a bad movie full of historical errors

Rating: Null/10 (26 March 1999)

The movie 'Amistad' is really disappointing. It is completely full of historical errors and things that make the whole plot unbelievable. Let me just take some examples: the ship Amistad shows a strange flag which is not the Spanish one but some 'variation' on it (four alternative gold-red horizontal bands) while the present Spanish flag (three red-gold-red horizontal bands, with the central golden band twice the width of the red ones) had been in use aboard ships since the end of the XVIII century. Later, we see that child queen of Spain (Isabel II) giving orders to some military prime minister (let's assume that it was General Espartero, which is not accurate either) when she was in her minor age until several years after the Amistad incident. In those times the regency was held by the Queen mother, Maria Cristina, and later by Espartero himself. Well, I could go on, for example with the whole treatment of the process before the US Supreme Court and the role of Quincey Adams. Too much american-style sentimentalism and too little historical accuracy. Mr. Spielberg does not know how to do a historical movie without inducing tears in the public. It would be very good if he could devote his time to produce adventure movies like the series of Indiana Jones, in which he and his script writers do not expose their sloppiness and/or ignorance.