Christopher Columbus, The Enigma

CRISTÓVÃO COLOMBO Filmes do Tejo

I have fixed on the signature I shall always use from now on.

An X with an S above it, An M with a Roman A on top,

And, above the A, an S.

And then a Y, with an S on top

with rays and commas as I do here.

And it will appear in all my signatures, from which many will derive.

And they will all look like this one.

This navigator, the one we are used to calling Columbus,

was never so called in his lifetime.

In every document he signed, in letters addressed to him,

and articles written by contemporary chroniclers,

he was always Christopher Colon.

Contrary to what is widely believed, Columbus was not from Genoa.

And the name - Colon ? he was never christened that.

It was given him later from the Greek for a phallic symbol, some say.

Which, according to some, is the divine protector of virgin causes.

Afonso D'Ornelas came to the conclusion

that the same documents are often used by different authors

to prove entirely opposing theories.

Each nation's interest in claiming Christopher Colon as its son,

makes them obscure certain facts and twist others

to make it impossible for him to have been born anywhere

but in their country.

Fortunately, today, History is dealt with differently,

because there are those who value truth above all else.

EMIGRATING - 1946

You know, Hermínio,

this king was Joâo the Good, the one of happy memory,

the first of the house of Aviz,

the second of Portugal's four dynasties.

It was during the reign of Joâo I

that the discoveries gained perspective.

Up there, Glory crowns Genius and Valour.

Underneath, in Latin it reads :

"To the virtues of the greatest for the enlightenment of all".

This, according to legend, is where Homer's Ulysses ended up.

After the Trojan war,

Neptune tricked him and he got lost in the Mediterranean looking for Ithaca.

He passed the pillars of Hercules...

The straits of Gibraltar...

Quite so ! And ended up in Lisbon...

Which is why it was called Ulissea, the city of Ulysses,

- But what are you getting at ? - That Homer predicted this.

Predicted what ?

That this is where the carracks and caravels would set sail from,

to cross uncharted seas.

And now we're going to America.

Because Father told us to.

He wants the all family to be together.

What about mother ?

I miss you already, and you're still here.

And also for a second good-bye, right Mother ?

You took so long. I was worried...

I thought the ship might leave.

You're just in time.

The other passengers have boarded.

There's still time for one last hug.

Go on, off you go or you'll miss it.

When father sent for us all to go and live together in America,

I wrote asking if I could stay and finish my degree here in Portugal.

But he sent an ultimatum. You'll come, or you're on your own.

And he was right.

After the second world war,

the family was always apart. Up until you were 18.

Yes, that's true.

And you ? Are you joining your family ?

- Yes, I'm going to be with my family. - Is your whole family there ?

Yes. All of them.

And yours ?

All except for my mother. She can't join us until later.

I see, there's always something.

Life's complicated.

Complicated, just like women.

I guess.

I guessed as well, when I was your age.

- At my age, you don't guess. - No ?

You suffer.

How old are you ?

How old do you think I am ?

I'm no good at guessing that kind of thing.

Anyway, I don't speak for myself.

Who then ?

My wife, she doesn't have any company.

And for others, younger than me even,

who start losing their faculties and become dependent.

There's nothing worse than being dependent on others, is there ?

I'm from the Azores.

Lots of folk from the Azores have emigrated to America.

Most of the Portuguese immigrants in America are from the Azores.

I've been there before.

Now I'm going back to join my wife and kids.

We have to get back together.

For our arrival, we all got up before the dawn.

We wanted to see the big city lights and the famous skyscrapers...

What a disappointment !

The whole of New York harbour was shrouded in thick mist.

The docks were filled with ships back from World War II.

So we and nine other lads, had to go by launch

to Dock 1

on Manhattan island.

You can't even see the Statue of Liberty through all this fog.

What a disappointment.

It's so cold it must have snowed.

And this fog...

This fog is a nuisance.

We'll come back when it's sunny.

The weather's bad, the ship was rubbish.

Like one of those lightweight "Liberty ships".

And being winter, the sea was so rough it took 16 days to reach Hudson Bay.

Have you noticed, Hermínio ?

The traffic here's controlled by a system of lights.

It's red now. See ?

Look, it's turned green now...

Green and red ! The colours of our flag.

- To Cheever Street ? - Yes.

Number 54.

Here's your room.

Look, this is Brooklyn Bridge.

Sr Silva, we see everyone around us is working.

But we've only just arrived

and haven't got a job.

I have a suggestion from your father.

We're both Silva,

no relation mind.

Anyway, he said if you're interested,

you've both got a job at the big factory where my son and daughter-in-law work.

Of course we do !

Turn up at the factory tomorrow morning.

- 23rd St, Manhattan. - What ?

23rd St, Manhattan.

DOCTOR IN MAS S ACHUSETTS - 1957

After obtaining his degree at Coimbra,

he now practices medecine in Massachussets.

OPORTO - 1960

Do you, Manuel Luciano,

of your own free will

take Sílvia Jorge

to be your lawful wedded wife ?

I do.

Do you promise

to love and honour her

and be faithful unto her until death do you part ?

I do.

Will you receive from God's loving hand the gift of children

and raise them according

to the laws of Christ and his Holy church ?

I will.

Do you, Sílvia Jorge, of your own free will

take Manuel Luciano as your lawful wedded husband ?

I do.

Do you promise to love and honour him

and be faithful unto him until death do you part ?

I do.

Will you receive from God's loving hand the gift of children

and raise them according to the laws of Christ and His Holy Church ?

I will.

As it is your wish to be united in Holy Matrimony,

I join your right hands...

and bear witness to your consent

in the presence of Christ and His Church.

I, Manuel Luciano...

take thee, Sílvia, to be my lawful wedded wife...

and promise to be faithful and to love and honour thee...

for richer or poorer...

for as long as we both shall live...

I, Sílvia...

take thee, Manuel Luciano, to be my lawful wedded husband...

and promise to be faithful and to love and honour thee...

for richer or poorer...

for as long as we both shall live.

May the Lord in His goodness strengthen you in His consent

and fill you both with His grace and blessing.

I now unite you in matrimony before God.

I bless you

in the name of the Father,

the Son and the holy Ghost.

Amen.

I was born and raised in the north of Portugal.

It's very different from this : more rugged and mountainous.

This is my homeland.

I was born in a place called Santana de Cambas,

but finished my teacher training in Faro.

I know, your mother's from there.

We met when you were teaching in Oporto.

We've spent a lot of our lives apart from loved ones.

Like your brother, Hermínio, he never came back from America.

He was always mad about America. Then he went to Hollywood,

got hooked on the movie business and never wanted to leave.

And from now on, Sílvia, that's how we're going to be.

More hooked on each other than Hermínio on Hollywood ?

More, much more. There's no one,

not in Hollywood or here more hooked than us my darling Alentejo acorn !

I've never been to the Alentejo before. I really love the wide open spaces.

- You'll like the Algarve, too. - I guess I will.

In the XV century, 1479 to be exact,

the Alentejo was the geographical centre of the world !

How come ?

Our king, Dom Joâo II, signed a treaty with the Catholics,

dividing the world between Portugal and Spain.