AMISTAD

(December 1997, U.S.)

I don't know if you've noticed or not, but I'm not even out of the 'A' category of my film collection and I'm already on my third Steven Spielberg film. You just gotta love the guy, right?

One of the first things you have to understand about watching a film like AMISTAD (or JFK, MUNICH, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS or any other so-called "historical" film) is that it's bound to be laced with issues that many would consider historically inacurate. The point, though, is to simply sit back and try to enjoy the film as entertainment from a very reputable artist. That being the case, AMISTAD is a truly underated Spielberg film and very likely to be the best documentation of the history of African slavery in America since the 1977 ABC-TV mini-series, ROOTS. Here, though, our protaganist, known by his Spanish slave name, "Cinque" (unforgettably played by Djimon Hounsou) is a true hero who breaks free of his slave chains on board the slave ship, La Amistad, and slaughters his captors. Once on American soil, he and his brothers never give up their struggle to obtain their freedom and return to their native soil of Africa.

Anthony Hopkins give as brilliant a performace as he ever has as former President John Quincy Adams. His long and passionate courtroom speech in defense of the Africans is truly moving; one to rival even the likes of such dramas as INHERIT THE WIND, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD or JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG. One watches, one listens and it's hard to believe that this entire story is actually taking place AFTER a document like the United States Constitution was ever written; a document whose ideals and principles may as well be considered worthless during these times of 19th Century slavery.

Favorite line or dialogue:

John Quincy Adams: "Well, gentlemen, I must say I differ with the keen minds of the South and with our President, who apparently shares their views, offering that the natural state of mankind is instead, and I know this is a controversial idea - is freedom...is freedom. And the proof is the length to which a man, woman or child will go to regain it once it is taken. He will break loose his chains. He will decimate his enemies. He will try and try and try, against all odds, against all prejudices, to get home."