(upbeat techno music)
(fast flute music)
(quick playful music)
- Mr. Cassini, my measurements show the world's a sphere.
It bulges slightly at the equator like this
and flattens at the poles, precisely as Newton
the great English scientist said.
- Mr. Richard, you're wrong, it is quite contrary,
the earth is a sphere that is bulging at the poles
and flatter at the equator.
- My dear sir, much flatter around the poles,
more like a potato.
- A potato? How dare you say such a thing?
(crowd murmuring)
- My measurements, my measurements.
- I'm the one to wanted measurements to be made.
They're not the ones I wanted.
- But these are the correct ones.
- Then I must call you a traitor, a hypocrite,
a cuckoo, a squibbler! (crowd murmuring)
- [Mr. Richard] You see this theory's correct,
really a potato.
- Yes a potato, precisely Newton's law.
- Oh yes.
- A potato? (crowd murmuring)
- At the poles, flatly a question.
- My dear sir.
- I don't understand!
- Your opinion Mr. Voltaire?
Like a pear?
- No.
No monsieur Condamine.
The theory is correct.
The Earth is more like a...
- Potato!
- Monsieur Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle,
permanent secretary of the Academy of Sciences.
(murmurs)
(sniffling)
(sneezing)
Monsieur, may I remind you the dignity
of our Academy is inconsistent
with such emotional exuberance.
Surely we alone can resolve this question,
reason based on research.
Therefore, with the consent
of our gracious sovereign Louis the 15th,
one expedition to the equator
will determine the shape of the Earth.
Another expedition to the North pole will do the same.
Hm...
Where is that pear?
(chewing)
Delicious!
They're even better when you peal 'em.
Anyway, is the Earth like a pear?
- Or more potato like?
- More like an apple.
- But the Earth.
- Well, it's round.
- Like a ball, right?
- Let's see...
A ball, yes, but not so perfectly round.
Sir Isaac Newton, the great English scientist
calculated that the rotation of the Earth would make it
bulge out at the equator, like this.
It never does work when...
Ah, it works fine.
Yes, it works.
But the French astronomer, Cassini, believed the contrary.
The bulges would be at the poles.
The only way to measure the bulges is to go there.
Monsieur De Maupertuis makes measurements in Lapland,
Monsieur Condamine at the Equator.
He has also offered to assist in financing the expedition.
A most timely gesture: 100,000 pounds sterling.
(birds chirping)
(speaking French)
And our captain, sir.
May I present captain of the royal fleet.
(magical music)
(speaking French)
(exotic music)
- French scientists with authorization the king of Spain.
Come to the town hall.
Quito, the ancient capital of Peru, is here,
to the northwest, but the route is difficult,
as well as dangerous.
It would be better to travel south by boat
to Guayaquil.
From there, there's a good road to Quito.
- Explore the land to the equator.
Quite an interesting plan.
- It would be very difficult.
- You take the boat, then, and I'll explore the shoreline.
- Alone?
You would be the first to reach the equator.
I am going with you.
- I'm sure you're very welcome.
(orchestra music)
(laughing)
(wind)
(scream)
Thanks goodness, the mosquitoes are gone.
We'll camp here.
The southern cross.
We must be very near the equator.
I'll take a few measurements.
- I can't hear you.
What did you say?
- I said that we're very near the equator.
You're not looking well, Mr. Bouguer.
- I'm freezing.
- Oh.
- I hear horses.
(speaking foreign language)
(speaking Spanish)
- You've heard of me.
And you know my name?
- [Pedro] Your reputation has preceded you.
I can guide you to Quito, but your friend looks too ill
to go with us.
- What can we do to help?
- He should go with the others by ship.
(shivering)
- You'll be all right aboard ship,
and I'll see you again in Quito.
- Don't take any measurements, now.
I want to be the first one.
(mumbling)
(shouting)
- Curious, they look like Africans.
- Yes, a slave ship sank near here, about 50 years ago.
The survivors founded a village on this river,
the Esperalda, and they are happy.
Look at them.
We'll take my boat, and go up the Esperalda.
- This jungle is unbelievable.
- It's really a tropical rain forest.
