Amistad
Short description
In 1839, a group of Africans taken from their homeland is transported across the Atlantic on the Spanish slave ship La Amistad. During the voyage they break free, overpower the crew and try to force the ship back to Africa. Instead the vessel is intercepted off the American coast, and the survivors are imprisoned in the United States and charged with murder. Their fate becomes a legal case that draws national attention as courts and politicians argue over whether the captives are property, pirates or free people. A freed man, Theodore Joadson, enlists a property lawyer, Roger Sherman Baldwin, to defend them, and former president John Quincy Adams eventually joins the cause.
Steven Spielberg directed the film from a screenplay by David Franzoni. It is the twenty-first of forty films he directed in chronological order, following Jurassic Park and preceding The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which were both released in 1993 and 1997 respectively. Morgan Freeman plays Joadson, with Djimon Hounsou as Cinque, Matthew McConaughey as Baldwin, Nigel Hawthorne as President Martin Van Buren and Anthony Hopkins as Adams. The credited cast runs to 134 names and the crew to 77.
Made for a budget of 36 million dollars, the film took about 44 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.3 out of 10 from roughly 87,000 votes, and on TMDB 7 out of 10 from around 1,457 votes. Critics rated it 7 out of 10 across 68 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- The rights to adapt Owen's book were acquired back in 1984, but future producer Debbie Allen suggested Spielberg direct after filming 'Schindler's List'.
- This was the first film directed by Spielberg at the DreamWorks SKG studio, where he was a co-owner and co-founder.
- Before the film's release, writer Barbara Chase-Riboud sued Spielberg, accusing him of basing his film on her novel 'Echo of Lions,' published in Italy. Spielberg's studio won the lawsuit.
- Initially, Denzel Washington was considered for the role of Cinqué, but the actor ultimately declined.
- Among those considered for the roles were renowned actors from world cinema: the Scottish Sean Connery did not get the role of President Adams (it was taken by the Englishman Hopkins), and Cuba Gooding Jr. was considered for the role of Cinqué.
- Perhaps the actors vying for the role of Cinqué were confused by Spielberg's requirement to voice the role only in the Mende language. Throughout the entire role, this character speaks only six English words.
- Joseph Cinqué's real name was Sengbe Pieh.
- The schooner 'Amistad' was played by the Baltimore clipper 'Pride of Baltimore'.
- Anthony Hopkins astonished the entire film crew by flawlessly performing the delivery of a speech in the courtroom (which spanned seven pages in the script) on his very first take. The film's director and producer, Steven Spielberg, was so impressed by this that he stopped addressing the actor by the name “Tony” and began calling him exclusively “Sir Anthony”.
- In the town of Mystic, on the banks of the river of the same name, stands the America & Sea Museum. A replica of the ship 'Amistad' was built there, and some scenes were filmed there as well, particularly the scene in which the lawyer for the defendants finds an interpreter.
- The opening scene, in which armed slaves fight back against the ship's crew, was cut for Jamaican cinemas. This was because the majority of Jamaicans are descendants of slaves from West Africa, and such a violent scene could 'offend the memory of their ancestors'.
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