[.ca] Amistad (Widescreen) (ISBN 0783235453)

Amazon.com essential video:
Steven Spielberg's most simplistic, sanitized history lesson, Amistad, explores the symbolic 1840s trials of 53 West Africans following their bloody rebellion aboard a slave ship. For most of Schindler's List (and, later, Saving Private Ryan) Spielberg restrains himself from the sweeping narrative and technical flourishes that make him one of our most entertaining and manipulative directors. Here, he doesn't even bother trying, succumbing to his driving need to entertain with beautiful images and contrived emotion. He cheapens his grandiose motives and simplifies slavery, treating it as cut-and-dry genre piece. Characters are easy Hollywood stereotypes--"villains" like the Spanish sailors or zealous abolitionists are drawn one-dimensionally and sneered upon. And Spielberg can't suppress his gifted eye, undercutting normally ugly sequences, such as the terrifying slave passage, which is shot as a gorgeous, well-lit composition. At its core, Amistad is a traditional courtroom drama, centered by a tired, clichéd narrative: a struggling, idealistic young lawyer (Matthew McConaughey) fighting the crooked political system and saving helpless victims. Worse yet, Spielberg actually takes the underlying premise of his childhood fantasy, E.T. and repackages it for slavery. Cinque (Djimon Hounsou), the leader of the West African rebellion, is presented much like the adorable alien: lost, lacking a common language, and trying to find his way home. McConaughey is a grown-up Elliot who tries communicating complicated ideas such as geography by drawing pictures in the sand or language by having Cinque mimic his facial expressions. Such stuff was effective for a sci-fi fantasy about the communication barriers between a boy and a lost alien; here, it seems like a naive view of real, complex history. --Dave McCoy

A Must See:
Amistad is a true story about an 1839 mutiny aboard a slave ship that is traveling towards North America. It is a story in the period when new slaves were illegal, but trading in slaves that were already slaves, was allowed. With a powerful all-star cast including Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins and Matthew McConaughey, it is a story that will grip your heart and move your spirit. Much of the story takes place in a courtroom drama about the free-man who led the revolt, and deals with questions of freedom, humanity and dignity. The movie, though slow moving, is intense, and the drama builds as many groups claim the slaves as their property. This story is truly gripping and a story of extreme importance in understanding our own history. This lesser-known Spielberg film is truly a must see.

MORE THAN A MOVIE ABOUT LA AMISTAD:
AMISTAD tells the story of 1839 events involving a shipload of slaves who, having freed themselves from their captors aboard the cruel slaver La Amistad, try to sail back home. Instead they are tricked into sailing north and are captured in New England. The trial that resulted began in insignificance but escalated until it drew in some of the most powerful individuals of the time, especially former President John Quincy Adams. The fact-based thriller transcends itself in Spielberg's epic. Yes, the story is one of heroism on the part of men trying to secure their freedom. But the real importance of AMISTAD is its gritty, nauseating portrayal of slavery and of those who fought it and of those who espoused it. It tells of how many of the ridiculous politicians of the time continued to bury their heads in the sand rather than take the hard steps that would require America and Americans to live up to the creeds and beliefs that had made them what they were. Djimon Honsou (GLADIATOR) is wonderful in his portrayal of Cinque, the reluctant leader of the band of Africans. Matthew McConaughey portrays Lawyer Roger Sherman Baldwin, Morgan Freeman is Mr. Joadson and Anthony Hopkins is absolutely striking in the role of John Quincy Adams. John Williams provides one of his most soaring and original soundtracks ever. THE HORSEMAN

