Screenplay - 1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE
Dr. Jai Maharaj
1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE
by
Roselyne Bosch
REVISED
September 23, 1991
FADE IN:
CREDITS AND MUSIC OVER:
INT. AUDIENCE ROOM - GRANADA - DAY
We start on a man's elegant slipper. He is seated in a
splendid chair. Moving up the stocking leg, we pass the
garter of Castile, coming to rest on a pair of delicate
hands. His fore finger impatiently plays with a large
topaz ring. Over this, we hear distant footsteps, echoing
on marble floors.
CUT TO:
A Castilian face: aquilaine profile, olive complexion,
dark eyebrows and meticulously sculpted beard. This is
TREASURER SANCHEZ.
A door slams somewhere, the footsteps getting closer. We
can now here a subdued conversation.
TREASURER SANCHEZ stands up as:
The door opens at the far end of the large gilded room.
A WOMEN, magnificent in somber taffeta, enters. QUEEN
ISABEL OF SPAIN moves towards him.
He bows slightly as she sits at the end of the large
table. She is followed by a PRIEST, BROTHER BUYL, and
three dignitaries of Church and State.
All sit beside her. TREASURER SANCHEZ takes a document
and starts to read aloud.
On screen the words: GRANADA - SPAIN - 1500
SANCHEZ
Your Majesty would wish to know the
true facts concerning the island of
Hispanola, our first settlement in
the New World, and the activities
there of your servant, Christopher
Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean Sea,
Governor of that Island. You will
remember with what hopes and
promises he beguiled us -- the truth
is that he now presides over a state
of chaos, degradation and madness
beyond imagining.
SANCHEZ punctuates each word carefully.
SANCHEZ
From the beginning, Columbus proved
himself incapable of managing the
affairs of the island. He appointed
his brothers to important positions,
at once injuring the pride and
dignity of the nobles who had gone
with him. He promised to build a
city, the City of Isabel, named
after Your Majesty. What he
actually built was nothing but a
collection of huts, and that in the
wrong place, for all of it was
easily swept away by rain and mud.
Is that not so, Brother Buyl?
The PRIEST nods.
BROTHER BUYL
Yes, Your Honor.
SANCHEZ
He promised gold. Not finding the
easy quantities he promised,
Columbus commanded each Indian to
pay an annual tribute. Most being
unable to, they were barbarously
punished, against the express wish
of Your Christian Majesties...
ISABEL lowers her eyes.
SANCHEZ
Since provocation and injustice
never ceases, many of the Indians
have fled to the forests, or have
begun to slay the Christians.
ISABEL looks over at BROTHER BUYL.
ISABEL
Could it be so?
BROTHER BUYL
Yes, Your Majesty.
SANCHEZ
But there is worse. From the
beginning, he forced the nobles to
undergo physical labor, treating
them equally with the Indians, all
of them reduced to slavery. When
the nobleman Adrian de Moxica
protested against such treatment...
(he pauses)
... he was executed.
(pause)
Is that not true also, Brother
Buyl?
BROTHER BUYL
Yes, Your Honor. It is all true.
All of it. I saw it with my own
eyes.
SANCHEZ
He has lost control. His great
arrogance has led him into
depravity. He encourages our
soldiers to marry the native women.
He promised a paradise, but he has
made a hell full of all its horrors.
Silence.
ISABEL
Is that the man I knew, Treasurer
Sanchez?
SANCHEZ
Yes, Your Majesty.
CUT TO:
INT. HUT - ISLAND - DAY
CLOSE ON the FACE: COLUMBUS is stretched on a bed,
sweating heavily in fever, clearly delirious. Insects
crawl over his face, he makes no effort to swat them away.
There is a dripping sound of water.
FERNANDO (V.O.)
Of all the words my Father wrote and
there were many, I remember these
the most. "Nothing that results
from human progress is achieved with
unanimous consent..."
Rain is falling into the room over documents spread on a
table. COLUMBUS stands up and moves to the table. Some
of the walls have been blackened with smoke and flames. A
lizard scuttles into the shadows.
FERNANDO (V.O.)
"And those who are enlightened
before the others are condemned to
purse that light in spite of
others..."
