1492: Conquest of Paradise

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...

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