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Amistad (film)
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Wikipedia article
'Amistad' is a 1997 American historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the events in 1839 aboard the Spanish slave ship 'La Amistad', during which Mende tribesmen abducted for the slave trade managed to gain control of their captors' ship off the coast of Cuba, and the international legal battle that followed their capture by the 'Washington', a U.S. revenue cutter. The case was ultimately resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1841.
Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, and Matthew McConaughey had starring roles. David Franzoni's screenplay was based on the 1987 book 'Mutiny on the Amistad: The Saga of a Slave Revolt and Its Impact on American Abolition, Law, and Diplomacy', by professor Howard Jones.
The film received largely positive critical reviews and grossed over $58 million worldwide.
Plot
'La Amistad' is a slave ship transporting captured Africans from Spanish Cuba to the United States in 1839. Joseph Cinqu, a leader of the Africans, leads a violent mutiny and takes over the ship. The mutineers spare the lives of two Spanish navigators to help them sail the ship back to Africa. Instead, the navigators misdirect the Africans and sail directly north to the east coast of the United States, where the ship is stopped by the American Navy, and the surviving Africans imprisoned as runaway slaves.
In an unfamiliar country and not speaking a single word of English, the Africans find themselves in a legal battle. United States Attorney William S. Holabird brings charges of piracy and murder. Secretary of State John Forsyth, on behalf of President Martin Van Buren (who is campaigning for re-election), represents the claim of the Spanish government that the African captives are property of Spain based on a treaty. Two Naval officers, Thomas R. Gedney and Richard W. Meade, claim them as salvage while the two Spanish navigators, Pedro Montez and Jose Ruiz, produce proof of purchase. A lawyer named Roger Sherman Baldwin, hired by the abolitionist Lewis Tappan and his black associate Theodore Joadson, decides to defend the Africans.
Baldwin argues that the Africans had been kidnapped from the British colony of Sierra Leone to be sold in the Americas illegally. Baldwin proves through documents found hidden aboard 'La Amistad' that the African captives were initially cargo belonging to a Portuguese slave ship, the 'Tecora'. Therefore, the Africans were free citizens of Sierra Leone and not slaves at all. In light of this evidence, the staff of President Van Buren has the judge presiding over the case replaced by Judge Coglin, who is younger and believed to be impressionable and easily influenced. Consequently, seeking to make the case more personal, on the advice of U.S. representative (and lawyer) John Quincy Adams (a former U.S. president), Baldwin and Joadson find James Covey, a former slave who speaks both Mende and English. Cinqu tells his story at trial: Cinqu was kidnapped by slave traders outside his village, and held in the slave fortress of Lomboko, where thousands of captives were held under heavy guard. Cinqu and many others were then sold to the 'Tecora', where they were held in the brig of the ship. The captives were beaten and whipped, and at times, were given so little food that they had to eat the food from each other's faces. One day, fifty captives were thrown overboard. Later on, the ship arrived in Havana, Cuba. Those captives that were not sold at auction were handed over to 'La Amistad'.
United States Attorney Holabird attacks Cinqu's "tale" of being captured and kept in the slave fortress, and especially questions the throwing of precious cargo overboard. Holabird contends that Cinqu could have been made a debt slave by his fellow Sierra Leoneans. However, the Royal Navy's fervent abolitionist Captain Fitzgerald of the West Africa Squadron backs up Cinqu's account. Baldwin shows from the 'Tecora's inventory that the number of African people taken as slaves was reduced by fifty. Fitzgerald explains that some slave ships when interdicted do this to get rid of the evidence for their crime but in the 'Tecora's case, they had underestimated the amount of provisions necessary for their journey. As the tension rises, Cinqu stands up from his seat and repeatedly says, "Give us, us free!"
Judge Coglin rules in favor of the Africans. After pressure from Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina on President Van Buren, the case is appealed to the Supreme Court. Despite refusing to help when the case was initially presented, Adams agrees to assist with the case. At the Supreme Court, he makes an impassioned and eloquent plea for their release, and is successful.
The Lomboko slave fortress is liberated by the Royal Marines under the command of Captain Fitzgerald. After all the slaves are removed from the fortress, Fitzgerald orders the ship's cannon to destroy it. He then dictates a letter to Forsyth saying that he was correct the slave fortress does not exist.
Because of the release of the Africans, Van Buren loses his re-election campaign, and tension builds between the North and the South, which eventually culminates in the Civil War.
