Masterful directing

Rating: Null/10 (14 August 2012)

Combine an award-winning director, a talented cast, a poignant musical score and breathtaking cinematography with one of the darkest hours of world history, and you get Amistad, widely regarded as the definitive film about the trans-Atlantic slave trade. While the plot is focused on the Amistad case, the film itself reverberates with the broader issue of slavery, including anti-slavery figures such as John Quincy Adams. My favorite scene was when the African men enter a church and thumb through an illustrated Bible, able to identify with the sufferings of Christ, after which Spielberg ingeniously shows the masts of three ships, resembling the three crosses. Brilliant and heartbreaking, Amistad captures the struggle of these men and a very determined lawyer to win their freedom. With masterful directing, Spielberg draws upon the lessons of history to forge an acclaimed film that celebrates hope and freedom even in the darkest of times.
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