The Captive | Dir: Alejandro Amenábar | ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
Miguel de Cervantes penned Don Quixote, a work widely credited as the first modern novel. Like William Shakespeare, he lived many centuries ago, and there has long been debate about the details of his life.
Chilean-Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar takes a period of Cervantes’ life before he became known for his writing. In the sixteenth century, as Christian and Islamic empires fought to control the Mediterranean, the Spanish writer is wounded in battle, leaving his left arm permanently crippled.
Cervantes is taken captive and held for ransom in Algiers, despite having no relatives able to raise the required funds. There are few records from that time, other than accounts that he attempted to escape several times.
His survival during those brutal years has led historians to conjecture about the relationship between Cervantes and the Algiers regent Hassan Bajá. Amenábar speculates that Cervantes’ ability to spin a compelling story, and his rapport with Bajá, helped keep him alive.
The film presents a romantic connection between Cervantes, played by singer-actor Pena Hernandez, and Bajá, played by Alessandro Borghi, with strong on-screen chemistry between the two characters.
Cervantes’ tales are not as elaborate as those in The Thousand and One Nights, but they entertain fellow prisoners and intrigue Bajá, who listens from his window in a lavish apartment overlooking the prison yard.
Fellow prisoner Father Antonio, played by Miguel Rellan, shares his extensive library so Cervantes has a steady supply of stories. Bajá, however, is not easily satisfied. If a tale takes an unsatisfactory turn, there is the threat of losing an ear, or worse.
When a story pleases his captor, Cervantes earns days outside the prison. It is during these moments that he witnesses Algiers openly celebrating relationships between men, reflecting a time before Christian rule imposed the belief that homosexuality was sinful in the Muslim world.
At times, it is difficult to tell what is real and what is part of Cervantes’ storytelling, a quality that extends to the film itself. Amenábar’s homoerotic historical drama is provocative and engaging.
The Captive can be seen at the Spanish and Latin American Film Festival, screening from Thursday 11 June 2026 at Luna Leederville, Palace Raine Square and Luna on SX. Check out the film’s trailer.
Lezly Herbert.
