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Summary and Discussion Guide
Amistad
Directed by Stephen Spielberg
DreamWorks SKG, 1997
Co-produced by Debbie Allen
Screenplay by David Franzoni (Related book by William Owens. Related screenplay by Barbara Chase-Riboud.)
Rating: R
Length: 155 minutes
Occasional subtitles
Description:
This is a historically based, but dramatic, story of the 1839 mutiny on the Spanish slave ship La Amistad and the legal battle to win freedom for Joseph Cinque or Sengbe (Djimon Hounson) and his compatriots. It is a complicated story of 53 Africans captured in Mendeland (now Sierra Leone), who were sold and re-sold into slavery—first in their homeland, then in Cuba.
In a gripping opening scene, Cinque—literally in blood, sweat, and tears--chisels at a nail under a ship's floorboard freeing himself and the others. A full-scale rebellion results. In the end, all but two of the Spaniards are slain. Two of their captors are spared in hopes that they will assist in sailing the high seas back to Africa; instead, they sail north, toward the United States. When U.S. Naval forces capture the ship two months later off the coast of New Haven, Connecticut, Cinque and his companions are taken off to jail for the mutiny. Cinque is charged with murder.
This sets off an intense legal battle—amidst the election campaign of President Martin Van Buren—over the slave trade and the state of the Union. Cinque's freedom is in the hands of defense lawyers Roger Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey) and ex-President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins). They are aided by two abolitionists, Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) and Lewis Tappan (Stellan Skarsgard) who assist in searching for evidence, finding a translator, and persuading supporters. After more than two years in the United States, Cinque is freed in a Supreme Court decision with Adams's legal skills proving less important than his ability to plead the case on moral grounds. When Cinque returns to West Africa, his family has disappeared; he presumes they have also been taken into slavery.
To the Facilitator:
- Amistad was a box office success; however, even before the film was released, Barbara Chase-Riboud filed a lawsuit against director Stephen Spielberg and his company, SKG. She charged that the film was based on a script she had sent to Spielberg earlier, which was rejected. After the film's release, the controversy continued—this time, by scholars who challenged the historicity of the film and charged that there were legal inaccuracies as well. See, for example, articles by Sally Hadden of Florida State University (www.tntech.edu/WWW/ACAD/HIST/amistadr.html) and New York Post film critic Michael Medved. DreamWorks SKG sent "educational materials" to hundreds of schools and colleges. Although Amistad is based on historical fact, it is a drama and there should be no attempt to teach history through the film. Nevertheless, it is valuable in raising participant's level of consciousness and understanding of the complexities of the slave trade, especially as an economic institution.
- If participants have an interest in understanding the historical facts of the Amistad case, there are several institutions and websites that may be helpful. Good places to begin are the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University (www.tulane.edu/%7Emistad); and "An Introduction to the Amistad Revolt" prepared by the Connecticut Historical Society at the Mystic Seaport Museum (www.amistad.mysticseaport.org). The film presents themes from historical, cultural, legal, diplomatic, linguistic, and maritime perspectives and would fit well into any of these fields of study.
- The film chronicles three trials, each a different court hearing attempting to gain Cinque's freedom. You may find writer Armond White's analysis (Film Comment, March-April 1998) helpful. He states that the first court "sets out the problem;" the second court "transforms the circumstances into story;" and that the third court "penetrates the narrative for a consideration of its morality."
Discussion Questions:
- In spite of the "facts" of history versus Amistad the film, to what extent did your thinking change about the legacy of slavery?
- Who is the hero in Amistad? Why?
- Based on your understanding of the slave trade, how important was the outcome of the final trial?
- It has been argued that, like twelve-year-old Isabella II, modern-day descendents of the slave trade (or slave holders) did not initiative the slave trade and therefore hold no responsibility for it. Others have argued that slave trading and slave holding are irrelevant; that those who benefited from slave labor are morally obliged to make restitution. What do you think?
- In our modern entertainment culture, should a writer, producer, or director have "literary license" to misrepresent the facts of history in film, drama, or literature? Who "owns" the history of Amistad? Does it matter who tells this story? Why?
- How do you understand America's response to the Holocaust of African slaves? To the Holocaust of Jews in Europe? Is there is a difference? If so, what is it and how do you account for this difference?
Summary and Discussion Guide: Sankofa |
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