At the start of the movie, there are two natives fighting each other.
The scenes that cover this
have very poor fighting choreography and poor sound effects (just some metal sliding each other and
shouting, which is obviously pre-recorded from a studio because it is not in sync with the picture). No
blood was seen in this war. The costume is slightly accurate since some men are half naked (even some
ladies are seen half-naked) and there are many tattoos in their bodies. However, I see no gold
accessories in their bodies which is contrary to the accounts of Pigafetta. Their mouths are not red and
there was no sign of chewing of leaves (betel) in the whole movie. In the next scene after the natives’
war, there is a witch chanting prayers. I would suggest that she is one of the nagaanitos according to
Plasencia. How the natives deal with the dead is shown in the movie. The next event happened to be a
rape scene and from there, they’ve shown how the natives bury the dead and how they punished the
guilty one. Again, it is not accurate: The body should be placed in a wooden casket and buried instead of
letting it drift in the water and setting it on fire. There are no other accounts of dealing with the dead
based on Antonio Pigafetta’s account. Some of the everyday activities that they do are accurate (i.e.
eating with their bare hands while sitting on the floor, picking of slaves, drinking of alcohol, dancing, and
feasting). The first half of the movie circles around the traditions and everyday life of the people in the
barangay led by Lapu Lapu who has a questionable time of marriage. I would approximate that he
married a woman at mid-30s for the first time and that is not the case with the primary sources. The
datu picks his wife at an early age. Moreover, they can have as many wives as they want! But this is not
shown in the movie.
When the Spaniards enter the scene, there are already inconsistencies. First off, they arrived at
the island using only one boat instead of 3. Parts of it were the only visible ones which mean that they
do not have a budget for a whole boat, let alone 3 boats. The Spaniards clearly speak Spanish and
without subtitles that the majority of moviegoers will not understand. The only window to fully
understand what they meant is through the interpreter who is really good at not being heard by the
audience for his speech is slurred. If this movie should be this accurate, why is that the Cebuanos are
using the Tagalog language? They did, however, followed the accounts where they shared Christianity
among the natives and baptized souls. They also carried a cross for the props which is a good move.
They even showed the clip where they give the wooden child to the queen. Again it is not fully accurate
since the queen is the one who initiates to get the wooden Jesus and she is not wearing a white and
black cloth and a crown of leaves. During the last part where Magellan and Lapu-Lapu fought their
battle, there are no visible rocks that are clearly stated by Pigafetta. Camera angles are at its worst
during the fight scenes as well as the sound effects. It is Lapu-Lapu who initiated the war and not
Magellan. According to Pigafetta, the captain didn’t even wish to fight. The natives also used crossbows
and not swords. Lapu-Lapu and Magellan didn’t even fight face-to-face. It is the poisoned arrow that
killed Magellan. No arrows were seen during the fight. The worst part of this fight scene is the fact that
Lapu-Lapu used a log which is really out of the context. During this time, I cannot help to pity this movie
because it is so hopeless when it comes to accuracy. Dramatic music drowns the dialogues and little to
no visual effects contribute to the whole movie. The movie is overly dramatized and more focused on
the love life of Lapu-Lapu. If I would be given a choice to watch it again or not, I would not even take any
second chances to watch it again.
