by Marites Bundoc
Photo Credit: Google Images
“Boundless” on Amazon Prime Video is a serialized story of how 237 men from Seville, Spain, left on board the ship Trinidad to find a route to the Indies, as was previously discovered by Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer. His request to go on a voyage to find the Spice islands rejected by the king of Portugal, Magellan offers his services to King Charles of Spain, who grants him his request on the condition that he swears fealty to him.
Magellan and his crew sail through the treacherous seas until they discover the passage between the east and the west, through the vast “Pacific” – the name he gave his chronicler Antonio Pigafetta to call that ocean. Some of the other captains in the other ships were suspicious of Magellan because he was a Portuguese, and at one point attempted a mutiny. Their leader was beheaded; the two others, including a priest, were left on an island. The sailors endured untold hardships – hunger, exhaustion, treachery, and even deaths, until, passing though the Moluccas, they reached the Philippine Islands and landed on Cebu, where at first, they were welcomed by the natives led by Humabon. But danger lurked ahead: the Mactans under the leadership of Lapu-lapu, enemies of the Cebuanos, were hostile and violent people.
Threatening to destroy Cebu if the foreigners did not leave the islands, Lapu-Lapu and his men returned Magellan’s fight with devastating casualties. Magellan and some of his men died in the battle and Lapu-Lapu refused to return Magellan’s body to the Spaniards. It was a warning to any foreign invader. Magellan’s brother-in-law Duarte Barbosa insisted that they retrieve his body at all cost, and endeavored to seek the Cebuano’s help. Thinking that the Cebuanos would help them, he went ahead and spoke to Chief Humabon. Meanwhile, Barbosa refused to grant the interpreter Enrique’s freedom as stated in Magellan’s will. In anger, Enrique did not translate Barbosa’s request as was; instead, he incited Humabon to kill Barbosa and his crew by telling Humabon that those foreigners aimed only to vanquish and loot them. Barbosa and his men died in the hands of the Cebuanos.
Now that Magellan was dead, the crew chose another noble Spaniard, the helmsman Juan Sebastian Elcano, to be Trinidad’s new captain. Under Elcanos’ leadership, they found the Spice islands and, loaded with sacks of precious spices which the friendly natives gave them, they headed back home – but not via the same route they took from Spain. They circumnavigated the world – a feat which was bolder than what Christopher Columbus did; no one had ever attempted such feat before. As before, they were faced with numerous challenges; sixteen of Elcano’s men died of sickness. They were all starving and extremely weakened. Trinidad was leaking and needed repair and the men could not take their suffering anymore; the majority voted to dock in port at the risk of imprisonment in a Portuguese jail but with the possibility of having food and fresh water. Elcano and two of his men snuck up into a Portuguese ship to steal food; they found sacks of rice, ate hungrily, and gave some to the African slave prisoners whom they discovered onboard the ship.
However, one of Elcano’s men was discovered by the Portuguese sailors and was killed on the spot. Elcano and the young Martino went back to their ship, devastated. Meanwhile, the group split into two – Elcano and his men moved to the Victoria to sail back to Spain while the ones who opted to stay remained in the Trinidad until it was repaired. Under Elcano’s leadership, the Victoria reached home after circumnavigating the world. After braving a tumultuous storm and enduring extreme hunger and depravity, and sadly throwing their dead overboard, they finally arrived home – loaded with spices that would make each of them rich. Elcano and his men completed their mission; Magellan’s vision was realized. His wife, who was pregnant when Magellan left for the expedition, with her son now three years old, was sorrowful but accepted her husband’s fate. The Spanish monarch would now fulfill his part of the deal – give Magellan’s widow one-fifth of the voyage’s profits which he promised for Magellan’s descendants. Magellan and his men’s discovery of the route to the Indies gave Spain monopoly of the spice trade in the Pacific – which made her the richest empire in the world for decades to come.
True to his word, Pigafetta made Magellan famous and glorious as he wrote about his heroic voyage to the Southeast. Indeed, Magellan would go down in history as the world’s first circumnavigator. The Filipinos know Magellan’s story by heart; it has been told in history books and in folk ballads. Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Philippines on March 17, 1521[1].
At a time when travel from one continent to another took years by sea on a vessel that exposed the sailors to the elements and increment weather to say the least, with no way of communicating back home, Magellan and Elcano’s voyage proved to be a super-human act of courage and faith – Magellan is featured in this series as a man of deep faith in God and undaunting loyalty. Elcano, in his turn, is a man with a noble heart and respect for his men’s freedom and welfare. Thematically, the story deals with respect for knowledge, instinct for survival, man’s basic goodness, morality, brotherhood, and unwavering belief in one’s capacity to do great things with God’s help. It talks about trusting what you know to be true despite oppositions and staying the course to the end regardless of obstacles. It shows that there is reward for those who persevere and believe in miracles. With God, nothing is impossible.
Boundless (Spanish: “Sin Limites”) is a period drama in mini-TV series, also available on Vudu for a $1.99 rental. It is free to Amazon Prime Video subscribers. It has an audience rating of 4.4, “not historically accurate but decent enough,” according to IMDb[2]. Created by Miguel Menendez de Zubillaga and directed by Simon West, it premiered on 10 June 2022[3]. Magellan (Magallanes) was played by Rodrigo Santoro[4] (Wikipedia).
This TV show is not for young people as it contains a lot of violent scenes, nudity, and sexual immorality. It also showcases human trafficking. The acting is excellent, and the settings look authentic. It was shot in the Basque country, Navarre, Madrid, Seville, and the Dominican Republic[5]. The audience is encouraged to have an open mind and use their discretion in judging the veracity of the narrative by consulting historical sources.
[1] Library of Congress(.gov) 2021.
[2] IMDb.com. Accessed 6 February 2024.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Wikipedia.org. Accessed 6 February 2024.
[5] Evans, Chris. “Amazon Prime series Boundless to Shoot in Spain and Dominican Republic.” 22 April 2021. https://www.kftv.com. Accessed 6 February 2024.
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