Starring Djimon Hounsou, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman, Matthew McConaughey, David Paymer, Pete Postlewaite, Nigel Hawthorne, Anna Paquin. Directed by Steven Spielberg.
Based on a true story in American history, a Spanish slave ship from Cuba called La Amistad bound for America is overrun in 1839 by a group of 53 Africans captives who escaped from their chains, led by Cinque (Hounsou). They kill the captain and most of the crew, but allow two to live, in order to help the Africans get back home. But the two double-cross them, and they are captured by an American Navy ship just off the Connecticut coast. They are brought to trial for the murders they committed at sea, but their case captures the imagination of abolitionists (led by Morgan Freeman as a composite of many black former slaves who helped finance the case), who hope this case is the thin edge of the wedge which begins the end of slavery.
But they had better stand in line. The two slave traders claim them as property. The 11 year-old Queen Isabella of Spain (Paquin) invokes a treaty Spain has with the U.S., which guarantees the return of any confiscated property. The American Navy claims the Africans as reward for finding them at sea. A real estate lawyer (McConaughey) takes the case to argue that since they are Africans, they are not legally slaves, so they cannot be anyone's property. He soon takes to Cinque and the others, and begins to argue in terms of the captives being people who deserve to be free. After winning the first case, President Van Buren (Hawthorne) is persuaded by his backroom boys (Paymer) that allowing the Africans to win will cause him to lose the South in the coming election, so the President eventually takes the case to the supreme court. Former President John Quincy Adams (Hopkins) is persuaded to argue the case before the supreme court in 1842, of which 7 judges are southern slave owners. Will he win the case?
Spielberg has created an uneven film with scenes of immense power intermixed with flat and unnecessary ones. The film opens on a dark and stormy night, with the slaves getting free from their chains, and then emerging on deck to brutally slay the crew. Cinque runs a sword clean through a man, into the deck below, and then twists, blood spewing everywhere. In trademark Spielberg style, no gore is spared. Possibly the best sequence in the film is in the telling of how the slave trade worked. It shows how fellow Africans sold their own people to get guns, stored them in a hell-hole fortress for selling, of their miserable treatment at sea, lack of food and starvation of those deemed sick and likely to die. One chilling scene depicts how the chains of some 50 slaves were fastened to a bundle of rocks, and the rocks thrown overboard, dragging these human beings to a watery grave at the bottom of the ocean. The final courtroom scene, with Adams arguing for the Africans freedom is beautifully acted by Hopkins, and the words powerful and moving. Several scenes with Cinque forcefully showing his pride, desire for freedom, and love of his homeland, are stirring.
The performances are the strong suit of the film, with Hopkins and Hounsou outstanding and Oscar-worthy. Hounsou is a strong and imposing man with a magnificent voice, consistently projecting pride and dignity. Postlewaite (as the district attorney prosecuting the case) and McConaughey are fine. Freeman's role is not strongly written, because it is not of a real person. Paquin is largely wasted, as the Queen is presented as an ignorant, spoiled child, although she jumps on her bed nicely. The problem with the film is that many of the scenes between the excellent ones slow down movie, and some do not do anything to advance the story. The film clocks in at just under 2 1/2 hours, and a little editing out of some of the slower, and some of the less needed scenes would have helped. A lot of criticism has been levelled at the film for being historically inaccurate, primarily Freeman's character. But I visited the Amistad historical sight on the internet (not the movie site), and the basic storyline of the movie, including the existence of leader Cinque, the three trials for their freedom, the Queen of Spain and President Van Buren sticking their noses in, and Adams arguing before the supreme court, all happened. From what I read, the movie is quite faithful to history by Hollywood standards. The film is both educational and often interesting, but could have used more of the powerful scenes, and less of the filler in between.
