Underplayed Gems

Columbus on Trial (1992)

Columbus on Trial poster
Directed by
Lourdes Portillo
Country
United States
Runtime
18 min
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How it feels

Christopher Columbus is put on a mock trial where reporters and a comic trio question his legacy. The film asks whether he discovered the New World for good or invaded to destroy native cultures. It portrays Columbus as a man charged with slaughter and challenges the official version of history.

satiricalthought-provokingmock-trialconfrontationalplayfulcriticalfast-pacedironic

What happens

Columbus on Trial is a film directed by Lourdes Portillo in 1992. The 18-minute film, acted and co-written by the comic trio Culture Clash, acts out a simulated trial that Christopher Columbus is put in as they lived through the 500th anniversary of his discovery. The film commences by portraying a variety of journalists and reporters questioning Columbus's motives. They bombard him with all the questions that have arisen over the previous 500 years in regards to the controversy of whether he really did discover the New World for the betterment of the people. This meaning that he introduced European customs and beliefs as a way to improve the lives of the natives already residing in it, or whether he simply invaded these territories in order to impose his own culture and destroy theirs. In this film specifically, Portillo depicts Columbus as a man charged with slaughter against the natives living in the New World. With this film, Portillo supports the reconsideration of “official history”. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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