La Amistad
La AmistadIt is a case that challenges the very foundation of our legal system, but for the African captives on trial, this is not a clash of politics or ideologies. This is a fight for the basic right of all mankind...freedom. It is the story of the Amistad, a slave ship that didn�t quite make it. When it arrived in this country, it brought out both the best and worst in people, and the American justice system. It has been talked about to this day, and the 1998 DreamWorks film Amistad re-invoked the idea of it in the minds of many people. But the real question is, was this portrayal of this very controversial incident accurate. It is very accurate. The entire story of the movie is true up until the United States scenes. In these, there is much confusion about what happened.
The movie starts in the summer of 1839, on a stormy night off the coast of Cuba, 53 Africans held captive in the cramped cargo holds of the Spanish slave ship La Amistad break free of their shackles. Led by Cinque (played by Djimon Hounsou), they arm themselves, take control of the ship and reclaim their freedom. They have one goal: to return to Africa.
Without the navigational skills to guide them home, the Africans are forced to rely on the two surviving members of the crew. But they are tricked. After two months on a ragged course up the eastern seaboard, an American naval ship off the coast of Connecticut captures the Amistad and the Africans were charged with murder and piracy.
In the beginning, the Africans are championed by abolitionists Theodore Joadson (played by Morgan Freeman) and Lewis Tappan (played by Stellan Skarsgard), and a young real estate attorney named Roger Baldwin (played by Matthew McConaughey). However, as the case becomes the symbol of a nation divided, two great Americans lock horns in the debate. Pro-slavery President Martin Van Buren (played by Nigel Hawthorne), seeking re-election, is willing to sacrifice the Africans to appease the South, as well as Queen Isabella of Spain (played by Anna Paquin). But his will is challenged by former President John Quincy Adams (played by Anthony Hopkins), who comes out of retirement to fight the Africans' cause in the United State Supreme Court. In the end the Supreme Court orders that the Africans be released post-haste and returned to their home. They are to find their lives in their own villages have vanished.
Morgan Freeman is an excellent actor, but unfortunately, his portrayal of Theodore Joadson was wasted. This is because Theodore Joadson never actually existed. Actually, Freeman was playing a mix of everybody in the �Amistad Committee� which was started by New York abolitionists Lewis Tappan, Joshua Leavitt, and Simeon Jocelyn. These are the people that funded the Africans� defense.
The first round of the trial began in the US Circuit court in Hartford Connecticut with Judge Thompson...
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