COLUMBUS stares down at the documents, moving them away
from the rain drips. He stares out by the window, and we
see:
A devastated landscape. Flooded roads, half-destroyed
huts, broken trees... A dog picks its way through the mud.
FERNANDO (V.O.)
There was a time when the New World
didn't exist...
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. OCEAN - DAY
A vast stretch of ocean. It fills the screen. Unbroken,
infinite, luminous, mysterious -- it stretches away,
meeting and blending with the sky in pale ribbons of pearl
and misty light.
FERNANDO (V.O.)
... The sun set in the west on an
ocean where no man had dared to
venture. And beyond that,
infinity...
Pulling back, we discover:
A TEN-YEAR-OLD BOY and a strongly built man in his middle
thirties, are riding a mule. The MAN'S weather-beaten
face frames unusually bright eyes.
On the screen these words: ANDALUSIA, 1491
COLUMBUS AND HIS SON are following a windthrashed path at
the top of the hill. COLUMBUS hums a song, and FERNANDO
looks up at him in adoration.
FERNANDO (V.O.)
Once I asked my Father where he
wanted to go. And he replied: "I
want to travel all over the seas. I
want to get behind the weather..."
FERNANDO laughs. He then starts to hum along with his
FATHER.
CUT TO:
EXT. HILLSIDE APPROACH TO LA RABIDA - DAY
A rugged landscape, remote and steep, with lines of stone
walls and thousands of sheep.
FERNANDO, rushes down a slope, barking like a dog, chasing
the sheep who fan out in droves in front of him. High-
spirited and wild, FERNANDO laughs and tumbles over.
COLUMBUS rides his mule along the narrow track, watching
his SON'S antics with amusement. In the distance, the
solitary figure of A MONK SHEPHERD.
COLUMBUS calls out to his son:
COLUMBUS
Fernando!
FERNANDO runs over. COLUMBUS lifts him up onto the mule.
As they move along the track we now see, perched on a
distant hill, isolated and austere, the Monastery of La
Rabida, their destination.
EXT. CLOISTER - LA RABIDA - DAY
As they dismount and walk into the quiet cloisters,
FERNANDO suddenly spots a familiar FIGURE, standing under
the ROMAN arches.
FERNANDO
Diego!
He rushes over, full of joy, to kiss his BROTHER -- an
adolescent dressed in the novice-robe, with a solemn,
delicate face. DIEGO'S response is constrained.
COLUMBUS
Diego! Aren't you going to kiss
your brother?
DIEGO smiles a little, and kisses FERNANDO -- who is
immediately distracted by a procession of hooded MONKS,
hurrying to the refectory, as a bell begins to chime.
The MONKS all turn to greet ANTONIO DE MARCHENA, a white-
haired, elderly man -- and a monk cosmographer.
MARCHENA'S gesture is broad and elegant as he opens his
arms to greet COLUMBUS. He pats FERNANDO'S head and turns
to DIEGO.
MARCHENA
Diego, take Fernando to the dining
hall. He must be hungry.
DIEGO
Yes, Father.
Both CHILDREN leave under the arched roof. COLUMBUS and
MARCHENA begin to walk across the cloister.
MARCHENA
Diego is a bright boy -- a pleasure
to teach -- but so serious...
Brothers should be raised together,
Colon. Even brothers from different
mothers...
COLUMBUS
Father, I am doing what I think is
the best for him. And he has the
teacher I would have chosen for
myself.
MARCHENA laughs at the compliment.
MARCHENA
Just be careful you don't lose him.
They have crossed the cloister. MARCHENA pushes open a
door.
INT. A HUGE LIBRARY - LA RABIDA - DAY
Hundreds of books lined up on the shelves, displaying the
miracle of printing, a recent German discovery. Several
MONKS, perched on high stools behind lecterns, are busily
"ILLUMINATING" some of these massive volumes, delicately
painting around the letters in bright colors and gold
leaf.
Rays of light fall diagonally through high openings,
projecting geometric patterns on the tiled floor. As
MARCHENA and COLUMBUS move forward their conversation is
punctuated by light and shadow.
MARCHENA
(fumbles in a pocket
under his robe)
I have something for you.
Almost casually, he hands COLUMBUS a letter.
MARCHENA
You will be heard at the University
of Salamanca...
COLUMBUS stops dead in his tracks. Almost frantically he
tears open the letter, hardly able to believe his eyes.
