Amistad

 

Amistad 1997

• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Seen by this director: Ready Player One, BFG, War of the Worlds, Catch Me If You Can, AI, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, Hook, The Colour Purple, E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Degree, Jaws, Sugarland Express, The Duel
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman, Nigel Hawthorn, David Paymer, Pete Postlethwaite, Stellan Skarsgård, Anna Paquin, Chiwetel Ejiofor
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Djimon Hounsou – The Tempest, Blood Diamond, The Island, In America, Gladiator
• Matthew McConaughey – The Gentlemen, The Dark Tower, Interstellar, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Lincoln Lawyer, EDtv, Contact
• Anthony Hopkins – Bobby, Proof, The Human Stain, Titus, Meet Joe Black, Surviving Picasso, Remains of the Day, Howards End, The Silence of the Lambs, 84 Charing Cross Road, Othello, The Elephant Man, Lion in Winter
• Morgan Freeman – Lucy, Transcendence, Batman Trilogy, Invictus, The Magic of Belle Island, Wanted, Gone Baby Gone, Million Dollar Baby, Levity, Nurse Betty, Moll Flanders, Seven, The Shawshank Redemption, Robin Hood, Driving Miss Daisy
• Nigel Hawthorne – Twelfth Night, Richard III, The Madness of King George, The Tempest
• David Paymer – this and that
• Pete Postlethwaite – Inception, The Constant Gardener, The Shipping News, Brassed Off, Romeo & Juliet, In the Name of the Father, The Last of the Mohicans, Waterland, Alien 3, Hamlet
• Stellan Skarsgård - Mamma Mia 1&2, Melancholia, Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean, King Arthur, Dogville, The Glass House, Dancer in the Dark, Amistad, Good Will Hunting, Breaking the Waves, Hamlet, Den enfaldige mördaren
• Anna Paquin – X-Men, Bury My Heart at Broken Knee, The Squid and the Whale, Almost Famous, The Piano
• Chiwetel Ejiofor – Doctor Strange, The Martian, 12 Years a Slave, Dancing on the Edge, 2012, Children of Men, Kinky Boots, Love Actually, Dirty Pretty Things
• Why? The subject.
• Seen:  Once before. Now 27 October 2022      

       1839. A shipload of Africans manage to free themselves, led by Cinque (Hounsou), kill most of the crew and take over the ship. They intend to return to Africa but the two survivors lure them back to the US where they are imprisoned for mutiny and murder.

       Much of the films deals with the legal complexities of the international slave trade of the time. Spain and the US considered it legal. The UK did not. Hounsou and McConaughey shine as Cinque and the defending lawyer, but the acting is excellent throughout.

       It is admirable that Spielberg chose to bring this incident to light but it is far too long and that lowers the rating considerably. That and the fact that the only woman with speaking lines is the 11-year-old Queen of Spain (Paquin). Still, it should be seen.

 

3 ½ (almost 4) * of 5