1492: Conquest of Paradise Page #3

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!

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