哥伦布传 1492

和许多人一样，vangelis的那曲荡气回肠的《conquest of paradise》促成了我观看此片。看完才发现影片本身质量也很不错，颇有雷德利斯科特的风格。vangelis的配乐也堪称经典，以完美的声音魅力烘托出影片气势磅礴的氛围。

影片将我们带回了1942年哥伦布发现新大陆的那个年代。整个片子的基调是对以哥伦布为代表的冒险家，乃至全人类顽强不屈，不畏强权，勇于探索未知的全部肯定。在那个黑暗的中世纪，宗教裁判所掌握着整个西方世界。他们实行恐怖愚民统治，借着上帝的名义排除异己，从中渔利，他们焚烧异教徒，夺取初夜权，惩罚所有敢于梦想的人。在那个时代，“人类”只是匍匐在“上帝”脚下，没有丝毫尊严的蝼蚁，任人宰杀还依然屈服顺从。而在这样的人群之中，如同哥伦布一般独特而别样的存在就如同夜空里的繁星，是那么令人着迷。他高声呼喊着“上帝只是一个谎言”，在宗教与世俗统治势力之间的裂缝中，用尽自己的全部生命，为全人类挣扎出了尊严和自信，因而才有了后面轰轰烈烈的“大航海时代”和“文艺复兴”，才让人类真正将所谓的“上帝“推翻并踏上一万只脚，成为了自己命运的主人。

由于是一部群像剧，本片在气势上以宏大为主，也不可避免地因缺乏细节描写遭到一些人的诟病。特别是现在这个见花落泪的时代里，有不少人竟然以一部电影“让没让他/她哭”为标准来评判其优劣，未免显得狭隘猥琐。在这里向所有热爱历史，热爱人类的影迷推荐此片，定不会让你们失望。

Alex Gendler: History vs. Christopher Columbus

Many people in the United States and Latin America have grown up celebrating the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyage, but was he an intrepid explorer who brought two worlds together or a ruthless exploiter who brought colonialism and slavery? And did he even discover America at all? It's time to put Columbus on the stand in History vs. Christopher Columbus. "Order, order in the court. Wait, am I even supposed to be at work today?" <i>Cough</i> "Yes, your Honor. From 1792, Columbus Day was celebrated in many parts of the United States on October 12th, the actual anniversary date. But although it was declared an official holiday in 1934, individual states aren't required to observe it. Only 23 states close public services, and more states are moving away from it completely." <i>Cough</i> "What a pity. In the 70s, we even moved it to the second Monday in October so people could get a nice three-day weekend, but I guess you folks just hate celebrations." "Uh, what are we celebrating again?" "Come on, Your Honor, we all learned it in school. Christopher Columbus convinced the King of Spain to send him on a mission to find a better trade route to India, not by going East over land but sailing West around the globe. Everyone said it was crazy because they still thought the world was flat, but he knew better. And when in 1492 he sailed the ocean blue, he found something better than India: a whole new continent." "What rubbish. First of all, educated people knew the world was round since Aristotle. Secondly, Columbus didn't discover anything. There were already people living here for millennia. And he wasn't even the first European to visit. The Norse had settled Newfoundland almost 500 years before." "You don't say, so how come we're not all wearing those cow helmets?" "Actually, they didn't really wear those either." <i>Cough</i> "Who cares what some Vikings did way back when? Those settlements didn't last, but Columbus's did. And the news he brought back to Europe spread far and wide, inspiring all the explorers and settlers who came after. Without him, none of us would be here today." "And because of him, millions of Native Americans aren't here today. Do you know what Columbus did in the colonies he founded? He took the very first natives he met prisoner and wrote in his journal about how easily he could conquer and enslave all of them." "Oh, come on. Everyone was fighting each other back then. Didn't the natives even tell Columbus about other tribes raiding and taking captives?" "Yes, but tribal warfare was sporadic and limited. It certainly didn't wipe out 90% of the population." "Hmm. Why is celebrating this Columbus so important to you, anyway?" "Your Honor, Columbus's voyage was an inspiration to struggling people all across Europe, symbolizing freedom and new beginnings. And his discovery gave our grandparents and great-grandparents the chance to come here and build better lives for their children. Don't we deserve a hero to remind everyone that our country was build on the struggles of immigrants?" "And what about the struggles of Native Americans who were nearly wiped out and forced into reservations and whose descendants still suffer from poverty and discrimination? How can you make a hero out of a man who caused so much suffering?" "That's history. You can't judge a guy in the 15th century by modern standards. People back then even thought spreading Christianity and civilization across the world was a moral duty." "Actually, he was pretty bad, even by old standards. While governing Hispaniola, he tortured and mutilated natives who didn't bring him enough gold and sold girls as young as nine into sexual slavery, and he was brutal even to the other colonists he ruled, to the point that he was removed from power and thrown in jail. When the missionary, Bartolomé de las Casas, visited the island, he wrote, 'From 1494 to 1508, over 3,000,000 people had perished from war, slavery and the mines. Who in future generations will believe this?'" "Well, I'm not sure I believe those numbers." "Say, aren't there other ways the holiday is celebrated?" "In some Latin American countries, they celebrate the same date under different names, such as Día de la Raza. In these places, it's more a celebration of the native and mixed cultures that survived through the colonial period. Some places in the U.S. have also renamed the holiday, as Native American Day or Indigenous People's Day and changed the celebrations accordingly." "So, why not just change the name if it's such a problem?" "Because it's tradition. Ordinary people need their heroes and their founding myths. Can't we just keep celebrating the way we've been doing for a century, without having to delve into all this serious research? It's not like anyone is actually celebrating genocide." "Traditions change, and the way we choose to keep them alive says a lot about our values." "Well, it looks like giving tired judges a day off isn't one of those values, anyway." Traditions and holidays are important to all cultures, but a hero in one era may become a villain in the next as our historical knowledge expands and our values evolve. And deciding what these traditions should mean today is a major part of putting history on trial.