1492: Conquest of Paradise
Encyclopedia
1492: Conquest of Paradise is an epic
1992 Europe
an adventure
/drama film
directed
by Ridley Scott
and written
by Roselyne Bosch, which tells the story of the discovery of the New World
by Christopher Columbus
(Gérard Depardieu
) and the effect this had on the indigenous
people. The film was released for the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus
' voyage.
(Sigourney Weaver
) to gain the necessary funding.
due to violence and brutality.
Overall, the film had mixed reviews and poor box office results. The movie review site Rotten Tomatoes
gave the film a 47% "rotten" rating. However, movie critic Roger Ebert
said in his review that the film was satisfactory, stating "Depardieu lends it gravity, the supporting performances are convincing, the locations are realistic, and we are inspired to reflect that it did indeed take a certain nerve to sail off into nowhere just because an orange was round."
intake in the United States, 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 and is used by the Portuguese Socialist Party
as its anthem since then.
The theme is also used by New Zealand Super 14 Rugby Franchise, the Crusaders as they run onto the field, often accompanied by actors dressed as knights and riding on horseback and rugby league
team Wigan Warriors
who play in Super League
. The theme was also played before the start of every match in 2010 ICC World Twenty20
Cricket
tournament as well as the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. In these events the theme was played right before the national anthems of the two competing nations, as the flags of the two nations were carried into the ground, along with the players of the two teams. The German boxer Henry Maske
(former world champion (IBF
) in the Light heavyweight
category) used the main theme as his official entry theme during his professional career.
Epic film
An epic is a genre of film that emphasizes human drama on a grand scale. Epics are more ambitious in scope than other film genres, and their ambitious nature helps to differentiate them from similar genres such as the period piece or adventure film...
1992 Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an adventure
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
/drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...
and written
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
by Roselyne Bosch, which tells the story of the discovery of the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
by Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
(Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
) and the effect this had on the indigenous
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
people. The film was released for the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
' voyage.
Plot
Christopher Columbus' discovery of the Americas and the effect this has on the indigenous people, starting with his solicitation of Queen Isabella IIsabella I of Castile
Isabella I was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon brought stability to both kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. Later the two laid the foundations for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor...
(Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
) to gain the necessary funding.
Cast
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Gérard Depardieu Gérard Depardieu Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor... |
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the... |
| Armand Assante Armand Assante -Personal life:Assante was born in New York City and raised in Cornwall, New York, the son of Katherine , a music teacher and poet, and Armand Anthony Assante, Sr., a painter and artist. His father was Italian and his mother was Irish, and was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family... |
Gabriel Sanchez |
| Sigourney Weaver Sigourney Weaver Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana... |
Queen Isabella I Isabella I of Castile Isabella I was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon brought stability to both kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. Later the two laid the foundations for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor... |
| Loren Dean Loren Dean Loren Dean is an American actor. He has appeared onstage and in feature films.-Early life:Loren Dean Jovicic was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. His mother worked as a family and marriage counselor and his father was in the clothing business. His parents divorced when he was a small child... |
Older Fernando Columbus |
| Ángela Molina Ángela Molina Ángela Molina is a Spanish actress, and a daughter of Antonio Molina, Spanish singer and actor.Molina studied dance and theater art in the Escuela Superior de Madrid. She rose to international prominence after starring in Luis Buñuel's last movie That Obscure Object of Desire... |
Beatriz Enriquez de Arana Beatriz Enríquez de Arana Beatriz Enríquez de Arana or Doña Beatriz Enriquez de Arana was the mistress of Christopher Columbus.-Biography:The history of the relationship of Beatriz and Columbus starts with the reason why Christopher Columbus was in Córdoba in 1487 at the Spanish monarchs' Alcazar. In 1479 Columbus had... |
| Fernando Rey Fernando Rey Fernando Casado Arambillet , best known as Fernando Rey, was a Spanish film, theatre, and TV actor, who worked in both Europe and the United States... |
