In 1511, Gael García Bernal portrays Fernão de Magalhães as he takes part in the Capture of Malacca under Roger Alan Koza as D. Afonso de Albuquerque, enduring a wound in battle. During this campaign, he acquires a Cebuano slave named Enrique, Amado Arjay Babon, and brings him along on his return to Portugal. Magellan is cared for by Beatriz Barbosa, Ângela Azevedo, whom he eventually marries, while Enrique quietly clings to the worship of his native gods. Years pass, and the Portuguese crown, under King Manuel I, rejects Magellan’s bold proposal to circumnavigate the globe in search of a new trade route free from Spanish competition, a setback that propels him to seek support in Spain, where his plan is ultimately approved. In 1519, he sets sail, leaving Beatriz pregnant behind, and begins a voyage that tests every limit of endurance for the crew.
The journey is fraught with hardship and harsh discipline. A crewmember is executed for engaging in homosexual acts, and another is marooned with a priest on Patagonia amid mutiny. Mutinies proliferate, costing ships and forcing punishments that range from executions to tying sailors to lashings. As the fleet pushes onward across the vast Pacific, the voyage grows grimmer by the day, and Magellan himself often dreams of Beatriz confessing the deaths of their child and of herself.
Upon reaching Cebu, Enrique serves as translator to the local chieftain, Raja Humabon, and his people. Magellan presents a statue of the Santo Niño and a stash of quinces, visiting Humabon’s sick son with the hope of curing him. The boy’s recovery is welcomed by the community, and Humabon’s wife, baptized as Reyna Juana, embraces the new faith, sparking celebrations that echo through the village. The tone shifts as Humabon orders the spread of rumors about a dangerous rival, Datu Lapu-Lapu, a wak-wak said to prey on humans, and Magellan lids his doubts about the rival’s existence, only to be drawn into a confrontation he cannot predict.
The confrontation begins in earnest as Magellan and his forces march to meet Lapu-Lapu, but the clash ends in tragedy. Magellan staggers across the battlefield and collapses, his death marking a brutal turning point. Enrique watches as Humabon and his subjects haul the corpse of one of Magellan’s men, along with his severed head, in celebration. In a stark depicture of betrayal and survival, Enrique reveals—through a later reckoning—that it was Humabon and his followers who attacked Magellan, and that there was no real danger from Lapu-Lapu. The revelation intensifies as Enrique confesses his own role in the massacre of most of Magellan’s remaining crew in his bid for freedom, a confession that casts a long shadow over the voyage and its remnants, leaving a legacy of force, faith, and subterfuge in its wake.
