Film slammed for depicting Magellan, Spanish colonizers as 'heroes'

MANILA, Philippines — The animated film “Elcano And Magellan, The First Voyage Around the World” has drawn flak on social media after a controversial teaser depicting Spanish colonizer Ferdinand Magellan as a “good guy” made rounds on social media.

The movie, produced by the Spanish production house Dibulitoon Studio and distribution-production company Barton Films, is set for release in Philippine cinemas in January 2020.

Elcano and Magellan is the “[s]tory of one of the most incredible adventures ever happened: the first trip around the world,” according to the film’s synopsis posted on the Internet Movie Database.

Lapu-Lapu and his men thwarted Spain's first attempt to colonize the Philippine archipelago during the Battle of Mactan in 1521.

“Ban this from our theaters. If you support this abomination, it only means the colonizers still won over us even today, after 500 years,” a Wednesday user review on IMDB said.

“It's like making a fun, family-friendly 3D-animated movie about Columbus taking over and erasing American Indians from their homeland or the whites selling Africans as slaves.”

Malacañang on Thursday also said in a Thursday press briefing that the banning of the film would be up to the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).

“I think that’s the jurisdiction of the MTRCB, sila ang magde-decide niyon (it’s their call)... We will not want to preempt the jurisdiction of that agency,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.

Similar controversy

The DreamWorks animated film "Abominable" was pulled out of Philippine theaters by the MTRCB in October due to its depiction of a controversial map of China.

The said map shown in the film contained China’s "nine-dash line," legally invalidated by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, Netherlands. The term refers to literal dash marks in maps of China that allege its claim to around 80 percent of the resource-rich South China Sea.

“MTRCB understands the situation brought about by the movie ‘Abominable.' We wish to assure the public that the said movie is already off the Philippine market effective October 15, 2019,” chair Rachel Arenas said.

China has maritime disputes in the South China Sea with the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. Over $5 trillion in trade passes yearly through the waterway.