Thursday, October 15, 1992
Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue
by Rick Kastan
The Collegian
World history is laced with
questionably motivated heroes,
most of them coming from the
arts and sciences. It is full of
works and feats that walk the fine
line between complete genius and
bad judgement. It is filled with
insane and subversive artists and
power-mad scientists. It also has
its fair share of obsessed
explorers.
Christopher Columbus was
one of those men.
And even now, on the
quintcentennial of his
"discovery," do we have questions
about his motivations. Was he a
well intentioned genius looking
to bring Christianity to the entire
world and once again achieve
heaven on Earth? Or was he a
megalomaniacal madman who
only wanted wealth and power to
destroy peoples of great, but
different cultures?
We may never know the
answers to these questions and,
sadly, Ridley Scott's new film
biography of the man will bring
you no closer to any conclusion.
The time: the late 1400's. The
place: Europe. It was a lime of
great fear in the land, the time of
the Inquisition. A time when
people were afraid to voice any
opinion disagreeing with the state
or the church for fear of fiery
death at the hands of the
Inquisitors.
But one man had the strength
of vision to go against modern
science's teachings, to want to
sail around half the globe to find
a land of great riches and
promise. A man we now
'celebrate' every year on October
12. An Italian. A man named
Cristobal Columbo. The man
who discovered America.
Or did he? In January of 1492,
Columbus DID sail the ocean
blue on a trip funded by Queen
Isabella of Spain. And he DID
sight land on October 12. He
sighted the West Indies. In fact,
Columbus, 'the man who
discovered America' never did set
foot on American Soil in all of
his four trips to the new world
(that accomplishment would go
to another Italian, Amerigo
Vespucci).
So, what DID Columbus
accomplish? Well, by 1492 it
was pretty common knowledge
that the world was round
(although the Church refused to
believe it) and even if Columbus
HAD reached America he would
not by far have been the first (we
all know about the Vikings trips
to the New World as early as the
1300's).
So what did he accomplish?
Well, he paved the way for the
destruction of countless races of
people in the New World.
Directly or indirectly we may
never know.
And that brings us back to
1492, the movie. Scott's film
tries to show the explorer in a
middle of the road way, not
condemning him or praising him
too highly, and this is one of the
film's main flaws-it has no balls.
Ridley Scott has made some
very fine movies of great daring
in the past. From Alien to
Blade Runner to Thelma and
Louise (we men can forgive him)
he has consistently pushed the
boundaries of style and vision in
this films. But 1492: Conquest
of Paradise just doesn't fill the
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The Collegian
shoes it had made for itself.
Granted, the film is beautiful and
moving at times, but by making
no judgements on Columbus, the
film loses our interest about
halfway through. Scott doesn't
even take advantage of the
wonderful Cinemascope screen he
has been given use of and the
whole film looks like it was
made to be played perennially on
TV.
Another strike against the
movie is it's running time. At 2
1/2 hours some would say that it
is too long, but I felt that it
wasn't quite long enough. There
are so many times in the film
that events take place that are not
explained at all that the second
half of the film becomes
completely perplexing and very
tiresome.
Acting is very good, especially
by Gerard Depardieu as
Columbus (who's thick French
accent, I must admit, is a little to
confusing at times) but I think
Sigourney Weaver was mostly
wasted as Queen Isabella.
So, should you see 14921 It
depends. If you want to see a
daring portrayal of a very
mysterious Italian man, no (in
fact, if you want that you can
just come down and see me) but
if you're looking for a history
lesson (albeit a flawed one) you
may enjoy it. It's like
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The Collegian
Each Thursday morning, look for
your copy of The Collegian at one
of the following locations.
The Collegian
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Bands and
Beers at the
Brookside
Rick Kastan
The Collegian
Looking for something to do
on Saturday night?
Yeah, me neither. But if the
seemingly endless hours of
weekend keggers and boring
movie rentals begin to become
tiresome, a good (if not
interesting) time can be found
just around the corner...at the
Brookside Tavern.
Yes, the Brookside Tavern.
The beginning of the semester
always heralds a major business
boom for Erie bars. This year
the Brookside says thank-you to
Behrend students by adding live
bands to its Saturday night
schedule. The bands will be on a
rotating schedule appearing once
every three weeks or so (with a
few surprises thown in
periodically).
One of this season's best
regulars is the acoustic rock band
Rosewood.
Comprised of six musicians,
Rosewood is a band perfectly
suited for small bars like the
In order to better serve our readers,
The Collegian has invested in
additional distribution centers.
Reed building west entrance (by DUS)
Reed building next to the MAC machine
Hammermill/Zum near the computer center
Behrend Science lobby
Page
Brookside. It has a rough,
throbbing sound that
compliments the Broodsidc's
unique atmosphere very well.
Rosewood's six members,
Erieites them all, arc: John
Pontorerio (bass), Gary Peterson
(guitar/vocals), Buck Bucklin
(guitar/vocals). Bob Aldridge
(percussion), Matt Upperman
(harmonica/vocals) and Rich
Crishock (guitar).
They play original tunes as
well as covers of songs from Neil
Young, The Grateful Dead, John
Cougar, Marshall Tucker and the
Beatles.
Rosewood has played
numerous Erie bars including
Scully's and the Barricks and will
return to the Brookside on
Saturday, October 31.
So, if you’re looking to hear
some music and get a good buzz
at a fair price ($2 cover), stop
into the Brookside (with proper
1.D.) for a few. It's only a short
drive to get there and a short walk
back home. And if you don't,
remember where it is...you've
probably drank enough already.