COLUMBUS
God... That's in a week!
MARCHENA
That's what it says.
COLUMBUS
How did you manage it?
MARCHENA
(smiling)
With some difficulty. I had to
promise them you were not a total
fool.
MARCHENA pushes open a second door, hidden behind a wooden
panel.
INT. STUDY - LA RABIDA - DAY
MARCHENA is not a tidy man. Books are piled up on the
floor, the desk, on every shelf, along with maps,
instruments of astronomy... the visible evidence of an
inquiring mind.
With practiced familiarity, as if they had done this a
hundred times -- which indeed they have -- MARCHENA sits
behind his desk, and COLUMBUS opposite him. MARCHENA
lights a candle and considers the mess. Then
methodically, he slowly sweeps it from in front of him
with his sleeve, exposing a large map underneath.
When he looks up again, there is a new severity in his
expression. He turns over an hourglass.
MARCHENA
Why do you wish to sail west?
COLUMBUS
To open a new route to Asia. At the
moment there are only two ways of
reaching it...
He leans forward, and points to the map spread out on the
desk.
COLUMBUS
By sea, sailing around the African
Continent -- the journey takes a
year...
His finger traces the journey, from west to east.
COLUMBUS
Or by land...
We are CLOSE now on the map, as we watch his finger
tracing a line between Europe and the Far East.
COLUMBUS (O.S.)
... But the Turks have closed this
route to all Christians. Trading
with the Orient has become arduous,
if not dangerous.
(he pauses)
There is a third way...
We notice that the outline of the European continent is
familiar. But we also notice that, in that great expanse
of ocean, the whole American continent is missing.
COLUMBUS
By sailing West across the Ocean
Sea.
CLOSE ON MARCHENA'S FACE, touched by the mystery.
MARCHENA
How can you be so certain? The
Ocean is said to be infinite.
COLUMBUS
Ignorance! I believe the Indies are
no more than 750 leagues west of the
Canary Islands.
MARCHENA
How can you be so certain?
COLUMBUS
The calculations of Toscanelli Marin
de Tyr, Esdras...
MARCHENA
(interrupting)
Esdras is a Jew.
COLUMBUS
So was Christ!
MARCHENA throws his quill in the air in frustration. He
glances at the hourglass:
MARCHENA
Two minutes... and already you're a
dead man. Don't let passion
overwhelm you, Colon.
COLUMBUS
(mockingly)
I'll try to remember that,
Marchena...
MARCHENA
Father Marchena!
COLUMBUS
(ignoring this)
Passion is something one cannot
control!
MARCHENA
(heatedly)
You get so carried away when you are
being contradicted!
COLUMBUS
I've been contradicted all my
life... Eternity!
MARCHENA
(amused)
Only God knows the meaning of such
words, my son.
EXT. COURTYARD - LA RABIDA - EVENING
DIEGO and FERNANDO wait in the courtyard. COLUMBUS
appears and lifts FERNANDO onto the mule. DIEGO turns to
go.
COLUMBUS
Diego.
COLUMBUS walks over to him, squats down so their eyes
meet. He looks at his SON for a moment.
COLUMBUS
Would you like to come and stay with
us?
Uncomfortable with the proposition, DIEGO cannot find an
answer.
COLUMBUS
I'll do whatever makes you happy.
DIEGO
I am happy, Father.
COLUMBUS reaches out -- and touches his shoulder.
He climbs up behind FERNANDO, who waves back to his
BROTHER as they ride off.
EXT. CADIZ - STREETS AND CATHEDRAL SQUARE - NIGHT
COLUMBUS leads the mule, carrying the sleeping FERNANDO,
through narrow streets. There's a clamorous noise in the
air. Suddenly a large group of YOUNG MEN, shouting with
excitement, run up the street and brush past them. Then
more people. FERNANDO sits up straight. The noise grows,
rowdy, rumbling, sharp with excitement and violence.
Huge CROWDS have thronged the massive old square outside
the cathedral. Holding the mule by its reins, COLUMBUS
tries to push his way through... Suddenly, as a gap opens
in the crowd, we see the cause of the excitement: in the
center of the square stand three pyres, already alit.
HOODED EXECUTIONERS are busy around the fires.
FERNANDO
Look, Father!
