Amistad **** (1997, Djimon Hounsou, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman, Nigel Hawthorne, Matthew McConaughey, David Paymer, Pete Postlethwaite, Stellan Skarsgård) – Classic Movie Review 1198

Anthony Hopkins gives as grandstanding turn as former US President John Quincy Adams in this true-life tale of the cargo of newly captured Mende African slaves aboard the Spanish ship La Amistad, which ran into a storm in 1839, allowing the slaves to revolt and go free.

They take control of the ship off the coast of Cuba, but are captured by a US revenue cutter and arrive in the US, where their legal status ends up being a matter for the courts. The international legal battle that follows becomes a United States Supreme Court case of 1841.

In Washington, DC, leading abolitionists Theodore Joadson (played by Morgan Freeman), a freed slave, and activist Lewis Tappan (Stellan Skarsgård) seek the help of John Quincy Adams, sitting member of the US House of Representatives from Massachusetts, with the court case in order to gain the slaves’ freedom. Adams says he neither condemns nor condones slavery.

Spanish Queen Isabella II (Anna Paquin) demands compensation for the ship and the market value of the slaves from the current US President Martin Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne).

Steven Spielberg’s 1997 movie is lovingly crafted and always well-meaning and intelligent, but it is undeniably flabby in the middle, slightly drifting in its hugely long running time of 154 minutes. However, it starts and ends  splendidly with the opening shipwreck and mutiny, and the climax of Adams’s mammoth closing speech before the Supreme Court .

Unfortunately, many academics have criticised Amistad for historical inaccuracy and the misleading characterisation of the Amistad case as a turning point in the American perspective on slavery. The film version of Adams’s closing speech and the court’s decision bear no resemblance to the much longer historical versions and they are not even fair summaries.

Disappointingly, some of the performances are stiff and hammy (especially Matthew McConaughey’s) and some of the scenes surprisingly clumsy and cliched. And the film doesn’t achieve the majesty of Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. Nevertheless, overall, it is informative, thought-provoking and above all worthwhile historical drama.

Djimon Hounsou, Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Paymer, Tomas Milian, Austin Pendleton, Paul Guilfoyle, Peter Firth, Xander Berkeley, Jeremy Northam (as Judge Coglin), Arliss Howard, Pedro Armendáriz Jr and Pete Postlethwaite are also in the notable cast.

David Franzoni’s screenplay is based on the book Mutiny on the Amistad: The Saga of a Slave Revolt and Its Impact on American Abolition, Law and Diplomacy (1987) by the historian Howard Jones.

Amistad was nominated for Academy Awards in four categories: Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Best Original Dramatic Score (John Williams), Best Cinematography (Janusz Kamiński), and Best Costume Design (Ruth E. Carter). These were all fine pieces of work, but they all went unrecognised with wins.

The box office wasn’t particularly strong. On a budget of $36 million, it earned back earned $44 million at the US box office.

Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave (2013).

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Film Review 1198

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more film reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

Djimon Hounsou in Amistad.