Aahana Swrup
‘Bionic,’ the Portuguese Netflix sci-fi film, delves into a world where technological advancement has brought paralympic athletes to the cultural center due to the incredible, newfangled prosthesis. However, the bionic revolution arrives on the heels of long jumper Maria Santos’ rising career. Therefore, as the woman watches the sports world shun her talent, turning to her skilled sister, Gabi, an amputee long jump athlete, the older sibling finds herself in a situation she can’t cope with. As such, once Heitor, a mysterious presence, enters her life, offering her a chance to return to her career as a famed athlete, Maria ends up making a deal with the devil.
Thus, crashing headfirst into a world of crime, Maria’s life turns on its axis for better or for worse. As the woman’s precarious choices bring danger to her family’s doorsteps, their tumultuous fates become a natural source of intrigue. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Bionic Plot Synopsis
Maria Santos, daughter of renowned athlete Helena Santos, knew she had wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps since she was a child. Consequently, under Helena’s guidance, Maria trained as a long jumper from early childhood, paving the path for her career in the sports industry. Nevertheless, as the 2030s rolled around, a bionic revolution took over the world, with new prostheses available on the market for amputees that heightened their abilities tenfold compared to regular athletes. As a result, the sports industry shifted to focus on Paralympics, taking the spotlight away from Maria.
Instead, Maria’s younger sister, Gabi, becomes a world-renowned long jumper like their mother. Gabi contracted a tumor at an early age, which led to a leg amputation. Nevertheless, the girl never lost hope and trained alongside her older sister under her father Ricardo’s wing. Where Gabi used to fall short of her sister in the past, the modified prostheses have now launched her into worldwide stardom. The same remains a difficult truth for Maria to reconcile as she— like other non-bionic athletes— tries to deal with her has-been fame.
Meanwhile, Heitor and Atila, fellow non-bionic athletes, find themselves in a similar situation. However, the two brothers are planning a movement to improve their situation. Therefore, in order to secure funds, the duo rob a bank, only for the mission to end in Atila’s death with his brother emerging with insufficient money. As such, Heitor finds himself in need of a contingency plan for another heist. As a result, his paths cross with Gus, the Santos family’s youngest and often forgotten sibling. Vapid of any athletic talent, Gus ends up running with some shady individuals, offering his computer whiz skills to Heitor.
Consequently, with Gus’ help, Heitor comes up with a new plan to rob a cash-moving truck. The only catch is that Heitor needs a bionic individual for it. Since it’s illegal to amputate oneself on purpose to gain a prosthesis and the advanced NIM chip required to control the bionic limb, Heitor realizes he needs to plan his next moves carefully. Therefore, Gus reaches out to Maria, who has always been close with her brother. Heitor manages to instill an unshakable idea in Maria’s head, which only grows when she attends a party in her sister’s honor. The event forces her to confront her own failure, compelling Maria to pin the blame on Gabi and other bionic athletes. Yet, after a particularly nasty verbal public altercation, Maria ends up in a brutal car accident. As a result, the woman herself becomes an amputee with the same prosthetic leg as Gabi.
Thus, the car accident changes Maria’s life for the better. The woman celebrates her new life by hooking up with Heitor and promising to help him carry out his secretive plans. As a result, one night, Maria— masked and caped— attacks a moving truck that is carrying briefcases full of cash. Although the woman carries out the heist herself, she ends up running into some trouble during the escape, leading Heitor to come to her rescue and kill a guard. As a result, Maria decides to cut all ties with Heitor and his mission. Even so, Gus decides to stay with the other man, convinced he has finally found his purpose.
Meanwhile, Maria attempts to put the heist behind her, training to begin her journey as a bionic athlete. Eventually, she qualifies for the Bionic Games in direct competition against her sister. The competition brings up bad blood between the sisters as they continuously one-up each other’s records in the finale. Still, Gabi fails to best her sister and ends up over-exerting her neural NIM chip, which damages her athletic abilities, while her older sister emerges as the reigning champion. However, something much more drastic awaits the Santos family, as Heitor kidnaps Gabi to blackmail Maria into carrying out the final leg of his mission.
Bionic Ending: What Was Heitor’s Plan? Why Did He Need Maria?
While Maria’s motivations lie in the more self-serving interest of returning to the stardom of a celebrated athlete, Heitor harbors notably distinct and guarded motives throughout the film. The same becomes evident once the truth about Maria’s accident begins to unravel. As it would turn out, Maria’s collision with a car, which resulted in her leg’s amputation, was no accident after all. Instead, Maria and Heitor strategically planned out the scenario to purposefully orchestrate Maria’s car “accident,” which would allow her to become a bionic athlete.