(stirring music)
It's through the flora and fauna, here.
- Look at those monkeys.
Look at those giant mushrooms.
They're enormous.
- Watch it, we're being watched.
(exotic drums)
- What is that?
- That's latex.
They heat it and use it.
It stretches.
(laughing)
- It's waterproof.
Gives me a good idea.
- There we are.
- What is it?
- My instruments, in this waterproof sack,
they're protected from humidity.
See? Simple.
- Very soon.
This is my port.
This is as far as the boat will go.
(speaking foreign language)
They fear the Indians.
They're returning home.
(frantic music)
- What do we do now?
- Nothing to worry about.
Tomorrow morning, you'll see.
Try this, it's delicious.
(crickets chirping)
- Morning, Pedro.
- Did you see?
Look there.
There, behind those trees.
(curious music)
(shouting)
Si, si amigo, si amigos.
(laughing)
Now, you look better to them.
As we go higher, it will be very difficult to breathe.
- But all this is just rope.
- It's safe.
They just rebuilt it. Go on.
(jazzy music)
Dizziness.
If you mustn't look down, keep looking further ahead.
Go on, I'm right behind you.
- What am I doing here?
- You'll be glad you come, when you see how beautiful
it is.
There.
Just look at that.
(speaking Spanish)
There, you see?
Quito, magnificent capital, there.
- Nice to see you. - Nice to see you.
- Are you the French scientist?
- Yes, we have the king's authorization.
- The governor wants to see you.
- [Man] Yes, of course.
- I'd better change.
I hate to take them off.
- Measure the length of a great arc.
Study the curvature of the earth.
They travel so far, and with so many,
just to prove that the earth is round?
- That's the point, Your Excellency,
the earth is not round.
- Why are you really here?
Would it be gold, perhaps, or the platinum mines
you're after?
I understand.
You're no more than English spies.
- But, we're not English.
Sir, we are French.
- Really? Oh, just one moment.
You wouldn't by chance have come here
to find the Inca treasure?
Be warned, I've got my eye on you.
All of you.
You're under my jurisdiction.
- Your Excellency.
- This is my Uncle Juan.
He's offered to help.
- To measure the earth is why you have come?
- That's it.
To begin, we'll need cartographic data, a map.
- Yes, I have one.
- Splendid, that's just what we need.
- We'll check to see it's accurate.
We'll form three groups, to go there, there, and there.
- It's your fault.
Hasn't anybody told you, never bother a llama
when he drinks?
- [Narrator] At last, it appeared that the scientists
could begin serious work, but a series of misfortunes
was the plague the expedition.
(tender strings)
- It's malaria.
The fever could kill him.
(speaking Spanish)
(shouting)
- How dare you?
- En garde.
- It is the bulls that we come.
- Not to see a duel.
(shouting)
- They should never have come.
- My dear sir, may I ask your help?
I want to know the distance between those windows.
- My pleasure.
(perplexing music)
- Extraordinary, it really is.
Such splendid original specimens.
A remarkable collection for the king, and now,
we'll go back.
Oh, no!
My whole collection!
All gone down the stream.
Row, row, row your boat, down the stream.
My collection, down the stream.
- My dear sir, what is it?
Is something wrong?
Have you been hurt?
- I have been struck in the heart.
Sir, will you give me your daughter's hand
in marriage?
- I now pronounce you man and wife.
- Well, there we are, my friends.
Our work will soon be completed.
I, that is, I'm, as it happens, I've been offered a post
as an astronomer in Lima, in Peru, and then,
I will, no doubt, go to Cadaques, in Spain.
I'll be on my way, monsieur.
- Well.
- [Narrator] And that was that, my friends.
And this is all that's left
of our original expedition.
(exciting music)
- Well, there we are.
Now, we have proof the earth isn't round.
- And now, amigo, you go homes.
- I'll give the academy my result,
as soon as I'm home.
- If you like, we'll do it together, Monsieur Bouguer.
- Oh, yes, of course.
But I will be in Paris, first, ahead of him.
- Come in, my friend. Come in.
You want to go down the Amazon.
My son, 200 years ago, a Spaniard, Oralano,
went down that great river.
