🎬 Title: CARAVEL: THE OCEAN CONQUERORS
Written by: Joseph C. Jukic
Starring: LuĂs Morgado, Diogo Morgado, Jaymes Morgado, LuĂs Morgado Jr., and Joseph C. Jukic
Original Music by: Nelly Furtado
Genre: Historical Epic / Adventure / Drama
Tagline: They built a ship to cross the sea — and found a bridge to heaven.
LOGLINE
In 15th-century Portugal, a visionary shipwright and his sons craft a revolutionary vessel—the caravel—that defies the limits of man and nature. But when resources run dry, their fate rests in the calloused hands of a humble lumberjack who must decide if the forest will surrender its heartwood to history.
TREATMENT
ACT I — THE FOREST AND THE FAITH
Portugal, 1430.
A nation of dreamers, hemmed in by mountains and sea, with forests dwindling and faith running thin.
LuĂs Morgado, a shipwright from Lagos, is obsessed with a vision: a new kind of ship that can sail into the wind and return alive—the caravel. His three sons—Diogo, the fierce sailor; Jaymes, the practical craftsman; and LuĂs Jr., the idealist scholar—work alongside him in a weathered dockyard by the sea.
But they face a problem greater than design: Portugal’s forests are dying. There is no strong timber left to build their dream.
Enter Joseph C. Jukic, a Croatian-born lumberjack who roams the Iberian hills alone, wielding his axe like a monk’s rosary. Known by locals as O Lenhador do Norte (“The Northern Woodcutter”), Jukic is the last man who knows how to read the trees.
In a haunting early scene, Jukic stands before a lone cork oak at dawn, whispering,
“Forgive me, old friend. Your bones will sail the world.”
He fells the tree, and its fall echoes through the valley — the first heartbeat of the caravel.
As the Morgados shape the sacred wood, Nelly Furtado’s fado ballad “Roots of the Sea” plays — a lament for the lost forest and a prayer for rebirth.
Prince Henry the Navigator summons LuĂs Morgado to court, scoffing at his fragile design. But LuĂs replies,
“We do not need strength to defeat the sea. We need grace.”
The Prince, half-amused, grants him one chance: build the ship, survive the test voyage, and prove Portugal’s destiny.
ACT II — THE BIRTH OF THE CARAVEL
The Morgados, with Jukic’s timber and grit, construct the first prototype. Each plank carries the mark of the forest; each nail, the echo of faith. Jukic helps the family transport logs from the Serra de Monchique to the shipyard, braving bandits, wolves, and superstition.
During a night fire scene, Diogo accuses Jukic of cutting “cursed wood” after sparks ignite on the ship’s frame. Jukic responds:
“There are no cursed trees — only men who forget they are made of the same.”
When the caravel is finally ready, she gleams under the dawn sun — light, curved, triangular-sailed, almost alive. LuĂs names her “Esperança” — Hope.
Nelly Furtado’s “Sail the Light” accompanies the launch — her voice rising with the tide as the ship touches the Atlantic for the first time.
The Morgados and a small crew set sail. Jukic remains on shore, watching the sails fade into the horizon. He bows his head, whispering,
“Go with the wind, my children. I’ll keep the forest waiting.”
ACT III — THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
Out at sea, the Esperança faces tempests, hunger, and doubt. Diogo and Jaymes clash over leadership. LuĂs Jr. studies the stars to keep their course. Their father prays, questioning if man was meant to cross God’s horizon.
Meanwhile, back in the forests, Jukic confronts a different storm: royal soldiers arrive to seize the remaining trees for warships. He defends the grove with his axe, declaring,
“The forest gave her sons to discovery, not destruction!”
His stand becomes legend — the lumberjack who defied the crown for creation.
Out at sea, the Morgados survive the storm and discover the Azores. They name the islands after angels. LuĂs records his son’s words in his journal:
“The sea is not our enemy, Father. It’s our reflection.”
They return to Portugal with proof that the world extends beyond fear.
ACT IV — LEGACY OF WOOD AND WATER
The Esperança sails triumphantly into Lisbon’s harbor. Prince Henry kneels before the ship, realizing the divine miracle before him.
“This is not a vessel,” he says. “It is a prayer answered by wood and wind.”
LuĂs Morgado is knighted. His sons become explorers.
And far away, Joseph C. Jukic plants a single cork oak sapling in the ashes of his grove, murmuring,
“The sea took the trees. Now let the trees take the sea.”
As the camera pans from the sapling to a fleet of caravels departing into the golden horizon, Nelly Furtado’s closing anthem “Sons of the Wind” fills the sky — blending Portuguese fado, Indigenous drums, and ocean waves.
A final title card appears:
“The Caravel transformed the world. With her sails, Portugal conquered the ocean — not through strength, but through spirit.”
VISUAL & MUSICAL STYLE
Shot in natural light, with painterly tones inspired by The New World and Master and Commander.
The forests are dark cathedrals of green; the sea, a cathedral of blue.
Nelly Furtado’s score fuses ancient fado with modern world rhythms, evoking both the melancholy of loss and the hope of discovery.
CAST
- LuĂs Morgado as LuĂs Morgado Sr., the visionary shipwright
- Diogo Morgado as Diogo Morgado, the bold sailor-son
- Jaymes Morgado as Jaymes Morgado, the pragmatic builder
- LuĂs Morgado Jr. as LuĂs Jr., the scholarly navigator
- Joseph C. Jukic as The Lumberjack, guardian of the forest, spiritual catalyst of the voyage