The San Diego Union-Tribune
See 'Columbus' and you won't think of explorer in same way
August 9, 1992
by John Freeman
So what's wrong with Columbus and the enduring legend that he "discovered" America by sailing the ocean blue in 1492?
Plenty, at least according to revisionist versions of history now in vogue.
The modest TV masterpiece is based on "Counter Colon-Ialisimo," an art exhibition first shown a year ago in Balboa Park's Centro Cultural de la Raza gallery and now on tour. It exposes many of the myths that surround Columbus' daring New World voyages of 500 years ago.
Using a spare but highly effective visual style, producer Paul Espinosa weaves closeups of the artwork with provocative, even outrageous, remarks from the artists.
Espinosa's cameras slowly pan across the images, some of which are shocking with their themes of conquest, cruelty, rape, forced Christianization and subjugation misdeeds surely not documented in most kids' textbooks.
One especially powerful work recreates the historical fact that Columbus' landings brought a smallpox plague to the New World. Says artist Jan Elliot: "What the Europeans actually brought here was a culture of death, a genocidal attitude, and an attitude they still hold toward people of the earth and people of color."
Adds another local artist, Deborah Small: "If people just think for a minute what the term 'genocide' means, you could compare it with the Holocaust and Auschwitz. There's no way you would have people celebrating the Holocaust in Germany (as Columbus day is celebrated in the United States)."
And from the local artist David Avalos: "The (negative) information that's now coming out about Columbus has always been available. There's very little in the way of new facts. It's been known for centuries that Columbus and his men committed atrocities."
In one of Alvalos' works, titled "La Niņa and the Little Boy," a replica of the atomic bomb is placed just above a replica of one of Columbus' ships. The message: "The belief that might makes right," says Avalos.
For the 41-year-old Espinosa, PBS' network-wide airing of "1492" marks yet another triumph in his broadcasting career. As KPBS-TV's executive producer, he has produced virtually all the KPBS shows that have aired nationally in recent years.
Of Hispanic origin, Espinosa said he regards Columbus as "a larger-than-life icon." Once that happens, he said, "then you come to some stand beyond your own deeds. In some ways, Columbus gets too much grief now; and in some ways, he doesn't get enough."
Besides Espinosa's visual images (plus those of photographer-editor Jeffrey Betts) and the forceful nature of the artwork, "1492" gains considerable strength from its haunting music, an original score by Frederick B. Lanuza.
Often, the film contains only a pulsating drumbeat as the cameras gaze into the souls of the artists' creations. Watch "1492 Revisited." You'll never think of Christopher Columbus in the same way again.