Before COLUMBUS can stop him, FERNANDO has slipped off the
mule and into the crowd.
COLUMBUS
Fernando!
But the BOY has been swallowed into the mass of people.
COLUMBUS tries to follow him. Flames leap into the night
sky with a terrible crackling, lighting up the square with
a lurid glow. Prayers are being chanted somewhere.
FERNANDO has elbowed his way to the front of the crowd.
A PRIEST brandishes a crucifix in front of the face of a
MAN bound to a post. The heretic wears the "sambenito", a
robe made of coarse fabric on which his sins have been
crudely illustrated -- we see cabalistic signs,
indicating that the man is Jewish.
THE MAN'S eyes are mad with fear. But he refuses to kiss
the crucifix, as a sign of his repentance.
FERNANDO is transfixed by the scene, but still doesn't
realize what is happening. He is too close to the
platform to see what is in the flames of the other pyres.
COLUMBUS
Fernando!
He motions to his son, takes the BOY'S hand, and drags him
away from the scene. But FERNANDO looks back. The
distance now allows him to see inside the flames.
A HALF-CHARRED FIGURE -- THE MAN'S face is distorted in a
silent scream... The neck snaps like burning wood, and the
head falls on one shoulder. Then the whole body collapses
into the fire.
INT. BEATRIX'S HOUSE - HALLWAY AND STABLE - NIGHT
COLUMBUS and FERNANDO lead the mule into the white-washed,
stone-floored hallway of the modest house. FERNANDO is
mute, shocked by what he just witnessed. COLUMBUS takes
the mule into its stall, and as he does so, his mother,
BEATRIX, appears from the kitchen to greet them. She is a
beautiful woman in her twenties, a calm, strong, domestic
personality. COLUMBUS tousles the BOY'S hair. FERNANDO
glances at his MOTHER but looks subdued and doesn't say
anything.
INT. BEATRIX'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT
COLUMBUS joins BEATRIX in the kitchen, where a MAID is
cooking. He explains Fernando's subdued manner.
COLUMBUS
Executions. In the square.
BEATRIX nods. He goes to the stone butt and pours water
on his hands.
COLUMBUS
They've agreed to see me in a week.
BEATRIX puts the candle on the table. Her face lights up
with a smile. He walks to her, and kisses her.
COLUMBUS
I could be gone for years.
BEATRIX
I know.
COLUMBUS
I haven't given you much of a life.
BEATRIX
(amused)
Well... that's true. I have a child
by a man who won't marry me! Who's
always leaving...
COLUMBUS
Are we going to argue?
BEATRIX
I'd love to argue with you
sometimes. But you're never here!
They laugh and kiss.
COLUMBUS
Perhaps I was never meant to live
with a woman...
BEATRIX
(still kissing him)
I find that hard to believe.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. BEATRIX'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT
They are eating around the table, and FERNANDO is
unusually silent and thoughtful. COLUMBUS pours a little
wine into FERNANDO'S water, to distract him. FERNANDO
looks up at him, surprised. COLUMBUS smiles, then looks
over at BEATRIX.
COLUMBUS
Fernando, don't you think we are
lucky to live with such a beautiful
woman?
He winks at FERNANDO. BEATRIX smiles.
INT. BEATRIX'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT
The room is dark. As COLUMBUS approached the bed with a
candle, it illuminates the naked body of BEATRIX. BEATRIX
looks up at him intently. A drop of wax falls on her
skin. She flinches, murmurs...
They make love.
EXT. SALAMANCA UNIVERSITY - DAY
A medieval "campus". Students-novices are playing
"pelote", with basket-gloves and a hard ball. They run
with their robes tucked around their waist, revealing
white legs. Others are studying, reading, hurrying to
their class.
We find COLUMBUS watching the game from the steps above
the court. Others are waiting with him. A MONK comes
from a door, and looks around the group.
MONK
(hesitant)
Christopher Columbus?
INT. AUDIENCE ROOM - UNIVERSITY OF SALAMANCA - DAY
An El Greco painting. A tableau of twenty MEN sitting on
dark, sculpted seats. Candles throw a gloomy light on
their faces. Some are Churchmen, others are dressed in
bourgeois outfits.
