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Amistad

1997, Movie, R, 152 mins

Amistad: Review

AMISTAD
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Is it possible to say anything less than adulatory about this generation's Roots without looking like the kind of creep who failed to weep for Mother Teresa? This epic reconstruction of the circumstances surrounding a bloody 1839 uprising aboard the ironically named Spanish slave ship La Amistad (it means friendship) is consistently earnest and well-intentioned but only occasionally moving, despite the efforts of a generally top-notch cast (Matthew McConaughey, of the unidentifiable accent and "dude from Texas" mannerisms, is, however, a liability). Much of the problem lies in the nature of the raw material. The Amistad rebels want only to return to Africa, but are betrayed by their Spanish navigators and wind up in the U.S. There they're put on trial for murder and thrust into the middle of a thorny political and philosophical debate with far-reaching implications for the already-fragile union between slave-owning and non-slave-owning states. As told, the story of the Amistad is essentially a story of jurisprudence, a textbook illustration of the way the American legal system can, even under inauspicious circumstances, sometimes do exactly what it's meant to do. But while legal arguments can make gripping reading, they often make for stodgy cinema. Around the middle of the film, Cinque (Djimon Hounsou) -- who led the uprising -- tells the brutal story of his abduction and sale into slavery, speaking passionately of the inhuman conditions onboard the ship that brought him to the New World. Those 15 some-odd minutes, which we see in flashback, are pure, gripping cinema, as moving as anything ever committed to film. Unfortunately, they highlight the stuffy, civics-lesson quality of the surrounding material. In a key sequence, former President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) contends that the way to win freedom for the Amistad prisoners is to bring their story to life, to tell it in all its human richness and complexity. It's hard to understand why director Steven Spielberg ignored this worthy advice. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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