AMISTAD
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: Steven Spielberg's account of the
slave mutiny of 1839 and its legal aftermath is
certainly a good historical film, filled with facts
and historical details. Occasionally it is
actually powerful. But it lacks some of the
emotional impact of THE COLOR PURPLE and
SCHINDLER'S LIST and its pacing is off. Still, it
is a useful and engaging source of historical
perspective. Rating: 8 (0 to 10), high +2 (-4 to
+4). A minor potential spoiler follows the main
review.
In one of those delightful ironies of history the ship was called La Amistad--Spanish for "friendship" or "friendliness." In fact, the ship was anything but friendly. Its primary cargo was black people being brought in chains from Cuba to the United States, a country just sixty-three years old and whose current President, Martin Van Buren would be the last President to have been born owing allegiance to the Crown of England. In this summer of 1839 off the coast of Cuba some fifty-three slaves chained up in the hold of the ship would break from their bonds take control of the ship. Taking command was Sengbe Pieh whom the Spanish had renamed Cinque (played with surprising power by Djimon Hounsou). His plan was to force the crew of the ship to sail back to Africa, but they tricked him and instead sailed north up the coast of the United Stated. An American Navy man-of-war captured La Amistad off of Long Island, New York. The ship could have been hauled to a New York harbor or to Connecticut. It was taken to New Haven, Connecticut to increase the salvage value. New York law said that nobody could own anyone else and the blacks on board would be considered passengers. Connecticut still allowed slavery and the blacks were legally cargo that could be sold.
Steven Spielberg's new film tells the story of the legal battle that followed the ship Amistad arrival and the question of whether the blacks on board would be slaves or free men. It was an issue that made opponents of current President Van Buren (played in the film version by Nigel Hawthorne--with no small borrowing from his role in THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE) and former President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins), now a doddering old man and member of the House of Representatives. Van Buren, already unpopular due to a recession resulting from Andrew Jacksons policies, is anxious to placate Southern voters who could make the difference in the elections the following year. Van Buren also wants to placate Spain's eleven-year- old Queen Isabella II (Anna Paquin) who believes that the slaves are Spanish property. Both sides in the controversy are aware that this could be a powder keg that would lead the country into a civil war over the issue of slavery. Coming to the aid of the blacks are two abolitionists, former slave Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) and a Mr. Tappen (Stellan Skarsgard). They bring aboard a real estate lawyer named Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey). But Baldwin has his work cut out for him. He has no language in common with his clients and does not even know if they come from Africa or Cuba, an issue pivotal to the case. The screenplay for this film is based on the book BLACK MUTINY by William Owens and is adapted by David H. Franzoni. The latter's only previous screen writing was the story for the Whoopi Goldberg vehicle JUMPIN' JACK FLASH. It is rumored that for him to make a script of this quality he needed the help of perhaps the best current screenwriter, Steven Zaillian of SCHINDLER'S LIST and LOOKING FOR BOBBY FISCHER.
One weakness of this film is that apart from a few very powerful scenes, AMISTAD is very much a cold account of a court case. Because the blacks who are on trial are strong and for the most part silent we get only rare glimpses at emotions we can share with them. The viewer is angered that they are being denied justice but gets very little understanding for the characters. Their plight is more compelling than they themselves are. Cinque is never a fully three-dimensional person, though we do see a bit of his self-doubt. The only character who is anywhere near fully developed is Matthew McConaughey's. We seem to be seeing a lot of McConaughey these days, but he is not the most emotive actor. Anthony Hopkins plays John Quincy Adams as what old age has left of a once fascinating man, but who now colorful without being really interesting. He bores people with his flowers and plays small practical jokes in the House of Representatives. When he gives an eloquent speech it rates about a 7 where 10 is Lincoln at Gettysburg and 0 is Steven Seagal anywhere.
Spielberg had a difficult fight wanting to make SCHINDLER'S LIST (mostly) in black and white. Here he creates much of the same effect by subduing the color scheme in the set design and probably also by photographic filters. He then makes the only bright colors of the film the blood during the mutiny. In this way he can underscore the violence of his film in a year of so many bloody films. Be warned that in that same violent year perhaps the most jarring scene I remember is AMISTAD's depiction of a man being killed by a sword. The mutiny, lit only by lightning, is the first thing we see in AMISTAD but nonetheless is the centerpiece of the entire film. Spielberg does have a nice visual sense that comes out in this scene and elsewhere showing the blacks in impressive silhouette to make them look larger. Spielberg creates some additional tension by letting the viewer from the start of the film go a long, long time, perhaps fifteen minutes, without any English in the dialog or on the screen. That itself becomes a little wearing.
Others of the film's touches I question: the mutineers aboard the Amistad having fashioned for themselves turbans made from what appear to be American flags. It is not clear where they would find what would be three or four American flags on a Spanish ship. Also the Capitol building at this point had a ring of pillars at the top and ended there. The actual dome was not added until early in Lincoln's second term. We see it, however, fully domed. Just as the Capitol Building was incomplete, so was the Supreme Court. There were eight judges, not nine. The latter was pointed out by Gore Vidal in an article for THE NEW YORKER. Van Buren appears a dithering incompetent. This is perhaps unfair. He was merely a second-rate President having to clean up a mess left by our first second-rate President, Andrew Jackson.
The Jewish Steven Spielberg has now made two stirring films on Black History and one on Jewish History. If he can manage to reconcile tensions between those two communities he will be deserving of more than Oscars. I rate AMISTAD an 8 on the 0 to 10 scale and a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Generally when I review a history film I like to look up the incidents in multiple history books and add information to my review to broaden the context and correct misimpressions left by the film. In this instance my collection of history books have been nearly unanimous in omitting the Amistad Incident. Even Howard Zinn's A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES which concentrates on injustice and minorities appears to omit the incident. Of course, any historian writing a history is forced to choose the incidents he feels willing to cover, but it is surprising to see this particular incident so ignored and rescued from obscurity by Black History courses and by Steven Spielberg.
Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler
Another touch that is wearing: in general the film is deliberately paced and comes to a conclusion, then the viewer discovers the film runs its own stop sign and just keeps going. It was a pleasant surprise when Spielberg did that in POLTERGEIST, but here it goes just a bit too long with too little reward. It needed a more power behind the speech by Adams.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1997 Mark R. Leeper
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