An interesting story weakened by over-earnestness

Rating: Null/10 (9 April 2008)

Amistad is strangely old-fashioned in its simplification of the true story of a group of natives from Sierra Leone who murder their captors aboard the eponymous vessel as they are illegally transported to the States to become slaves. It's more like a Hollywood film from the forties or fifties than the nineties and so, rightly or wrongly, I felt a sense of mistrust about the accuracy of Spielberg's retelling of the events as I watched. This mistrust was deepened by Spielberg's use of an overbearing soundtrack which he seems to use to manipulate his audience rather than to enhance the viewing experience.
The scenes aboard the ship are the best, but they account for only a small portion of the running time, and so the excitement and horror of the situation at sea is soon quelled by lengthy sequences of talking heads as they argue about the fate of the Africans. Spielberg captures the flavour of the times well, though, and the members of the large cast are all better than average  especially Djimon Hounsou as the leader of the captives who manages to convey a range of emotions, largely without the luxury of dialogue. Anthony Hopkins also stands out as John Quincy Adams, the crusty former president who eventually comes to the aid of the young lawyer (Matthew McConnaughy) representing the would-be slaves. It's just a shame that Adams' courtroom speech, which apparently persuades a judge selected by the prosecution to find in favour of the defence, is so flat and uninspiring.
Upon their victory, we see shots of the slave camp in Sierra Leone being bombed and other captive natives being led to freedom as the over-emotional music swells. Those who have used slaves for centuries (both Brits and Americans), are depicted as valiant heroes here, which is as much of a con as Hounsou and his brethren, who after all murdered almost all the crew of the Amistad, being depicted as noble, thoughtful men whose comparative simplicity compared to their captors somehow elevates them to a higher moral plain.
Spielberg's to be applauded for bringing a little-known event in American history to the popular consciousness, but it's just a shame he couldn't have delivered it to us with a little less old-time sentimentality.