a film that makes the history of the amistad case in hollywood smaltz, its also just boring as fuck.
at one point we were discussing how mcaughney looks like napoleon dynamite in this and how much time we still had left with this film.
it put a few actors on the map so it does that but thats not one of its qualities. every performance here feels like old men, tired and on the brink of being thrown into a retirement home.(watch my feature film https://boxd.it/dNvKo1 )
Amistad
Freedom is not given. It is our right at birth. But there are some moments when it must be taken.
Rating
0.5 (1)
Release Date
12/10/1997Runtime
155 minsOverview
In 1839, the slave ship Amistad set sail from Cuba to America. During the long trip, Cinque leads the slaves in an unprecedented uprising. They are then held prisoner in Connecticut, and their release becomes the subject of heated debate. Freed slave Theodore Joadson wants Cinque and the others exonerated and recruits property lawyer Roger Baldwin to help his case. Eventually, John Quincy Adams also becomes an ally.
Status
ReleasedOriginal Language
EnglishBudget
$36,000,000Revenue
$44,229,441Homepage
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How It Feels
Read from this film's synopsis, keywords and credits, and used to work out what it sits beside.
An urgent courtroom drama about enslaved Africans fighting for their humanity and liberty, grounded in real historical injustice and the moral weight of a nation confronting its conscience. The film pulses with both the terror of the uprising and the grinding frustration of a legal system slow to recognize human rights.
Mood
TenseDefiantMournful
Themes
FreedomJusticeRaceSurvivalPower
Tone
Earnest
Pacing
Steady
Look
NaturalisticWidescreen epic
Structure
Linear
Heads up
Graphic violenceRacial violenceChild endangerment
Morgan Freeman
Theodore Joadson
Nigel Hawthorne
Martin Van Buren
Anthony Hopkins
John Quincy Adams
Djimon Hounsou
Cinque
Matthew McConaughey
Roger Sherman Baldwin
David Paymer
Secretary John Forsyth
Pete Postlethwaite
Holabird
Stellan Skarsgård
Tappan
Razaaq Adoti
Yamba
Abu Bakaar Fofanah
Fala
Anna Paquin
Queen Isabella
Tomas Milian
Calderon
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