here's a word analogy : amistad is to the lost world as schindler's list is to jurassic park . 
in 1993 , after steven spielberg made the monster dino hit , many critics described schindler's list as the director's " penance " ( as if there was a need for him to apologize for making a crowd-pleasing blockbuster ) . 
now , after a three-year layoff , spielberg is back with a vengeance . 
once again , his summer release was special effects-loaded action/adventure flick with dinosaurs munching on human appetizers . 
now , following his 1993 pattern , he has fashioned another serious , inspirational christmas release about the nature of humanity . 
that film is amistad . 
although not as masterful as schindler's list , amistad is nevertheless a gripping motion picture . 
thematically rich , impeccably crafted , and intellectually stimulating , the only area where this movie falls a little short is in its emotional impact . 
watching schindler's list was a powerful , almost spiritual , experience . 
spielberg pulled us into the narrative , absorbed us in the drama , then finally let us go , exhausted and shattered , three-plus hours later . 
aspects of the movie have stayed with me ever since . 
amistad , while a fine example of film making , is not as transcendent . 
the incident of the ship la amistad is not found in any history books , but , considering who writes the texts , that's not a surprise . 
however , the event is a part of the american social and legal fabric , and , while amistad does not adhere rigorously to the actual account , most of the basic facts are in order . 
several , mostly minor changes have been made to enhance the film's dramatic force . 
on the whole , while amistad may not be faithful to all of the details of the situation , it is true to the spirit and meaning of what transpired . 
one stormy night during the summer of 1839 , the 53 men imprisoned on the spanish slave ship la amistad escape . 
led by the lion-hearted cinque ( djimon hounsou ) , they take control of the vessel , killing most of the crew . 
adrift somewhere off the coast of cuba and uncertain how to make their way back to africa , they rely on the two surviving spaniards to navigate the eastward journey . 
they are tricked , however , and the la amistad , which makes its way northward off the united states' eastern coastline , is eventually captured by an american naval ship near connecticut . 
the kidnapped africans are shackled and thrown into prison , charged with murder and piracy . 
the first men to come to the africans' defense are abolitionists theodore joadson ( morgan freeman ) and lewis tappan ( stellan skarsgard ) . 
they are soon joined by roger baldwin ( matthew mcconaughey ) , a property attorney of little repute . 
aided by advice from former president john quincy adams ( anthony hopkins ) , baldwin proves a more persuasive orator than anyone gave him credit for , and his central argument -- that the prisoners were illegally kidnapped free men , not property -- convinces the judge . 
but powerful forces have aligned against baldwin's cause . 
current president martin van buren ( nigel hawthorne ) , eager to please southern voters and 11-year old queen isabella of spain ( anna paquin ) , begins pulling strings behind-the-scenes to ensure that none of the africans goes free . 
at its heart , amistad is a tale of human courage . 
cinque is a heroic figure whose spirit remains unbreakable regardless of the pain and indignity he is subjected to . 
he is a free man , not a slave , and , while he recognizes that he may die as a result of his struggle , he will not give it up . 
effectively portrayed by newcomer djimon hounsou , whose passion and screen presence arrest our attention , cinque is the key to viewers seeing the amistad africans as more than symbols in a battle of ideologies . 
they are individuals , and our ability to make that distinction is crucial to the movie's success . 
to amplify this point , spielberg presents many scenes from the africans' point-of-view , detailing their occasionally-humorous observations about some of the white man's seemingly-strange " rituals " . 
the larger struggle is , of course , one of defining humanity . 
as the nazis felt justified in slaughtering jews because they viewed their victims as " sub-human , " so the pro-slavery forces of amistad use a similar defense . 
the abolitionists regard the africans as men , but the slavers and their supporters see them as animals or property . 
in a sense , the morality of slavery is on trial here with the specter of civil war , which would break out less than three decades later , looming over everything . 
amistad's presentation of the legal and political intricacies surrounding the trial are fascinating , making this movie one of the most engrossing courtroom dramas in recent history . 
four claimants come forward against the africans : the state , which wants them tried for murder ; the queen of spain , who wants them handed over to her under the provision of an american/spanish treaty ; two american naval officers , who claim the right of high seas salvage ; and the two surviving spaniards from la amistad , who demand that their property be returned to them . 
baldwin must counter all of these claims , while facing a challenge to his own preconceived notions as the result of a relationship he develops with cinque . 
even though attorney and client are divided by a language barrier , they gradually learn to communicate . 
aside from cinque , who is a fully-realized individual , characterization is spotty , but the acting is top-notch . 
matthew mcconaughey successfully overcomes his " pretty boy " image to become baldwin , but the lawyer is never particularly well-defined outside of his role in the la amistad case . 
likewise , while morgan freeman and stellan skarsgard are effective as joadson and tappan , they are never anything more than " abolitionists . " 
nigel hawthorne , who played the title character in the madness of king george , presents martin van buren as a spineless sycophant to whom justice means far less than winning an election . 
finally , there's anthony hopkins , whose towering portrayal of john quincy adams is as compelling as anything the great actor has recently done . 
hopkins , who can convincingly play such diverse figures as a serial killer , an emotionally-crippled english butler , and richard nixon , makes us believe that he is adams . 
his ten-minute speech about freedom and human values is unforgettable . 
one point of difference worth noting between amistad and schindler's list is this film's lack of a well-defined human villain . 
schindler's list had ralph fiennes' superbly-realized amon goeth , who was not only a three-dimensional character , but a personification of all that the nazis stood for . 
there is no such figure in amistad . 
the villain is slavery , but an ideology , no matter how evil , is rarely the best adversary . 
it is to spielberg's credit that he has fashioned such a compelling motion picture without a prominent antagonist . 
amistad's trek to the screen , which encountered some choppy waters ( author barbara chase-riboud has cried plagiarism , a charge denied by the film makers ) , comes in the midst of an upsurge of interest in the incident . 
an opera of the same name opened in chicago on november 29 , 1997 . 
numerous books about the subject are showing up on bookstore shelves . 
it remains to be seen how much longevity the amistad phenomena has , but one thing is certain -- with spielberg's rousing , substantive film leading the way , the spotlight has now illuminated this chapter of american history .