Cinqu eventually returns to his homeland, but never reunites with his family.
Cast
* Djimon Hounsou as Sengbe Pieh / Joseph Cinqu
* Matthew McConaughey as Roger Sherman Baldwin
* Anthony Hopkins as John Quincy Adams
* Morgan Freeman as Theodore Joadson
* Nigel Hawthorne as President Martin Van Buren
* David Paymer as Secretary of State John Forsyth
* Pete Postlethwaite as William S. Holabird
* Stellan Skarsgrd as Lewis Tappan
* Razaaq Adoti as Yamba
* Abu Bakaar Fofanah as Fala
* Anna Paquin as Queen Isabella II of Spain
* Tomas Milian as ngel Caldern de la Barca y Belgrano
* Chiwetel Ejiofor as Ensign James Covey
* Derrick Ashong as Buakei
* Geno Silva as Jose Ruiz
* John Ortiz as Pedro Montes
* Kevin J. O'Connor as Missionary
* Ralph Brown as Lieutenant Thomas R. Gedney
* Darren E. Burrows as Lieutenant Richard W. Meade
* Allan Rich as Judge Andrew T. Judson
* Paul Guilfoyle as Attorney
* Peter Firth as Captain Charles Fitzgerald
* Xander Berkeley as Ledger Hammond
* Jeremy Northam as Judge Coglin
* Arliss Howard as John C. Calhoun
* Austin Pendleton as Professor Josiah Willard Gibbs Sr.
* Pedro Armendriz Jr. as General Baldomero Espartero
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun also appears in the film as Justice Joseph Story.
Casting
Cuba Gooding Jr. was offered the role of Joseph Cinqu but turned it down and later regretted it.
Dustin Hoffman was offered a role but turned it down.
Soundtrack
Music
The musical score for 'Amistad' was composed by John Williams. A soundtrack album was released on December 9, 1997 by DreamWorks Records.
Historical accuracy
Many academics, including Columbia University professor Eric Foner, have criticized 'Amistad' for historical inaccuracy and the misleading characterizations of the 'Amistad' case as a "turning point" in the American perspective on slavery.Foner, Eric. [http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/74/ "The Amistad Case in Fact and Film"], History Matters. Accessed December 8, 2011. Foner wrote, "In fact, the 'Amistad' case revolved around the Atlantic slave trade by 1840 outlawed by international treaty and had nothing whatsoever to do with slavery as a domestic institution. Incongruous as it may seem, it was perfectly possible in the nineteenth century to condemn the importation of slaves from Africa while simultaneously defending slavery and the flourishing slave trade within the United States... 'Amistad's problems go far deeper than such anachronisms as President Martin Van Buren campaigning for re-election on a whistle-stop train tour (in 1840, candidates did not campaign), or people constantly talking about the impending Civil War, which lay 20 years in the future."
Reception
Critical response
'Amistad' received mainly positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 77% based on reviews from 64 critics, with an average score of 6.9/10. Its consensus reads, "Heartfelt without resorting to preachiness, 'Amistad' tells an important story with engaging sensitivity and absorbing skill." Metacritic calculated an average score of 63 out of 100 based on 23 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.Susan Wloszczyna of 'USA Today' summed up the feelings of many reviewers when she wrote, "as Spielberg vehicles go, 'Amistad' part mystery, action thriller, courtroom drama, even culture-clash comedy lands between the disturbing lyricism of 'Schindler's List' and the storybook artificiality of 'The Color Purple'."Wloszczyna, Susan. "'Amistad' review", 'USA Today'. Accessed December 8, 2011. Roger Ebert awarded the film three out of four stars, writing:
In 2014, the movie was one of several discussed by Noah Berlatsky in 'The Atlantic' in an article concerning white savior narratives in film, calling it "sanctimonious drivel."
Morgan Freeman is very proud of the movie, having said, "I loved the film. I really did. I had a moment of err, during the killings. I thought that was a little over-wrought. But he (Spielberg) wanted to make a point and I understood that."
Box office
The film debuted at 3 on Wednesday, December 10, 1997. It earned $44,229,441 at the box office in the United States.Awards and honors
'Amistad' was nominated for Academy Awards in four categories: Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Best Original Dramatic Score (John Williams), Best Cinematography (Janusz Kamiski), and Best Costume Design (Ruth E. Carter).See also
* List of films featuring slavery
* Supreme Court of the United States in fiction
* Trial film
Footnotes
References
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