Ridley Scott is a visually oriented director who finds great beauty in his vision of the New World, including a breathtaking shot in which the ocean mists rise to reveal a verdant shore. He shot his film in Costa Rica, where the Native Americans are depicted as dignified and gentle, people who inspire Columbus to wonder whether they might not be an improvement on the inbred backbiting nobles of the Spanish court. I am not convinced that Columbus was as enlightened as he seems in this movie, but perhaps historical figures exist in order to be reinterpreted every so often in terms of current needs.

-- Roger Ebert.