So for this Ridley Scott adoption of what happened in regards to Christopher Columbus's voyage to accidentally discover the new world, I'm taking as fictional with some facts and looking at it as a historical at the entertainment and slight educational purposes only. Gerard Depardieu does a fine job as the supposed Italian explorer (everything is debated and questioned these days), yet I was fine with the job he did. (More believable to me than Frederic March in the 1949 British film.) It's a luxurious cinematic view of so much history, much of it disturbing, so you take the good and the bad with it, thinking as the island Columbus has come across becomes a Spanish dominated island, "Uh oh. There goes the neighborhood."
That phrase popped into my head the minute that the island natives encountered the Europeans, seemingly prepared for anything and surprised when they are not attacked by the weapons in these strangers hands. "We have a God. We have medicine", Columbus is told, and it's obvious that these are a very spiritual people who probably would have gone on just fine had they not been discovered. But they're a wonderful people, at least as presented here, with two different tribes living differently, yet in harmony, showing hospitality and aiding one sick European in getting well. The other tribe leader looks on at the snake that has just been killed for biting another European, and simply sits down, obviously knowing from past experience that there's no way they can fix the venom that is giving its victim obviously painful convulsions.
Then there are the villains who follow Depardieu back to the newly discovered Americas after the presentation of riches to Queen Isabella (a gorgeous Sigourney Weaver, quite regal and commanding). It's quickly revealed that they do not have the Goodwill towards the natives that Columbus and his men tried to have. Armand Assante and especially Michael Wincott give good performances as these less than noble men, turning the good intentions shown by Columbus into bad results. Fernando Rey and Frank Langella also give memorable performances
So in watching this movie as an epic rather than a completely accurate history lesson, I did enjoy it although I felt certain details could have been better researched and painting Columbus in a nearly perfect light. I did enjoy the Vangelis score and reproduction of these native lands, yet felt sad when the second voyage indicated that the land untouched by the outside supposedly for milleniums would lose its Garden of Eden like charm. The later part comes more believable with the use of brutalities, sadly violent and depressing. Certainly not the masterpiece that director Ridley Scott hoped for, but not a fiasco either.
That phrase popped into my head the minute that the island natives encountered the Europeans, seemingly prepared for anything and surprised when they are not attacked by the weapons in these strangers hands. "We have a God. We have medicine", Columbus is told, and it's obvious that these are a very spiritual people who probably would have gone on just fine had they not been discovered. But they're a wonderful people, at least as presented here, with two different tribes living differently, yet in harmony, showing hospitality and aiding one sick European in getting well. The other tribe leader looks on at the snake that has just been killed for biting another European, and simply sits down, obviously knowing from past experience that there's no way they can fix the venom that is giving its victim obviously painful convulsions.
Then there are the villains who follow Depardieu back to the newly discovered Americas after the presentation of riches to Queen Isabella (a gorgeous Sigourney Weaver, quite regal and commanding). It's quickly revealed that they do not have the Goodwill towards the natives that Columbus and his men tried to have. Armand Assante and especially Michael Wincott give good performances as these less than noble men, turning the good intentions shown by Columbus into bad results. Fernando Rey and Frank Langella also give memorable performances
So in watching this movie as an epic rather than a completely accurate history lesson, I did enjoy it although I felt certain details could have been better researched and painting Columbus in a nearly perfect light. I did enjoy the Vangelis score and reproduction of these native lands, yet felt sad when the second voyage indicated that the land untouched by the outside supposedly for milleniums would lose its Garden of Eden like charm. The later part comes more believable with the use of brutalities, sadly violent and depressing. Certainly not the masterpiece that director Ridley Scott hoped for, but not a fiasco either.