TheLittleSongbird 'Amistad' is not one of Steven Spielberg's best, in the way that 'Schindler's List', 'Jaws', 'ET' and 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' are. He has however done worse, with the likes of 'The Lost World' and '1941'. Instead it's around solid middle when it comes to his films.Starting with the positives, the best things are the production values, coupled with the handsome and evocative period detail and the rich, searing cinematography there are some really arresting images here, and the sensational debut of Dijimon Hounsou, a performance of blistering passion and grave sensitivity.Throughout, especially in the first three-quarters, 'Amistad' boasts moments that are harrowing (the brutal voyage of the slaves), powerful (the opening scene) and moving (most of the film). The script is well-intentioned and thoughtful, if sometimes a bit over-sentimental and heavy-handed (especially Adams' big speech, that could have been stirring but didn't seem to know how far to go to make its obvious point, so it felt preachy). Much of Spielberg's direction is impeccable, with enough of what makes his direction so great in his best films.Hounsou isn't the only great actor here. Anthony Hopkins gives his all in an authoritative and stirring account of Adams and Matthew McConaughey shows more engagement and charisma than he does in some of his later films. Morgan Freeman is underused but is as you expect.On the other hand, 'Amistad' is a long film (not a bad thing necessarily), but could have been about 20 minutes shorter with less characters and some of the final act being trimmed. Some of the latter part of the film drags, and the score disappointingly is over-emphatic and gives a heavy-handedness. Despite being brilliantly delivered by Hopkins and clearly written with thought and good intent Adams' big speech just went too far making its point.In conclusion, a brave attempt at bringing a significant, if not as well known, event to film that works very well in a lot of elements but just misses the mark of completely working as an overall film. 7/10 Bethany Cox

rmead-39806 The story of the Le Amistad, a slave ship that was behind controversy of slave trade in the United States. I personally enjoyed the story-line of the movie. The historical aspect made it more interesting. I would give the movie a 7 out of 10. Although i enjoyed the story, the quality was lacking. There were a few scenes that i could barely hear the dialogue of the characters. The music sometimes drowned the out or the sounds of the surrounding environment. I can see this as an effect to make it feel more realistic. I had to turn the subtitles on to understand the English speaking characters. The African Speaking characters were usually subtitled. But there were some scenes where the African men were speaking without any subtitles. I could not understand what they were saying in those scenes. Overall this was a pretty good movie that i would recommend to a friend who enjoys historical movies.

macaylaharieno After watching the film Amistad, I realized how horrific the treatment of slaves really was. The brutal murder and mistreatment of the Mende people really left me deeply saddened and disappointed in the way American people treated the blacks. This film really captured the definition of freedom, and what it meant to the slaves. The excitement and hope that you receive at the end of the movie due to the court case decision to let the Mende people be free truly gives you a sense of humanity that didn't seem to exist throughout most of the movie. Cinqué, the leader of the rebellion, takes a part in a scene that is a very beneficial to the rest of the movie. He slowly walks towards the man holding the gun who had just killed several black men taking part of the rebellion, he soon fights with him and overpowers the white man and stabs him. The whole rebellion though it is very gory, but yet very intriguing scene gives us a sense of hope for the people to return to their homeland and be reunited with their tribes. Throughout the rest of the movie, Cinqué plays a huge part in the freedom of the people as he chants "us free" and gains the help of several abolitionists including Robert Baldwin, his lawyer (Matthew McConaughey). He fights for the freedom of the Mende people, that seems nearly impossible to win for the people since they had rebelled on the Amistad against the captors and killed all of them... The case seems as if there is no hope for them and they are for sure destined to die. But Baldwin finds hidden documents that prove that the Mende people were free citizens of another country and actually never were slaves at any point. William Hollabird argues that Cinqué's case is all a lie and doesn't make any sense asking him why the captors would kill their cargo off so brutally especially. The slaves despite all of the struggles they've experienced are granted their freedom after much argument and heated debate amongst the American people and in the court room. This movie really captures the definition of freedom and how important it is to the slaves. Steven Spielberg did a fantastic job creating such a real experience for each of the viewers to see how horrific the slaves were treated and how important freedom is to each person.

ericando Despite historical inaccuracies and some sloppiness in the acting Amistad remains a great film.The depiction of this group of slaves, dehumanized by the processes involved with slavery, may not be totally historically correct, but it gave a good visualization of the horrors of slavery that most probably hadn't seen. At the time of this uprising, slavery divided our entire country, and was easily the most pressing issue to deal with. During one scene, President Van Buren faces the harsh reality that his re-election could be based on the decision he makes on this case. Incidents like what happened on La Amistad are what lead our country to civil war, because neither side wanted to budge on what they believed was right.When the film begins, you see a slave struggling, desperate to get a nail out of the floorboard so he can unshackle himself. He breaks free, and releases a group of other men and they take knives and murder several crew members on the boat and take two hostage. The scene cuts after you watch a struggle between a slave and a crew member, and the slave repeatedly plunges his sword into the mans stomach while shouting as loud as he can. At this point you see these slaves as savages and murderers, who can't speak any language but their primitive slave language. However it isn't until well into the trial when Cinque tells his story that we see what he went through to get to that point. He was captured with a net, beaten with a club, he had to watch public whippings, people being thrown into the sea to drown, he was crowded into a tight room with at least a hundred other slaves, most completely naked, and forced to fight for food, with people defecating everywhere. None of this was uncommon during the days of slavery. Kids had to watch as their parents were beaten, killed, raped, etc. This gives the average Joe Shmoe a visual on how horrible slavery truly was, as apposed to reading it in a textbook. Spielberg depicts this scene at the bottom of the ship, crowded with men, women, and children struggling for dear life, being treated like animals, amazingly. For me that was one of the most moving scenes in the movie, and reminded me what slavery really was.Another great scene was early in the trial, the prosecuting lawyer stands up before the court, and says how inhumane the slaves were to slaughter the crew. This is completely and totally ironic because of the dehumanization of slaves and the cruel and unusual treatment they have to suffer. This shows the attitude people had towards slavery at the time. Overall I thought that Spielberg did an amazing job with this story, and it would have been a 9 or 10 out of 10 had it not been for some historical inaccuracies and inconsistencies