CRISTOVAO COLOMBO - O ENIGMA

Portugal, 2007, 80 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Manoel de Oliveira.

Colombo - O Enigma is a wonderful film written by Manoel De Oliveira and has Oliveira himself and his wife as significant characters in the film. He directed it at age 98. He was also present at the Venice film festival at age 99 when the film was screened.

Oliveira began making films in the early 1930s and continued for the next 70 plus years. His body of work has been honoured throughout the world. In his later years, he made rather shorter films, very effective including a sequel to Belle De Jour, Belle Toujours.

This film is based on a book by a husband and wife team, who had investigated the background of Christopher Columbus for 50 or more years. They are portrayed in the early part of the film, the husband by De Oliveira’s grandson. In the later part of the film, Oliveira and his wife portray the couple.

The film opens with interesting speculation about Columbus’ identity, an examination of his signature, a look at particular emblems, which indicate the thinking behind his explorations. The film then moves to 1946 with two young men migrating to the United States, following Columbus’ path. In 1957 one of them who has become a doctor, continues his interest in examining the documents about Portuguese exploration. Back in Portugal in 1960, he and his fiancée marry and then go on a honeymoon trip to Cuba, the alleged place of Columbus’ Portuguese birth, and to other monuments, churches, and museums in the Algarve.

The next part of the film is set in 2007 where the elderly couple go to Columbus Circle in New York City, look at the Statue of Liberty and reflect on the meaning of this for the United States, go to Massachusetts where the Portuguese colony live in the United States. They then return to Portugal and to the Azores to examine further evidence of Columbus’ life.

The possibility that Columbus was Portuguese is a speculation. However, the Portuguese De Oliveira is actually creating a film monument to Columbus and to the many Portuguese explorers who, as the film highlights, travelled all the seas of the world. Were De Oliveira not to make another film, this would be a most fitting epitaph for him.

1. The work of Manoel de Oliveira, his long career, directing and acting in this film at the age of ninety-eight? His contribution to cinema? His contribution to Portuguese consciousness? His themes? This film as something of an epitaph for him?

2. The prologue with the documents, the close-up of Columbus's signature, the symbols? The visual style, the historical re-creation of 1946, 1957, 1960? The journey of 2007? Portuguese locations, American locations, the Azores? The piano score and the mood?

3. The title, the title of the book and research? Columbus and his achievement? Portugal and its contribution? The book and the film dramatising the quest of the authors?

4. The theme of Portugal: Portugal itself, the visuals, as a power in the 15th and 16th centuries? The role of the king, the explorers, the visuals of the Atlantic coast, venturing out in the small boats, going to the ends of the earth? The achievement? The reputation of the sailors and explorers, the memories in Portugal, so many absent from the consciousness? Monuments and museums, statues? This film as a monument to those explorers, especially Columbus?

5. Columbus as born in Portugal - true or not? The hypothesis? The evidence offered? The film and the symbol of the guardian dressed in the flag colours of Portugal? Present at all times in the film?

6. The introduction, the explanation of the signature, the phallic symbol, the fact that he was born in Cuba, his original name, parents, mother, Jewish background, noble lineage, the sinister side?

7. 1946, the young Manuel and his brother, looking at the statues, recapping the history of Portuguese exploration? Migrating to the US, following Columbus's path? The end of World War Two, the migrations, the young men and their age, their farewell to their mother, the voyage, talking to the old man on the boat, the talk of family? Hopes for America, the initial fog? The city shrouded? Not able to see the Statue of Liberty? The interrogation by the police in Manhattan, the two passports, nationalities, the suspicion of espionage? The taxi ride, their gazing at their room and its being bare? Going to the restaurant, the advice to work in the factory? The younger brother going to Hollywood and staying there? The older brother becoming a doctor?

8. 1957, Manuel's lecture, his analysis of diagnosis, with patients, with historical documents? The response of the audience, the discussion of Manuel's devotion to history?

9. 1960, the wedding, the long sequence of the words of the marriage vows and commitment, the visuals of the trip, the arrival in Cuba, asking people directions and their not knowing, the churches, the priest and his explanation? The visit to the Algave? The museums? The evidence about Columbus? The husband and wife learning? The bond between the two?

10. 2007, the couple and their age, in New York City, the bright sunshine, Columbus Circle, the statue of Columbus, the statements on the statue, the eagle, the symbolism? The wife singing? The American ideal, the Statue of Liberty, the quotation of America's welcome, the comment that this was not always achieved? The Sephardic Jewish background of the writer of the words? The admiration for America? What Columbus achieved?

11. Going to Massachusetts, visiting the museum, the model ships, the reflection on what this meant?

12. Going to the Azores, the welcome, going to the museum, the discussions with the personalities, their regret at no monuments, the hopes for Portugal's acknowledgment of its heroes?

13. The final sequence, the ferry, the water, the time for reflection on the role of the explorers?