His voyage was terrible, a nightmare.
He almost starved to death, attacked by wild Indians,
and once by an army of women, that's right.
Dangerous women.
- Look, over there, you see what I see?
There are too many of them.
Back to the boats.
- 50 years ago, a priest, Father Fritz,
went on an expedition, also to explore the Amazon.
Here's the map he left.
My nephew, Pedro Maldonado, will go too.
Be careful.
I'm told that the man who killed Dr. Seneras, Don Lyon,
is going to be ambushing you.
(perplexing music)
- [Narrator] Then, there were only three.
- They arrived.
- Once and for all, get rid of the French.
- Hombre is wait to cancel, Senor.
- Maybe don't want lie, and wait in the riverbank.
The Indians will help us avoid his trap.
- They ought to be here.
They disappear, where are they?
- Chief, they are in the forest over there, Senor.
- You backward peasant.
You reminded him!
Where are the boats?
Get them, go on!
(laughing)
- I have an idea.
(shouting)
- We got him!
Sneaky foreigners, you'll pay for this!
(shouting)
- My notes, there!
All my clothes!
Ah, it doesn't matter.
All my notes are safe.
(snoring)
It's very strange.
I mean, curare is a deadly poison,
but we can consume animals killed with it,
and there is no danger.
(snoring)
(shouting)
- From now on, we will sleep in the boats.
Much more intelligent.
- Hey, what's that?
- A dwarf monkey.
Called the boxer.
Put out your hand, you'll see why.
(laughing)
Take a look at him.
He spends his whole life upside down.
He hardly ever moves, and when he does,
he's very slow.
We call him a sloth.
- [Condamine] Can it walk?
- No, it crawls.
Watch, I'll show you.
- Something for lunch?
- No, we use in fishing.
He'll show you.
- I'm learning enough for a lifetime.
I want to find out all about it.
The Rio Negro from the north is full
of rotting plant matter.
The Amazon carries along a more light colored tint.
How strange?
Two rivers flowing down the same riverbed.
- We are coming to Manaus.
What is that stone you have?
- It's a sacred stone.
It's from the tribe of woman warriors.
- The Amazons, that's interesting,
but do these women exist?
- They could exist, but then again, who knows?
- [Condamine] Where did you get that green stone?
- Haven't got a green stone.
What made you think I did.
But nobody can stop you from looking for one, if you want.
May be that way, it's called an Amazon stone.
- I spot 'em!
Come back!
- Ah, look, there's an arrow here, and lot of footprints
made all around it.
Let's.
(squawking)
- Yes, gentlemen, and thus, I have demonstrated
the world is not round.
I have entirely mapped Peru, I've discovered lands.
- Mr. Bouguer, on this expedition, you weren't alone.
Monsieur La Condamine went with you.
Traveled down the Amazon, and explored unknown regions,
new lands, we could say.
He has even brought back samples
of most curious substances, and I would say,
this one is most amusing.
- Oh, yes, of course.
Monsieur La Condemine was an excellent assistant, colleague,
but what substance were you speaking of?
- Oh, there are many.
The poison curare, useful in medicine,
powerful insecticides, and rubber, it stretches.
- [Bouguer] Rubber, what?
- You can see, this is it.
- Oh, that.
Yeah, well, it stretches, it's for, it's uses,
it's useless.
- [Narrator] A few months later at the same
Academy of Sciences.
- This substance is produced in a liquid state,
by a tropical tree named Hevea.
When it is processed, using heat, it can be molded
into any shape.
It cools and hardens, retaining that shape,
as well as high degree of elasticity, as demonstrated.
Also, rubber is totally waterproof.
Imagine how many useful objects could be made
of rubber, unbreakable, elastic, and completely waterproof.
- Condamine knew Amazonia, especially the Amazon,
from its source, down to the sea, 4,000 miles.
A giant of a river, 200 thousand cubic meters of water,
every second, and deposits sediment hundreds of miles
out on the ocean.
He drew very good maps of the whole area.
He studied and collected the remarkable flora
and fauna, the plants and animals.
He revealed a new world that till then,
was totally unknown.
(orchestra music)