[a band of abolitionists approach the outer gate of the prison where the Amistad refugees are being held for trial]
Fala: [in Mende] Who are they, do you think?
[the abolitionists kneel to pray]
Joseph Cinque: [in Mende] Looks like they are going to be sick.
Abolitionists: [singing] Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound…
Fala: [in Mende] They're entertainers!
Abolitionists: [singing] ... that saved a wretch like me...
Joseph Cinque: [in Mende] But why do they look so miserable?
Here's a word analogy: AMISTAD is to THE LOST WORLD as SCHINDLER'S LIST is to JURASSIC PARK. In 1993, after Steven Spielberg made the monster dino hit, many critics described SCHINDLER'S LIST as the director's "penance" (as if there was a need for him to apologize for making a crowd-pleasing blockbuster). Now, after a three-year layoff, Spielberg is back with a vengeance. Once again, his summer release was special effects-loaded action/adventure flick with dinosaurs munching on human appetizers. Now, following his 1993 pattern, he has fashioned another serious, inspirational Christmas release about the nature of humanity. That film is AMISTAD.
Although not as masterful as SCHINDLER'S LIST, AMISTAD is nevertheless a gripping motion picture. Thematically rich, impeccably crafted, and intellectually stimulating, the only area where this movie falls a little short is in its emotional impact. Watching SCHINDLER'S LIST was a powerful, almost spiritual, experience. Spielberg pulled us into the narrative, absorbed us in the drama, then finally let us go, exhausted and shattered, three-plus hours later. Aspects of the movie have stayed with me ever since. AMISTAD, while a fine example of film making, is not as transcendent.
The incident of the ship La Amistad is not found in any history books, but, considering who writes the texts, that's not a surprise. However, the event is a part of the American social and legal fabric, and, while AMISTAD does not adhere rigorously to the actual account, most of the basic facts are in order. Several, mostly minor changes have been made to enhance the film's dramatic force. On the whole, while AMISTAD may not be faithful to all of the details of the situation, it is true to the spirit and meaning of what transpired.
One stormy night during the summer of 1839, the 53 men imprisoned on the Spanish slave ship La Amistad escape. Led by the lion-hearted Cinque (Djimon Hounsou), they take control of the vessel, killing most of the crew. Adrift somewhere off the coast of Cuba and uncertain how to make their way back to Africa, they rely on the two surviving Spaniards to navigate the eastward journey. They are tricked, however, and the La Amistad, which makes its way northward off the United States' eastern coastline, is eventually captured by an American naval ship near Connecticut. The kidnapped Africans are shackled and thrown into prison, charged with murder and piracy.
The first men to come to the Africans' defense are abolitionists Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) and Lewis Tappan (Stellan Skarsgard). They are soon joined by Roger Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey), a property attorney of little repute. Aided by advice from former President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins), Baldwin proves a more persuasive orator than anyone gave him credit for, and his central argument -- that the prisoners were illegally kidnapped free men, not property -- convinces the judge. But powerful forces have aligned against Baldwin's cause. Current President Martin Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne), eager to please Southern voters and 11-year old Queen Isabella of Spain (Anna Paquin), begins pulling strings behind-the-scenes to ensure that none of the Africans goes free.
At its heart, AMISTAD is a tale of human courage. Cinque is a heroic figure whose spirit remains unbreakable regardless of the pain and indignity he is subjected to. He is a free man, not a slave, and, while he recognizes that he may die as a result of his struggle, he will not give it up. Effectively portrayed by newcomer Djimon Hounsou, whose passion and screen presence arrest our attention, Cinque is the key to viewers seeing the AMISTAD Africans as more than symbols in a battle of ideologies. They are individuals, and our ability to make that distinction is crucial to the movie's success. To amplify this point, Spielberg presents many scenes from the Africans' point-of-view, detailing their occasionally-humorous observations about some of the white man's seemingly-strange "rituals".
The larger struggle is, of course, one of defining humanity. As the Nazis felt justified in slaughtering Jews because they viewed their victims as "sub-human," so the pro-slavery forces of AMISTAD use a similar defense. The abolitionists regard the Africans as men, but the slavers and their supporters see them as animals or property. In a sense, the morality of slavery is on trial here with the specter of civil war, which would break out less than three decades later, looming over everything.
AMISTAD's presentation of the legal and political intricacies surrounding the trial are fascinating, making this movie one of the most engrossing courtroom dramas in recent history. Four claimants come forward against the Africans: the state, which wants them tried for murder; the Queen of Spain, who wants them handed over to her under the provision of an American/Spanish treaty; two American naval officers, who claim the right of high seas salvage; and the two surviving Spaniards from La Amistad, who demand that their property be returned to them. Baldwin must counter all of these claims, while facing a challenge to his own preconceived notions as the result of a relationship he develops with Cinque. Even though attorney and client are divided by a language barrier, they gradually learn to communicate.
