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byRoselyne BoschREVISEDSeptember 23, 1991 FADE IN:CREDITS AND MUSIC OVER:INT. AUDIENCE ROOM - GRANADA - DAYWe start on a mans elegant slipper. He is seated in asplendid chair. Moving up the stocking leg, we pass thegarter of Castile, coming to rest on a pair of delicatehands. His fore finge
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!
COLUMBUS
I've been contradicted all my
life... Eternity!
MARCHENA
(amused)
Only God knows the meaning of such
words, my son.
EXT. COURTYARD - LA RABIDA - EVENING
DIEGO and FERNANDO wait in the courtyard. COLUMBUS
appears and lifts FERNANDO onto the mule. DIEGO turns to
go.
COLUMBUS
Diego.
COLUMBUS walks over to him, squats down so their eyes
meet. He looks at his SON for a moment.
COLUMBUS
Would you like to come and stay with
us?
Uncomfortable with the proposition, DIEGO cannot find an
answer.
COLUMBUS
I'll do whatever makes you happy.
DIEGO
I am happy, Father.
COLUMBUS reaches out -- and touches his shoulder.
He climbs up behind FERNANDO, who waves back to his
BROTHER as they ride off.
EXT. CADIZ - STREETS AND CATHEDRAL SQUARE - NIGHT
COLUMBUS leads the mule, carrying the sleeping FERNANDO,
through narrow streets. There's a clamorous noise in the
air. Suddenly a large group of YOUNG MEN, shouting with
excitement, run up the street and brush past them. Then
more people. FERNANDO sits up straight. The noise grows,
rowdy, rumbling, sharp with excitement and violence.
Huge CROWDS have thronged the massive old square outside
the cathedral. Holding the mule by its reins, COLUMBUS
tries to push his way through... Suddenly, as a gap opens
in the crowd, we see the cause of the excitement: in the
center of the square stand three pyres, already alit.
HOODED EXECUTIONERS are busy around the fires.
FERNANDO
Look, Father!
Before COLUMBUS can stop him, FERNANDO has slipped off the
mule and into the crowd.
COLUMBUS
Fernando!
But the BOY has been swallowed into the mass of people.
COLUMBUS tries to follow him. Flames leap into the night
sky with a terrible crackling, lighting up the square with
a lurid glow. Prayers are being chanted somewhere.
FERNANDO has elbowed his way to the front of the crowd.
A PRIEST brandishes a crucifix in front of the face of a
MAN bound to a post. The heretic wears the "sambenito", a
robe made of coarse fabric on which his sins have been
crudely illustrated -- we see cabalistic signs,
indicating that the man is Jewish.
THE MAN'S eyes are mad with fear. But he refuses to kiss
the crucifix, as a sign of his repentance.
FERNANDO is transfixed by the scene, but still doesn't
realize what is happening. He is too close to the
platform to see what is in the flames of the other pyres.
COLUMBUS
Fernando!
He motions to his son, takes the BOY'S hand, and drags him
away from the scene. But FERNANDO looks back. The
distance now allows him to see inside the flames.
A HALF-CHARRED FIGURE -- THE MAN'S face is distorted in a
silent scream... The neck snaps like burning wood, and the
head falls on one shoulder. Then the whole body collapses
into the fire.
INT. BEATRIX'S HOUSE - HALLWAY AND STABLE - NIGHT
COLUMBUS and FERNANDO lead the mule into the white-washed,
stone-floored hallway of the modest house. FERNANDO is
mute, shocked by what he just witnessed. COLUMBUS takes
the mule into its stall, and as he does so, his mother,