Only one of them is richly dressed in the grand Spanish
fashion -- he is SANCHEZ, Treasurer of the House of
Aragon. A MONK (Don AROJAZ) holds a stick with an ivory
claw at the top. Languidly, he scratches his back -- his
off-hand manner only makes him more impressive than his
peers.
AROJAZ
You say Asia can be found by sailing
west?
COLUMBUS
Yes, your Eminence. The voyage
should not take more than six or
seven weeks.
AROJAZ
Unfortunately, Don Colon, that is
precisely where our opinions
differ...
(pause)
Are you familiar with the work of
Aristotle? Erathostene? Ptolemeus?
COLUMBUS
I am, Your Eminence
AROJAZ
Then you cannot ignore that
according to their calculations, the
circumference of the Earth is
approximately...
(he leans forward)
22,000 leagues or more. Which makes
the ocean... uncrossable.
He leans back, satisfied, and pauses for effect.
AROJAZ
But you may have found new evidence
proving that these men of knowledge
are totally mistaken!
A ripple of mirthless laughter.
COLUMBUS
Your Excellencies are aware of the
statements of Marin de Tyr?
HERNANDO DE TALAVERA
We are.
COLUMBUS
Then you are also aware that his
theories contradict Ptolemeus... De
Tyr believes the Ocean to be only
750 leagues...
A murmur of protest spreads among the members of the
Commission. But Columbus is determined to press his
theories.
COLUMBUS
The Florentine Toscanelli and the
French Cardinal Pierre d'Ailly both
think that Marin de Tyr is accurate
in his calculations. And therefore,
that the ocean can be crossed.
Indignant and amused murmurs. DIEGO DE DEZA raises his
voice to quiet the assembly.
DIEGO DE DEZA
Gentlemen, let us suppose Marin de
Tyr is right...
(the laughter
subsides)
Are we here to examine this proposal
or not?
Silence.
DIEGO DE DEZA
(to Columbus)
In your opinion, how long would the
voyage be?
COLUMBUS
Seven weeks. Six, during the summer
months.
The murmur increases.
AROJAZ
Marin de Tyr is wrong -- and has
been corrected many times over the
centuries by the finest geographers.
Your voyage, Don Colon, would take a
year!
A MAN of simple bearing, that COLUMBUS identifies as
being a seaman, interrupts.
VICUNA
How would the crew survive without
being able to land for fresh water?
Water is undrinkable after six
weeks! You'd never be able to turn
back!
COLUMBUS
We wouldn't have to turn back! We
would find land at this point!
AROJAZ
Senor Colon, an experienced captain
such as yourself will understand our
concern with the crew. I am not
willing to have on my conscience the
loss of men who would have relied
upon our judgment.
COLUMBUS
Excellency, you are right.
Instantly, the protests stop.
COLUMBUS
I am a seaman, not a scholar... But
as a simple man craving for
knowledge, I have read all the work
of these renowned geographers and
discovered that none of them could
agree on the exact width of this
ocean...
He pauses, and starts walking in front of the experts, as
a lawyer before a grand jury.
COLUMBUS
Therefore, as a modest man, I
wonder: who is right?
The experts listen. CLOSE ON SANCHEZ'S FACE, impressed by
the boldness.
COLUMBUS
Who is right? This question remains
unanswered.
He walks and stops before TALAVERA, and catches the look
of SANCHEZ, sitting just behind him.
COLUMBUS
Your Eminence, there is only one way
to settle the matter. And that is
to make the journey.
(to the assembly,
with passion)
I am ready to risk my life to prove
it possible.
AROJAZ
Your life, and that of others!
COLUMBUS
If they agree to follow me, yes.
SANCHEZ (O.S.)
Suppose you cross this ocean.
Suppose you reach Asia. What would
Spain do there?
Conscious of a friendlier voice, COLUMBUS sees the
Treasurer SANCHEZ, an imposing man in his fifties.
COLUMBUS
Trade, Your Excellency. According
to Marco Polo, the Kingdom of China
is one of the richest of the world.
Even the meanest buildings are
roofed with gold.
AROJAZ
(interrupting)
For educational purposes
End of forwarded message
Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti
Panchaang for 30 Shravan 5104, Wednesday, August 27, 2003:
Shubhanu Nama Samvatsare Dakshinaya Jivana Ritau
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