Aside from Cinque, who is a fully-realized individual, characterization is spotty, but the acting is top-notch. Matthew McConaughey successfully overcomes his "pretty boy" image to become Baldwin, but the lawyer is never particularly well-defined outside of his role in the La Amistad case. Likewise, while Morgan Freeman and Stellan Skarsgard are effective as Joadson and Tappan, they are never anything more than "abolitionists." Nigel Hawthorne, who played the title character in THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE, presents Martin Van Buren as a spineless sycophant to whom justice means far less than winning an election. Finally, there's Anthony Hopkins, whose towering portrayal of John Quincy Adams is as compelling as anything the great actor has recently done. Hopkins, who can convincingly play such diverse figures as a serial killer, an emotionally-crippled English butler, and Richard Nixon, makes us believe that he is Adams. His ten-minute speech about freedom and human values is unforgettable.
One point of difference worth noting between AMISTAD and SCHINDLER'S LIST is this film's lack of a well-defined human villain. SCHINDLER'S LIST had Ralph Fiennes' superbly-realized Amon Goeth, who was not only a three-dimensional character, but a personification of all that the Nazis stood for. There is no such figure in AMISTAD. The villain is slavery, but an ideology, no matter how evil, is rarely the best adversary. It is to Spielberg's credit that he has fashioned such a compelling motion picture without a prominent antagonist.
AMISTAD's trek to the screen, which encountered some choppy waters (author Barbara Chase-Riboud has cried plagiarism, a charge denied by the film makers), comes in the midst of an upsurge of interest in the incident. An opera of the same name opened in Chicago on November 29, 1997. Numerous books about the subject are showing up on bookstore shelves. It remains to be seen how much longevity the AMISTAD phenomena has, but one thing is certain -- with Spielberg's rousing, substantive film leading the way, the spotlight has now illuminated this chapter of American history.
By : James Berardinelli
Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup
Rating: 4
AMISTAD is no SCHINDLER'S LIST. Think it unfair if you must, but Steven Spielberg is going to face comparisons like that for the rest of his film-making career. In the case of AMISTAD, those comparisons are going to be even harder to avoid, given the proximity in time (it's Spielberg's first "serious" film since the Oscar-winning SCHINDLER in 1993), the subject matter (the trials of an oppressed people) and the situational familiarity (if it's the December after a Spielberg dinosaur movie, it must be time for a Spielberg fact-based historical epic). Spielberg may never make another SCHINDLER'S LIST -- even the most successful home run hitter isn't likely to knock _two_ World Series-winning grand slams -- but he did raise his personal bar. Now that we know what he's capable of, we're not going to let him get away with choosing less than stellar material.
AMISTAD is hardly a half-hearted effort; in fact, there are a couple of scenes which rank with Spielberg's best work as a director. It is, however, a piece of material which ends up providing far less impact than it should. The film is based on the true story of an 1840s court case involving 44 black men and women, led by Cinque (Djimon Hounsou), accused of piracy for an uprising against their capters on the Spanish slaving ship "La Amistad." Found off the coast of Long Island by a U.S. Navy ship, the blacks become the subject of an intense and controversial series of legal challenges. Are they the property of the two surviving members of the "Amistad" crew? Are they the property of Queen Isabella (Anna Paquin)? Are they the property of the naval officers who claim salvage rights? Or are they the property of no one, free men illegally captured from their homes in Africa?
It is the latter point which is argued by attorney Roger Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey), assisted by abolitionists Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) and Lewis Tappan (Stellan Skarsgaard), with further assistance from former President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins). Faced with direct opposition from struggling incumbent President Martin Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne, looking even more befuddled than he did in THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE) as the case becomes a flashpoint for Southern grumbling over the slavery issue, Baldwin tries to overcome a profound language gap and get Cinque to tell his own story. AMISTAD is at its best when Cinque is telling his story, allowing the electrifying performance of Djimon Hounsou to take center stage. Though he utters only half a dozen English words through the entire film, Hounsou's impassioned work brings to life an intelligent man trying to understand a thoroughly perplexing new world. He is the heart and soul of AMISTAD.
If it had ever been made clear that AMISTAD is Cinque's story, the film could have been a masterpiece. Instead, David Franzoni's script allows too many characters to flirt with the impression that the story is all about them. Freeman, as a former slave turned anti-slavery advocate, somehow gets first billing despite disappearing for most of the film; McConaughey plays his noble lawyer from A TIME TO KILL with mutton chops, but without a sense of what the case means to him; Hopkins' borderline-senile Adams has little to do before delivering his oration before the Supreme Court. Franzoni also tosses off one of the story's most crucial pieces of historical trivia -- that while slavery was still legal in 1839, capturing Africans was not -- as though it were common knowledge. The "Amistad" case was a messy piece of history, but the script only serves to make it messier, obscuring the human drama in a muddle of over-plotting.
When AMISTAD does give the Africans' plight its undivided attention, it's a gripping piece of film-making. As he did with the horror of the concentration camps, Spielberg provides unflinching images of the horrors of slave ships without exploiting those horrors. He also creates a splendid sequence in which one African's Bible lesson to Cinque is cross-cut with one man's struggle of Christian conscience. If only there had been more of those moments, more singularity of purpose, more complexity of character. Spielberg brought in SCHINDLER scribe Steven Zaillian to do some doctoring on the AMISTAD script, but the doctor couldn't turn merely good into great. AMISTAD is a solidly made film. It's just no...well, you know.
