the prison, he finds everything exotic and tantalizing. Eventually, he comes to understand that Spanish or Moor, people can be kind or cruel. And everyone’s got an angle. As Amenábar concluded, “This movie is about tolerance. We can live together, different cultures, different religions.”
I love that The Captive has that important message embedded within its adventure tale. I didn’t know what to expect going into this film. I wanted to watch a movie about the creator of Don Quixote. I got so much more than that. The Captive is beautiful, an adventurous romp, an unexpectedly positive queer drama, and a celebration of the power of storytelling. I know the film is getting a wide release in Spain, but I certainly hope people in North America get to see it as well.
The Captive had its world premiere at TIFF 2025.
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