Amistad (1997)
R
Spielberg depicts a compelling, if a bit imperfect, historical drama depicting the real life freedom suit
7.5
Movie
United States of America
English, Spanish
Drama, History, Mystery
1997
STEVEN SPIELBERG
Allan Rich, Anna Paquin, Anthony Hopkins
155 min
7.5
The Staff
TLDR
“What do you mean the laws almost work?” Bro, it’s close to two centuries and we still can’t answer that.
What it's about
Connecticut, 1839. After tribe leader Cinqué takes over the Amistad and frees all the Mende tribesmen on board, they continue to sail, but are inadvertently led to the US and imprisoned as runaway slaves, with a legal battle that seems doomed to fail. However, freed slave Theodore Joadson recruits property lawyer Roger Baldwin and appeals to former US president John Quincy Adams to help their case.
The take
With his long and extensive career, it can feel that Steven Spielberg can direct everything. The question is, can he direct a movie that depicted one of the most important freedom suits America has ever faced? Amistad, titled after the ship in the case, is his attempt, and while it does employ some tired tropes and it is a tad lengthy, it does a fair job of balancing the real history and the cinematic drama. Detractors have denounced this film as a white savior narrative due to the way the characters that go through the most growth are the white characters, but it’s Cinqué’s story that moves us through Djimon Hounsou’s performance and Spielberg's direction. Amistad is not perfect, but it at least ensures that Cinqué’s actual life would be remembered and learned from for much longer.
What stands out
It is long. Some might find cutting the film only to the Conneticut’s District Court would improve the film, but sadly, the case going to the Supreme Court actually happened, and considering that John Quincy Adams’ speech was supposedly 8 ½ hours long, this film is actually the shorter version.
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