Antonio de Marchena |
| Michael Wincott Michael Wincott Michael Anthony Claudio Wincott is a Canadian actor.Wincott was born in Toronto, Ontario and is renown for playing villainous roles-Filmography:*Title Shot - Robber*Wild Horse Hank - Charlie Connors... |
Adrián de Moxica |
| Tchéky Karyo Tchéky Karyo -Early life:Karyo was born in Istanbul to a Greek mother and Sephardic-Jewish father and raised in Paris, France. He studied drama at the Cyrano Theatre and later became a member of the Daniel Sorano Company, playing many classical roles.-Career:... |
Martín Alonso Pinzón |
| Kevin Dunn Kevin Dunn Kevin Dunn is an American actor who has appeared in supporting roles in a number of films since the 1980s. His roles include Colonel Hicks in the 1998 version of Godzilla, Sam Witwicky's father in Transformers, and Oscar Galvin, the primary antagonist in the 2010 action thriller... |
Captain Méndez |
| Frank Langella Frank Langella -Early life:Langella, an Italian American, was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, the son of Angelina and Frank A. Langella Sr., a business executive who was the president of the Bayonne Barrel and Drum Company. Langella attended Washington Elementary School and Bayonne High School in Bayonne... |
Luis de Santángel Luis de Santangel Luis de Santángel was a baptized Jew and finance minister to Ferdinand II who made the case to Isabella I in favor of Christopher Columbus' voyage in 1492.-Funding:... |
| Mark Margolis Mark Margolis Mark Margolis is an American actor who has been making films since 1976.Margolis went to Temple University briefly before moving to New York City, where he studied drama with Stella Adler and at the Actors Studio... |
Francisco de Bobadilla Francisco de Bobadilla Francisco de Bobadilla was a Spanish colonial administrator. Member of the Order of Calatrava, in 1499, de Bobadilla was appointed to succeed Christopher Columbus as the second governor of the Indies, Spain's new territories in America, by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella... |
| Kario Salem Kario Salem Kario Salem is an American television, film, and stage actor and screenwriter.-Career:In 1997, Salem earned an Emmy Award as a writer for the television special Don King: Only in America, which also earned him a PEN nomination. The film also won the Broadcast Film Critics Award and Peabody Award... |
de Arojaz |
| Billy L. Sullivan Billy L. Sullivan Billy L. Sullivan in New York, USA) is an American actor. He is the brother of Michael Sullivan and sometimes credited as Billy Sullivan.-Selected filmography:*Light of Day ... Benji Rasnick... |
Younger Fernando Columbus |
| John Heffernan | Brother Buyl |
| Arnold Vosloo Arnold Vosloo Arnold Vosloo is a South African American actor, best-known for playing Imhotep in The Mummy and its 2001 sequel The Mummy Returns, as well as the role of the superhero Darkman in the sequel Darkman II: The Return of Durant and its 1996 sequel, Darkman III: Die Darkman Die... |
Hernando de Guevara |
| Steven Waddington Steven Waddington Steven Waddington is an English actor who is probably best known for his supporting role in Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans. He trained at East 15 Acting School in Loughton Essex. His first film role was as the eponymous king in Derek Jarman's Edward II... |
Bartolomeo Columbus Bartolomeo Columbus Bartholomew Columbus was an explorer and the younger brother of Christopher Columbus.In the 1470s Bartholomew was a mapmaker in Lisbon, the principal center of cartography of the time, and conceived with his brother the "Enterprise of the Indies", a scheme to reach the Orient and its lucrative... |
| Fernando Guillén Cuervo Fernando Guillén Cuervo Fernando Guillén Cuervo is a Spanish actor, film director and scriptwriter.His parents are Fernando Guillén and Gemma Cuervo, and his sisters are Cayetana and Natalia. All are actors. He wrote the script of Los novios búlgaros and worked as a direction assistant in Año mariano.- Filmography :-... |
Giacomo Columbus |
| José Luis Ferrer | Alonso de Bolaños |
| Bercelio Moya | Utapán |
| Juan Diego Botto Juan Diego Botto Juan Diego Botto-Rota is an Argentine-Spanish actor.Botto's father disappeared during the Argentine Dirty War when Juan Diego was only two years old... |
Diego Columbus |
| Achero Mañas Achero Mañas Achero Mañas is a Spanish film director. He is a former actor that had filmed several successful short films before receiving awards and recognition with his feature film debut El Bola.- Biography :... |
Ships Boy |
| Fernando García Rimada | King Ferdinand V Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand the Catholic was King of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia, Sardinia, and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, jure uxoris King of Castile and then regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of... |
| Albert Vidal | Hernando de Talavera |
| Isabel Prinz | Dueña |
| Jack Taylor Jack Taylor (actor) Jack Taylor is an American actor. He first relocated to Mexico in the late 1950s/early 1960s, and later to Spain, where he has appeared in many films, mostly horror and cheesy exploitation pictures... |
de Vicuña |
| Ángela Rosal | Pinzón's Wife |
| Silvia Montero | Pinzón's Daughter (uncredited) |
Release and reception
1492: Conquest of Paradise opened in theatres on October 9, 1992. It was rated PG-13 in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
due to violence and brutality.
