Amistad Moview Review

Taking an African-American Studies class, one of the assignments is to write a review of Amistad. It follows -


There are some movies that should not be watched for entertainment. Such movies are Schindler’s List, Philadelphia, Hotel Rwanda, Welcome to Sarajevo, and The Killing Fields. Amistad belongs on such a list.

Set in 1839, Amistad shows the plight of a group of Africans as they are captured, sold into slavery for a pittance of rifles, and then eventually resold (and renamed) after reaching Cuba. The body of the story takes place in the court room where the ‘property’ fights for its freedom through the legally skilled, but orally unsound, hands of Matthew McConaughey who portrays a young property lawyer.

Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins and Djimon Hounsou are perhaps a bit underdeveloped in character and dimension, but the lack doesn’t hurt the picture. Amistad seemed to manipulate the slaveries’ past only enough to make the movie worth watching (without a very violent NC-17 rating), and a vibrant (if brief) portrayal of the chaotic life in America and across the globe was effected without fail.

An illustration of Spielberg’s imagery comes from one of the most cruel and barbaric scenes in the movie. The crew of the smuggler ship, “Tecora”, had not brought on enough provisions for the overcrowded (and already underfed) captives. With a startling view of a perfect day at sea, you watch as the crew brings slaves up on the deck, tie a bundle of rocks to their connected chains – and throw it overboard. The camera quickly sinks beneath the water and you watch as the prisoners are drug beneath, violently kicking and attempting to reach the surface as it slips farther and farther away.

As the progressing court battles mount, the claimants step forward for ownership (and even salvage) rights, Spielberg seems to depict the ebb and flow of our court process with cinematic perfection. Understandably the “captured slaves” don’t grasp the American process and grow weary, distrustful, and even violent over their roller coaster ride of freedom and imprisonment. Spielberg litters the movie with national politics, to give the movie a larger scope, and this purpose is tied up in the ending monologue by Anthony Hopkins.

"When I was an attorney, uh, a long time ago young man, I realized after much trial and error that in a court room whoever tells the best story wins. In un-lawyer like fashion I give you that scrap of wisdom free of charge." Anthony Hopkins (John Quincy Adams) in Amistad. The quote, free from the movie, also applies to the cinema. Spielberg tells a compelling and engrossing story.

Sure, ignore everything

“Why hasn't our president been expected to account for the massive intelligence blunders that occurred before 9/11?” Philip Morrow, FreeLanceStar letter to the editor.

Perhaps people are unaware of the numerous and expensive inquiries into the intelligence failure of 9/11. Perhaps they’ve forgotten the publicity, the furor, and the sorrow that came with the live hearings of the 9/11 Commission and its released findings.

But if so, the memory seems selective. It is intellectually dishonest to clamor for ‘answers’ from elected politicians, while not demanding credibility from our Media. NEWSWEEK and CBS are only the most recent media disasters – what of the countless others? Did NEWSWEEK fire anyone? No. Did they apologize? No. They didn’t even reprimand the reporter that made the mistake. CBS cleared Dan Rather of any wrong doing and slapped the producers on the wrist.

In contrast, the entire intelligence department was reorganized, the CIA director and the FBI director ‘resigned’ among heavy pressure, and sweeping reforms were put in place.

Perhaps placing the burden of decades of bureaucracy, countless intelligence failures that occurred before his election, and a continued failure to recognize that we are in fact at war with terrorists, on President Bush is mission of partisan sophistry, when we can’t even hold reporters responsible for their own stories.