Sumith Prasad
Directed by Carles Torrens, Amazon Prime Video’s Spanish film ‘Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End’ ends with Manel’s efforts to leave for the Canary Islands and reunite with the family of his sister, Belén. He overcomes a series of obstacles and threats that force him to put his life on the line. When the hope to survive the apocalypse slowly evaporates from him, the kindness of the strangers rescues him from a grim fate. Still, the future is not comforting for the lawyer, who receives news that his destination is not a paradise after all! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End Plot Synopsis
‘Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End’ begins with Manel and his wife, Júlia, spending time with the family of his sister Belén, including the latter’s military-man husband, Mario, and son. On their way back to their house, the couple’s car gets into an accident, killing Júlia. A year later, the lawyer lives alone in a house with his cat, Lúculo. Spain is stunned to learn about the spread of the TSJ Virus, which forces the European Union to shut itself down from the rest of the world. The danger that arises due to the spread of the virus escalates when a new mutant of the same is identified, especially since it can affect human beings within five minutes.
The patients who are exposed to the virus become zombies, which causes severe unrest and fear among the Spanish population. Manel observes that people are stocking food and other essential items, fearing a nationwide lockdown, which the country’s Prime Minister implements in no time. The army personnel are called to the Canary Islands to tackle the national emergency, paving the way for Mario and Belén’s departure for the Spanish autonomous community with their son. She asks her brother to join them, but the locked-down airports stop him from joining the rest of his family. The government starts to evacuate the civilians, but Manel hides in his house to avoid the same since his sister promises him that she will rescue him from his home soon.
Soon, Manel’s locality becomes a deserted region. When his essential supplies gradually end, he steps out to garner the same, only to confront the man-eating zombies. Since no shops or supply portals are open, he is forced to break into his neighbors’ houses, looking for food for himself and his pet, Lúculo. During one of these break-ins, he encounters his neighbor, Gabriela, who is bound to a wheelchair. They form a heartwarming bond to deal with their respective loneliness. She guides him to several houses where food supplies can be found. During one of these days, Manel listens to a radio message that states that the survivors who reach the Arousa Estuary will be taken to the Canary Islands.
Manel gets excited about the message and prepares for the journey with Gabriela and Lúculo. However, his neighbor kills herself after leaving him a note in which she asks him to look after himself without carrying her as a burden. The lawyer leaves for the estuary with his cat, and in the middle of his journey, he encounters several camps set up by the government. He realizes that the evacuated civilians have become zombies, which makes him thank his sister, even though the message doesn’t reach her due to the lack of cellular networks. After arriving at the pier, he learns that all the yachts have vanished or become useless, which makes him embark on a journey to the Canaries on a small motorboat.
Who is Ushakov? What Does He Do?
Manel and Lúculo’s journey on the motorboat doesn’t take them far away, as the same stops working soon. He sees a large ship as he tries to figure out why the engine stopped working, only for him to turn the crew members’ attention to him. He is rescued from the sea by a group of Ukrainians led by Ushakov, the scary captain of the ship. The gang of men gives the lawyer and his cat food and a place to sleep in return for his assistance in procuring supplies from the mainland. Manel promises to help them and sleeps on the ship. In the middle of the night, he sees another group requesting refuge aboard the marine vessel. The next day, he asks Viktor Pritchenko, one of the members of the Ukrainian gang, about the group.
Pritchenko asks Manel to pretend that he has seen nothing. However, his curiosity gets the better of his senses, making him look for the group. He sees a couple of men tied inside the ship and learns that Ushakov has separated them from their families. The lawyer saves these men but gets attacked by the captain’s associates. Pritchenko then turns against his leader and joins Manel, especially after learning from the latter that there is a helicopter in a hospital not far away they can fly to escape from the mainland. The pilot lets Manel know that his captain, Ushakov, is nothing but a dictator who has been taking other survivors as prisoners.
Ushakov is building a community of survivors on the island of Sálvora. He has established himself as the “king” of this small refuge. He allows Manel and other survivors to board his ship because he sees them as prisoners who work for him on his island kingdom. His actions are not governed by compassion but by his greed and thirst for power. That’s why he kills the survivors who are not useful to him and worthy of a place on Sálvora Island. While the zombie apocalypse presents itself as a tragedy for the Spanish population, Ushakov approaches the same as an opportunity to gain unlimited authority over a chosen community.
How Do Manel and Lúculo Survive?
Manel and Lúculo escape from Ushakov with the help of Pritchenko. The lawyer then takes the pilot to the hospital where his wife died a year ago. Their aim is to fly to the Canaries using the medical center’s helicopter. After arriving at the place, they don’t see the chopper there. To escape from the zombies who surround them and treat the bullet injury Pritchenko sustained during his fight with his former leader’s gang, the two-man group seeks refuge inside the hospital. They then come across five individuals who have been staying in the medical center since the apocalypse.
