AMISTAD. Cert. 15
Here is Spielberg's latest offering, a self-conscious attempt to exorcise the ghosts of slavery past.
Ostensibly based on a true story, the film tells of a slave-ship running illegal cargoes of West Africans from British colonies through Cuba into the developed world. Apparently they were destined for a Spanish dependency, but the slaves revolt, slay most of the crew and take over the ship, only to be thwarted by the remaining crewmen, unscrupulous Spaniards (sic), who sail them to New England rather than back to the Old World. Here the story picks up; the slaves are tried by the American courts for a number of different crimes. Some claim them as stolen property (Isabella II of Spain being one), others see them as escaped slaves and therefore worthy of death, still others (the abolitionists) see this as an opportunity for good works, and try to get the Africans sent back home.
Inevitably a tale of political shenanigans ensues, with the US President getting involved to stop the Confederate states from revolting, and the case passes from state to federal courts and the Supreme Court, where Anthony Hopkins steals the show as an elderly ex-President, John Quincy Adams. I will not reveal the ending, but it is nothing if not inevitable.
