1492: The Conquest of Paradise
Director Ridley Scott
Screenplay by Roselyne Bosch
Starring Gerard Depardieu, Sigourney Weaver, and Armand Assante
Showing at Hoyts
Reviewed by Roberto Jorquera

The year 1492 has been depicted as the year of the “discovery of the Americas”. In his latest film, 1492: The Conquest of Paradise, British director Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien, Thelma and Louise) brings to the screen a movie filled with color, impressive costumes, sets and landscape photography which maintains the audiences attention and then begins to give them a fairly adequate but very basic account of the period and issues of the time.

The movie outlines Columbus's ambition to prove his theory that a “new world” did exist and that it was not as far away as some believed. To justify his proposed voyage Columbus needed to get the backing of the monarchy and thus convince them of the benefits it would gain from such a discovery. Columbus argued that it would bring to Spain gold, silver, spices and a new market, so that it could continue to compete with the other empires.

The major set back which 1492 has is that it concentrates to much on the life of Christopher Columbus (played by Gerald Depardieu), his ambitions and thoughts and not enough on the actual conquest of the Americas and what it meant for the indigenous population and the ailing Spanish monarchy. Though worthwhile seeing, it fails to adequately explain and demonstrate the impact that the “discovery” had on the indigenous people in terms of the destruction which the Spanish unleashed on their culture, language and way of life.

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