Off the hook...:
This movie takes my race off the hook for slavery, sort of. Whew! Now maybe African-Americans will point their fingers at the Spanish people instead of mine. Maybe I'm seeing things, but Steven tells this story like American white people's crap smells better than everyone else who participated in slavery. Maybe I just have too many African-American friends, have heard too many stories from the mouths of their grandparents or I have read too many books. I thought Steven was all into realism, but I guess not when it comes to whipping blacks. Shooting Jews is okay to present realistically, but the treatment of Black prisoners who get all upset that they can't bury their dead... They start whooping and hollering, and dancing like Shaka Zulu, but anyone who's seen any footage of the civil rights movement in the 1960's knows that they would have been beaten for their impudence. It's the Spanish who dump them overboard, but I'm supposed to believe that they wouldn't have been flogged into hamburger if they got uppity in an American prison? I believe that kidnapped Africans took over a slave ship, because that happened. But it was a Spanish ship wasn't it? On an American ship, those Africans would have stayed put. "Give us free" indeed! As dramas go, fine, it's good. But even I, a white guy, can see the displacement of America's part in the slave trade, legally or illegally. All the heroes of this film are white. They had Morgan Freeman for goodness sakes! He can make speeches too you know! Ever see "Glory"? I am a Caucasian at grips with the history of my race in the USA. Black comedians build their careers on trash-talking white people, untalented black film makers would have no careers without us white villains, so no film about black people and their struggle here will ever make me feel guilty, and I like to think I'm not the only one. Times have changed. Humanity has matured since then, and white and black people get closer and closer with each generation as racism is slowly but surely filtered out of our respective cultures. Isn't it time for a movie that truthfully illustrates the reality and stone cold evil of the slave industry? Not just Whites or Europeans, but blacks too? This was a good Drama, and is good to get people thinking of the terrible mistakes of the past, but it doesn't truthfully present these Africans, what they had to do for their freedom and what really happened when the Americans got a hold of them. Believe me; the case was not ever about the moral question of slavery and they end the story too soon, just in time to avoid the fact that Tappan and his associates tried to found an African mission, using Cinque's party as a nucleus and how Cinque had established himself as an independent power and became a successful slave trader himself. This would have been a better miniseries, done by a director more compelled to tell the truth. It is a very good drama however.

History comes alive in the hands of Steven Spielberg:
I'm a fan of the movies put out by Steven Spielberg. He has taken true historical events and turned them into such captivating beautiful movies that none can compare. What Spielberg did for the Holocaust in "Schindler's List," and WWII in "Saving Private Ryan," he did with our terrible past of slavery in "Amistad." This film's strength is in its portrayal of the horrible treatment of the Sierra Leone Africans who are illegally captured for slaves in the 19th century. This movie, and the event itself, was not about freedom of slaves in America over an American issue, but instead about whether slaves on a Spanish vessel were illegally captured or if they were what lawyers in the film called "livestock" in the Spanish Empire when they killed all but a few of the boat-masters. The film portrays this and then the morality of slavery in an unobtrusive way, and that's what makes this movie great along with the score, which I believe should have gotten at least a nomination. The film is gilded by beautiful sets and costumes where even "Doctor Zhivago" pales in comparison. The photography was more than stunning. However, the film is slightly marred by the somewhat empty performances by some of Americans in the film who lack emotion and engaging dialogue, and the film doesn't unfold as smoothly as one would expect from a Spielberg creation. There are other things that are underrated, such as Djimound Honsu's unforgettable performance as the leader of the slaves as well as the drama and ghastliness of the shipboard treatment of the slaves. The person that slightly disappointment in here is Matthew McConaheys. While not bad but not as good as it could have been. Morgan Freeman played is role well here but not his best because at times he would look slightly wooden. Anthony Hopkins in the other hand is amazing. His speech at the end will send shivers down your spine. There is also a beautiful scene of Hounsou and McConaughey character's communicating perfectly in languages the other doesn't know. "Amistad" does give you emotional punch through a mild action sequence. It is purely drama, and the story's power lies in the words, expressions, and actions of the actors who make up for it. It's truly one of the better films out there, and once again, Spielberg has proven himself to be the master of putting the human spirit on the silver screen. Even though critics place it to be a `good' film I find it to be a great!

Badley scripted and direction:
This was Spielberg's first Dreamworks picture and it was really awful. Mostly in poor script and lack of direction. The subject material was not for a director with his style of film making, and the poor performance of this movie has pretty much been the case for every picture this joke of a studio has continued to do since.