Here is the perfect example of ratings people gone wrong. This movie is a hair short of an "R" rating. Out of about 15 people in the audience while I was there, at least seven left during burnings at the stake, massacres, maulings of limbs, and executions, to mention a few moments.

These events and others in this film were, however, historically accurate. The acting, especially that of Gerard Depardieu as Columbus, the directing of Ridley Scott (of "Thelma and Louise" fame) and magnificent scenery make this movie worth going to. The shots of Caribbean jungles and Spanish cities are breathtakingly amazing. However, it is impossible, even in this movie's two and a half hour run, to portray the entire story of the genocidal slaughter of Native Americans, the driving forces behind Columbus, and those behind Isabella.

Perhaps the most crucial component that this movie will be judged on is its political correctness, which it has. The only change I would make in that department is the depiction of Columbus as one who tried to stop cruelty and slaughter of the Natives, and only a slight mention is made of the taxes he laid on the tribes and his enslavement of them. Altogether, I would give this movie four stars to action freaks, and three for everyone else. n