Freedom is not given. It is our right at birth. But there are some moments when it must be taken.
Amistad is the name of a slave ship traveling from Cuba to the U.S. in 1839. It is carrying a cargo of Africans who have been sold into slavery in Cuba, taken on board, and chained in the cargo hold of the ship. As the ship is crossing from Cuba to the U.S., Cinque, who was a tribal leader in Africa, leads a mutiny and takes over the ship.
They continue to sail, hoping to find help when they land. Instead, when they reach the United States, they are imprisoned as runaway slaves. They don’t speak a word of English, and it seems like they are doomed to die for killing their captors when an abolitionist lawyer decides to take their case, arguing that they were free citizens of another country and not slaves at all. The case finally gets to the Supreme Court, where John Quincy Adams makes an impassioned and eloquent plea for their release.
Amistad is a 1997 American historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the true story of the 1839 mutiny aboard the slave ship La Amistad, during which Mende tribesmen abducted for the slave trade managed to gain control of their captors’ ship off the coast of Cuba, and the international legal battle that followed their capture by a U.S. revenue cutter. The case was ultimately resolved by the Supreme Court in 1841.
Morgan Freeman, Nigel Hawthorne, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, and Matthew McConaughey had starring roles. David Franzoni’s screenplay was 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 (1997)
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman, Nigel Hawthorne, David Paymer, Stellan Skarsgård, Anna Paquin, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Screenplay by: David Franzoni
Production Design by: Rick Carter
Cinematography by: Janusz Kaminski
Film Editing by: Michael Kahn
Costume Design by: Ruth E. Carter
Set Decoration by: Rosemary Brandenburg
Art Direction by: Christopher Burian-Mohr, Tony Fanning, William James Teegarden
Music by: John Williams
MPAA Rating: R for some scenes of strong brutal violence and some related nudity.
Distributed by: DreamWorks Pictures
Release Date: December 10, 1997
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