Ever since the bionic revolution, Heitor has been in favor of allowing non-bionic athletes to undergo intentional amputation so they can pursue a career in bionic sports. Since the law never supported the same, he came up with sneaky ways to accomplish his mission— first with his brother, Atila, and then with Maria. For the same reason, Maria takes the man on his word when he tells her he’s stealing funds to track down the location of a NIM chip shipment. If Heitor and his men manage to intercept the shipment, they can allow any then-chosen bionic athletes to return to their life of fame. Since Maria can relate to the same sentiment, she ends up agreeing to help the man. Nonetheless, she changes her mind after witnessing him murder a man in cold blood.
Yet, Heitor’s capacity for brutality extends to Maria as well, which he showcases by kidnapping Gabi while the woman is unconscious in a hospital. Therefore, Maria ends up with no choice but to aid Heitor in bringing his plan to fruition. Using the money she stole earlier, Heitor locates the NIM chip on the higher floors of a skyscraper. As such, he comes up with an insane plan to have Maria jump between two buildings to get to the NIM chips. Consequently, Maria’s skills as a high jumper end up helping her carry out Heitor’s ultimate heist. In the end, she steals the NIM chips and escapes the building via a car.
Afterward, while Maria and Gabi are held hostage in Heitor’s captivity, the whole truth behind the man’s plans arrives. Earlier, Heitor told Maria he wanted to steal the NIM chips to help other non-bionic athletes by allowing them access to advanced prosthesis technology. Yet, as it would turn out, the man had a self-serving motivation of his own. Rather than helping non-bionic athletes, Heitor uses the stolen chips to strike a deal with a businessman who wants to use the tech to build a bionic army of his own. Ultimately, Heitor’s greed remained the drive behind his NIM heist.
Does Maria Get Arrested? Do Her and Gabi Compete As Professional Athletes Again?
After Maria’s NIM chips heist, the woman becomes vulnerable to the public through CCTV footage. Consequently, Detective Guerra, who has long suspected Maria of attacking the truck, receives hard-hitting proof of her guilty crimes. As such, he begins pursuing the woman in an attempt to arrest her. In the meantime, Maria remains Heitor’s prisoner alongside her sister as the man carries out his business deal. Still, the woman manages to catch a window of opportunity to scatter the NIM chips and attack her kidnappers.
Thus, through a grand violent altercation between the Heitor’s men and the Santos sisters, the latter emerges victorious. Even so, Maria realizes she isn’t entirely out of deep waters once she hears the incoming police sirens. Not only had Maria aided Heitor in his scheme, but she was also guilty of intentional amputation and illegible participation in the Bionic Games. Consequently, Maria bolts from the scene, trying to win her freedom. Although the police force catches up to her at a dead-end, the woman refuses to give up, climbing up a barbed wire wall.
As such, Maria ends up suspended from a second-floor building, with her bionic leg caught in some wire. Thus, the woman unlocks her prosthetic leg and falls to the ground, which is symbolic of her releasing the negative emotions that drove her to seek out the prosthetic in the first place. While the moment remains thematically poignant, it also allows the cops an opportunity to apprehend Maria, who lies motionless in front of a building. If the police catch up to Maria, the woman would be spending her days behind bars, cementing her fate outside of the athletic world.
Gabi realizes the same and decides to forsake her own future for her sister’s safety. Thus, sneaking into a car, Gabi manages to get to Maria before the cops and rescues her from a criminal predicament. The two sisters ride away together, leaving their pasts behind. Since Gabi chooses to abet her sister’s flee from the law, she confirms the death of her own athletic career. Nevertheless, after undergoing a life-threatening event together, the sisters realize they care more about helping each other rather than staying in a perpetual competition against one another.
Does Gus Die?
As the two Santos sisters reunite and rebuild the broken bridge between one another, one can’t help but wonder about the third Santos sibling, Gus. After Maria’s heist earlier, the woman mistakes a helmeted Gus for Heitor and runs him over in a fit of rage. Consequently, the last the audience sees of Gus is his broken and bloodied body, nearing death. Nevertheless, a lot changed in the six months following Heitor’s demise. Maria and Gabi, fugitives of the law, reside in a non-descript location where they run a training school for children with disabilities, stoking their passion for sports. Furthermore, they remain in contact with their previous sponsor, who supplies them with state-of-the-art prosthetics.
Thus, it’s through their old connections that Maria and Gabi manage to help Gus. After the man’s severe accident, he undergoes an operation that saves his life. Eventually, his sister equipped him with various advanced technologies to help him return to full mobility. Not only that— but with some neural tech, Gus also gains the ability to run algorithms in seconds and predict his opponent’s next moves, increasing his overall fighting ability. In the end, Gus survives, becoming a hybrid between human and android.
Maria and Gabi show off the same at the film’s end when they meet up with Heitor’s former business partner. The unnamed man needs a bionic army, but the Santos siblings show him that he really only needs three highly skilled soldiers. As such, Mario, Gabi, and Gus end the film together as three bionic individuals. Should their partnership with the nameless businessman continue, the siblings will be in for a world of new adventures outside of professional athletics.
