Main Cast: Gérard Depardieu, Armand Assante, Sigourney Weaver, Loren Dean, Michael Wincott, Ángela Molina
Release Year: 1992
Country: UK/ES/FR
Run Time: 142 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
This, the second of 1992's 500th anniversary Christopher Columbus films (the first being Warner Bros. Christopher Columbus: The Discovery), adheres to the historical facts of Columbus's (Gerard Depardieu) possessed quest to discover the New World, and his solicitation of Queen Isabella (Sigourney Weaver) to gain the necessary funding. Despite travelogue-quality footage replete with beautiful scenery of Caribbean islands and a massive cast, this film tends to plod along with too predictable a plot and a mis-cast Columbus. Depardieu -- a very capable French actor speaking English and playing an Italian -- becomes perhaps the movie's bright spot (even if at his own expense) as he laughably struggles with line after line. Michael Wincott puts forth a worthy performance as a nasty Spanish nobleman whose mistreatment of the natives results in an open rebellion. ~ All Movie Guide
Fernando Rey - Friar Marchena; Tchéky Karyo - Pinzon; Kevin Dunn - Captain Mendez; Frank Langella - Luis de Santangel; Mark Margolis - Bobadilla; Kario Salem - Arojaz; Billy L. Sullivan - Fernando (Age 10); John Heffernan - Brother Buyl; Arnold Vosloo - Guevara; Steven Waddington - Bartolome; Fernando Guillen Cuervo - Giacomo; Bercelio Moya - Utapan; Juan Diego Botto - Diego; Achero Manas - Ship's Boy; Isabel Prinz - Duenna; Fernando Garcia Rimada - King Ferdinand; Angela Rosal - Pinzon's Wife; Jack Taylor - Vicuna; Albert Vidal - Hernando de Talavera; José Ferrer - Alonso; Louis Di Giaimo
Credit
Benjamin Fernandez - Art Director, Kevin Phipps - Art Director, Les Tomkins - Art Director, Garth Thomas - Associate Producer, Louis Di Giaimo - Casting, Marc Boyman - Co-producer, Roselyne Bosch - Co-producer, Charles Knode - Costume Designer, Ona Planas - First Assistant Director, Terry Needham - First Assistant Director, Adam Somner - First Assistant Director, Michael Stevenson - First Assistant Director, Pedro Lazaga, Jr. - First Assistant Director, Ridley Scott - Director, Françoise Bonnot - Editor, William M. Anderson - Editor, Iain Smith - Executive Producer, Vangelis - Composer (Music Score), José Antonio Sanchez - Makeup, David Worley - Camera Operator, Martin Hitchcock - Production Designer, Norris Spencer - Production Designer, Adrian Biddle - Cinematographer, Ridley Scott - Producer, Mimi Polk Sotela - Producer, Alain Goldman - Producer, Ann Mollo - Set Designer, Pierre Gamet - Sound/Sound Designer, Robin Clarke - Sound Editor, Graeme Crowther - Stunts, Roselyne Bosch - Screenwriter
The film opens in 1491 with Columbus, currently being sheltered by monks, going to the faculty at the University of Salamanca to acquire approval and funding for an expedition to find a new route to the Indies. His justification is that the route along the African coastline is too long and that the Turks have cut off all land routes between China and Christian nations. He enlists the help of Martín Alonso Pinzón to win over the support of Queen Isabella after failing to convince the very reluctant audience at Salamanca. Impressing her, Columbus gets the funding he needs and sets off from the Spanish port of Palos de la Frontera (Huelva, Andalusia, south Spain). The voyage takes longer than expected but he does arrive on the island known as Guanahani but later christened as San Salvador on October 12, 1492. Over the course of the movie, he tries to govern new settlements, but is beset by angry locals and rebellious nobles. In the end, he is removed from his post in 1500 and forced into the Castile prison, but his adult son frees him: thus Columbus can begin to tell him the story of his voyages, but the movie ends when he says: "I remember...". After that, there is a short text telling the rest of the life of Columbus.
Reception
Despite its dismal box office intake, the film's score by renowned composer Vangelis became a successful album worldwide. Its main theme, Conquest of Paradise, was used by former Portuguese Prime-Minister António Guterres at his 1995 election.
