Directed by Steven Spielberg
Running Time: 2:30
The first time I heard about Amistad was
about a year ago this time. Slave ship drama directed by Steven Spielberg
I heard. So I immediately thought, Oscar nominations. Big film. Huge omoney,
very important, very moving film. Well, so far it hasn't lived up to expectations.
It's not making the money I thought it would, and the hype hasn't been
as big as I expected. More importantly, the movie wasn't as good as I had
hoped. The first problem is that it wasn't very moving. This movie is bound
to be compared to Schindler's List and that
might not be a fair thing to do, but the best thing about Schindler's
List was that there was a lot of emotion. You felt for each and
every person in that film. Here, I felt for some of the people, some of
the time. The main character, a slave named Cinque (played remarkably by
Djimon Hounsou) was very powerful. He only spoke about 6 words of English,
but the mark of a good actor is the ability to convey your feelings without
having to use words, and although you can't understand what he's saying,
you know what he's feeling. In my opinion, Hounsou has given the best acting
performance of the year. The rest of the cast, Anthony Hopkins as John
Quincy Adams and Matthew McConaughey as attorney Roger Baldwin, was strong,
as expected from a Spielberg helmed film. The scenes on the slave ship
were amazing, and horrifying. Those scenes alone make the movie a must
see. It's sad to realize that this really happened. It's not just Hollywood
making a movie, it's Hollywood making a movie based on a true story, and
what happened to these people is tragic. But don't go into the film thinking
it's about the trial of slaves accused of killing the ship owners. The
trial is really about whether or not they can be considered slaves. And
don't think the ultimate Supreme Court decision actually carries a lot
of weight. I know a lot of people seeing the movie think that this one
case changed the way people thought of slaves, and this one case was a
major factor in the Civil War. But if you listen closely to the decision,
the case only affects the people on board the Amistad. They didn't make
any new law in the case, just used old law to help the slaves. Overall
it was a good movie, and something that needed to be made. I've gone through
elementary school, 2 years of junior high school, 4 years of high school,
4 years of college, and 1 1/2 years of law school, and until this movie
came out, I never heard this story. If we can't learn about important subjects
like this in school, then we have to learn about it somewhere else, and
I for one am proud that Spielberg (along with producer Debbie Allen) decided
to make this movie. While it may not live up to the standards set by Spielberg
and the viewing public, it is still definitely one to see.