Overall, the film had mixed reviews and poor box office results. The movie review site Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gave the film a 47% "rotten" rating. However, movie critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
said in his review that the film was satisfactory, stating "Depardieu lends it gravity, the supporting performances are convincing, the locations are realistic, and we are inspired to reflect that it did indeed take a certain nerve to sail off into nowhere just because an orange was round."
Music
Despite the picture's dismal box officeBox office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
intake in the United States, the film's score
1492: Conquest of Paradise (album)
1492: Conquest of Paradise is a 1992 music score by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis. The film, a recount of the voyage to America in 1492 by Christopher Columbus, was directed by Ridley Scott, for whom Vangelis had previously composed the music score for Blade Runner, in 1982...
by renowned composer Vangelis
Vangelis
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
became a successful album worldwide. Its main theme, Conquest of Paradise
Conquest of Paradise (song)
-See also:*Con te partirò, another song that became a hit single through Henry Maske's popularity in Germany...
, was used by former Portuguese Prime-Minister António Guterres
António Guterres
António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres, GCC is a Portuguese politician, a former prime minister and President of the Socialist International. Currently he is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.-Early life:...
at his 1995 election and is used by the Portuguese Socialist Party
Socialist Party (Portugal)
The Socialist Party , abbreviated to PS, is a social-democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel, by militants from Portuguese Socialist Action ....
as its anthem since then.
The theme is also used by New Zealand Super 14 Rugby Franchise, the Crusaders as they run onto the field, often accompanied by actors dressed as knights and riding on horseback and rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
team Wigan Warriors
Wigan Warriors
Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....
who play in Super League
Super League
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
. The theme was also played before the start of every match in 2010 ICC World Twenty20
2010 ICC World Twenty20
-------------------------------------------------Group A:---------Group B:---------Group C:---------Group D:---------Super 8s:...
Cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
tournament as well as the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. In these events the theme was played right before the national anthems of the two competing nations, as the flags of the two nations were carried into the ground, along with the players of the two teams. The German boxer Henry Maske
Henry Maske
Henry Maske is a German boxer, one of Germany's most popular sports figures.-Amateur career:Maske was an Olympic Gold Medalist 1988 in Seoul for East Germany...
(former world champion (IBF
IBF
IBF may refer to:*International Boxing Federation is one of several boxing organisations* International Bandy Federation former name of Federation of International Bandy , an international governing body for bandy...
) in the Light heavyweight
Light heavyweight
In boxing, the light heavyweight is a weight division above 168 pounds [12 Stone or 76.204 kilograms] and up to 175 pounds [12.5 stone or 79.38 kilograms]), falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight...
category) used the main theme as his official entry theme during his professional career.
See also
- Carry On ColumbusCarry On ColumbusCarry On Columbus is the 31st and last film in the Carry On series, following 1978's Carry On Emmannuelle. The only main series regulars present are Jim Dale , Bernard Cribbins , Leslie Phillips , Jon Pertwee and June Whitfield...
- A comedy-film about Columbus released in 1992 - Christopher Columbus: The DiscoveryChristopher Columbus: The DiscoveryChristopher Columbus: The Discovery, a 1992 film directed by James Bond alumnus John Glen, was the last project developed by the father and son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind. It follows the events leading up to and including the voyage of Columbus to the New World in 1492...
, another film about Columbus released in 1992.