this movie deserves more recognition

Rating: 10/10 (4 July 2005)

Until "Amistad" came out, I had never heard of the slave uprising on the ship in 1839; it has been a suppressed chapter of our history. If this movie is our only information source about it, so be it. Most of the movie happens in the court room during the trial, but some of the most gut-wrenching scenes happen on board the ship, namely when they throw some people off.
I would expect a really good movie from Spielberg, and he doesn't disappoint here. During the trial, attorney Roger Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey) makes clear that slavery is simply incompatible with democracy. Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins do a great job as lawyer Joadson and ex-Pres. John Quincy Adams, respectively. Probably the best actor in the whole movie was the then unknown Djimon Hounsou as uprising leader Cinque.
I have often heard the expression "white man's burden". All that I can say is, one of the burdens that we white people carry is the slave trade. For almost four hundred years, the Europeans were stealing people from Africa and taking them to the Americas. Granted, it wouldn't have happened had black Africans not abetted it, but it was the Europeans' idea. We may never be able to get over it, but knowing about it is the first step towards trying to.