Directed by pasaitarra Ángel Alonso, the film created by the producers Debulitoon and Barton Films has had a deadly landing in the Philippines. The bewilderment on the network has made the leap to the main media of the network. The criticism is based on: The first protagonist of the colonialism of the Spanish Empire, Elkano and Magellan, presents as heroes the movies of child animation.

The Elcano Foundation to commemorate and remember the tribute to the Getariarra Joan Sebastián Elkano has been the main driver of this film in the Basque Country. After passing through several cinemas in Euskal Herria and the Spanish State, they will now also be screened in other countries. The criticisms have been made at the first time that the film leaves the European circuit.

500 years ago, the armed expedition of Magallanes-Elcano set the first milestone for the forcible annexation to the Spanish Empire, which would culminate in a few years with that of Manuel López de Legazpi, a native of Zumarraga. Well, in the context of the 500th anniversary of the invasion, with the aid of the distributor Crystalsky Media, they want to project the film in the Philippine cinemas in January 2020. Knowing the content and characterizations of the characters, many Filipinos have provoked a barrage of criticism on social networks.

"Please do not support, in any case, the film of Elkano and Magellan. The colonizers bleach them and present them as heroes; Magellan only brought suffering to the Philippines," a Twitter usage said.

Many others highlight how the film presents the Filipino leader Lapulapu as an evil, as opposed to the adventurous profile of white European men. Lapulapu was the first in the Philippines to confront the conquerors of the Elcano and Magellan expedition. It is an anti-colonialist symbol in the Philippines, as it achieved its first victory against the Spaniards on the island of Mactan. There, several members of the Elcano expedition were killed, including the leader Magellan himself.

Calls for the boycott of the film are multiplied by the manipulation of history and disrespect for the Filipinos. Here are some examples in English of the criticism of the Basque film on Elkano in the Philippines:

Elcano, in the issue 2656 of the journal, published a juicy article on the Eurocentric reading of the first round of the world: The imperial indoctrination in the cartoons, by the hand of Gustau Nerin.

In the Basque Country, Elkano aspires to become a star

Meanwhile, in the Basque Country, official speeches and initiatives on Elkano are developing in a completely different direction. The latest initiative promoted by the Elkano Foundation is the attempt to name "Elcano" a star. Together with the Planetarium of Pamplona and the Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi, the Foundation wants to give a star and its exoplanet names with the names of "Elcano" and "Victoria". The project coordinator of the Elkano Foundation, Rafa Zulaika, explained that the action of Elkano and Magellan “was very important for humanity. It would be exciting for Elcano to find his place in the sky.”