Lucia and Cecilia treat Pritchenko’s bullet injury, while Iris, Max, and Leila, the children of a late couple who worked in the hospital, look after Lúculo. The lawyer and his cat survive the apocalypse because of the kindness of a group of strangers he encounters after the tragedy. Gabriela helps him with his loneliness and hopelessness and makes him feel that he is not alone in the world, especially when he cannot reach out to his sister. Pritchenko then puts his life on the line to save him from Ushakov’s gang, allowing him not to become one of the numerous survivors shot down by the Ukrainian or his men.
Finally, Lucia and Cecilia’s compassion stops Manel from becoming utterly hopeless. The former guides him to a helicopter hidden near the hospital, while the latter saves Pritchenko from death by removing his bullet, giving all of them a fighting chance to escape from the place. In the middle of their efforts to leave for the Canaries, Cecilia gets bitten by a zombie. Even in the face of death, she asks the others to move ahead with their plan and walks away without being a burden and threat to them. These acts of kindness show that any obstacle can be overcome when humans look after each other without selfishness and greed.
Manel joins Lucia, Max, Iris, Leila, and Pritchenko to escape from the mainland to leave for the Canaries with Lúculo after surviving a final hurdle: Ushakov and his men. The lawyer puts his life on the line to expose himself and his enemies to a large herd of zombies. He then relies on Lucia to save only him from the face of death, leaving behind the selfish Ukrainians as the food for the zombies.
Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End Ending: What Happens on the Canary Islands? Why Does Belén Ask Manel Not to Come?
Since the zombie apocalypse becomes an unignorable reality to Manel, he has seen the Canary Islands or the Canaries as the haven where he can be safe with Lúculo and his family. The video messages he receives from Belén, in which she appears healthy and safe from any dangers, strengthen this belief. That’s the reason why he puts his life on the line to leave for the islands with his companions. The lawyer believes that he will be away from the threat of the “maneaters” when he lands on the island and reunites with his loved ones. However, this belief is eliminated when he receives a call from Belén, who asks him not to come to the Canary Islands.
Considering that Belén has been looking forward to meeting Manel since the start of the apocalypse, her cryptic message can only mean one thing: the zombie virus has breached the walls of the islands to spread throughout the Canaries. The safe haven has been exposed to the maneaters who kill the survivors, shutting down the islands from the rest of the world. Since the small autonomous community doesn’t have as many safe places as the mainland, Belén may not want her brother to arrive on the islands and get trapped, confronting death. The distress in her voice also indicates that the predicament has worsened severely.
Another possibility is that a military dictatorship has been established on the Canary Islands, with the soldiers shooting down the vulnerable and useless like Ushakov does on Sálvora Island. However, the chances of this happening are little to none. Since Belén’s husband, Mario, is a soldier, her family must enjoy the privileges of a dictatorship if the same is implemented on the islands. If that’s the case, she may only want to take advantage of the situation and invite Manel to her place. Considering that she asks her sibling not to come to the place at any cost, the predicament has to be out of control there, which makes the spread of the zombie virus all the more plausible.
Are Belén and Her Family Dead or Alive?
Belén is most likely confronting death when she calls Manel. She is extremely distressed when the lawyer speaks to her on his way to the Canary Islands. The message even sounds like she is in a hurry to inform him not to come to her place, which means that she is not experiencing the comfort and safety of her home. The videos she sent to Manel are taken right after she reaches the islands, and he does not receive them because of the lack of cellular networks. Belén’s situation on the islands must have changed considerably after the videos are taken, which explains her call.
The distress in Belén’s voice can also mean that her husband, Mario, and their son are already dead. That can be why she asks Manel not to come to the islands. Since she couldn’t protect her partner and child, she must be convinced that she cannot help her brother either, which explains the reason behind the call. The shock and sorrow of losing her loved ones also align with the distress in her voice. Knowing that she is in danger, Manel is expected to complete his journey with the hope of saving her. Her disrupted call doesn’t mean that she is dead because the lack of networks, especially while the lawyer is traveling on a helicopter, may have ended the call.
However, it doesn’t mean that Belén is alive beyond the shadow of a doubt. By the time Manel reaches the islands, she can get killed by the zombies, which is beyond his control at this point. Regardless of her fate, the lawyer may look for her to find out what really happened to her. Since she is the only surviving family he has other than Lúculo, Manel may not be able to live without knowing whether she is dead or alive.
Read More: Best Zombie Movies on Amazon Prime
