Amistad

***Amistad*** is a 1997 American historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the events in 1839 aboard the Spanish slave ship *La Amistad*, during which Mende tribesmen abducted for the slave trade managed to gain control of their captors' ship off the coast of Cuba, and the international legal battle that followed their capture by the *Washington*, a U.S. revenue cutter. The case was ultimately resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1841.

Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, and Matthew McConaughey had starring roles in the film. David Franzoni's screenplay was based on the 1987 book *Mutiny on the Amistad: The Saga of a Slave Revolt and Its Impact on American Abolition, Law, and Diplomacy*, by the historian Howard Jones.

The film received largely positive reviews from critics and grossed over $44 million at the U.S. box office.

## Storyline

### Plot

In 1839, the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish-owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free.

### Genres

* Biography
* Drama
* History

### Motion Picture Rating

* **13** (Argentina)
* **M** (Australia)
* **14** (Brazil)
* **14A** (Canada)
* **15** (Denmark)
* **K-14** (Finland) (original rating)
* **K-16** (Finland) (2014, Blu-Ray rating)
* **Tous publics** (France)
* **12** (Germany)
* **IIB** (Hong Kong)
* **14** (Iceland) (original rating)
* **12** (Iceland) (video rating)
* **A** (India) (original rating)
* **UA** (India) (video rating)
* **15** (Ireland)
* **T** (Italy)
* **B** (Mexico)
* **16** (Netherlands)
* **M** (New Zealand)
* **15** (Nigeria)
* **15** (Norway)
* **14** (Peru)
* **PG-13** (Philippines)
* **M/12** (Portugal)
* **R15** (Saudi Arabia)
* **NC-16** (Singapore)
* **15** (South Korea)
* **T** (Spain)
* **15** (Sweden)
* **12** (Switzerland)
* **15** (UK)
* **R** (USA)

## Images

USA VHS coverUSA DVD cover (1999)UK VHS cover (1999)UK VHS cover (2000)UK DVD cover (2001)UK VHS cover (2003)UK DVD cover (2006)USA DVD cover (2014)USA Blu-Ray coverUK DVD cover (2016)
## Cast and Crew

### Cast

* Djimon Hounsou - Sengbe Pieh / Joseph Cinqué
* Matthew McConaughey - Roger Sherman Baldwin
* Anthony Hopkins - John Quincy Adams
* Morgan Freeman - Theodore Joadson
* Nigel Hawthorne - President Martin Van Buren
* David Paymer - Secretary of State John Forsyth
* Pete Postlethwaite - William S. Holabird
* Stellan Skarsgård - Lewis Tappan
* Razaaq Adoti - Yamba
* Abu Bakaar Fofanah - Fala
* Anna Paquin - Queen Isabella II of Spain
* Tomas Milian - Ángel Calderón de la Barca y Belgrano
* Chiwetel Ejiofor - Ensign James Covey
* Derrick Ashong - Buakei
* Geno Silva - Jose Ruiz
* John Ortiz - Pedro Montes
* Kevin J. O'Connor - Missionary
* Ralph Brown - Lieutenant Thomas R. Gedney
* Darren E. Burros - Lieutenant Richard W. Meade
* Allan Rich - Judge Andrew T. Judson
* Paul Guilfoyle - Attorney
* Peter Firth - Captain Charles Fitzgerald
* Xander Berkeley - Ledger Hammond
* Jeremy Northam - Judge Coglin
* Arliss Howard - John C. Calhoun
* Austin Pendleton - Professor Josiah Willard Gibbs Sr.
* Pedro Armendáriz Jr. - General Baldomero Espartero
* Harry A. Blackmun - Associate Justice Joseph Story (as The Honorable Harry A. Blackmun)

### Producers

* Debbie Allen (producer)
* Bob Cooper (co-executive producer) (as Robert Cooper)
* Bonnie Curtis (associate producer)
* Paul Deason (associate producer)
* Laurie MacDonald (executive producer)
* Walter F. Parkes (executive producer) (as Walter Parkes)
* Tim Shriver (co-producer)
* Steven Spielberg (producer)
* Colin Wilson (producer)

## Details

### Language

* English
* Mende
* Spanish
* Portuguese

### Release Dates

* December 4, 1997 (USA) (Washington, D.C.) (premiere)
* December 10, 1997 (USA) (limited)
* December 25, 1997 (USA)
* February 4, 1998 (Sweden) (Gōteborg Film Festival)
* February 14, 1998 (South Korea)
* February 19, 1998 (Australia)
* February 19, 1998 (Hong Kong)
* February 20, 1998 (Brazil)
* February 20, 1998 (Spain)
* February 25, 1998 (Belgium)
* February 25, 1998 (Switzerland) (French speaking region)
* February 25, 1998 (France)
* February 26, 1998 (Germany)
* February 26, 1998 (Slovakia)
* February 27, 1998 (Switzerland) (German speaking region)
* February 27, 1998 (Denmark)
* February 27, 1998 (UK)
* February 27, 1998 (Ireland)
* February 27, 1998 (Norway)
* February 27, 1998 (Peru)
* February 27, 1998 (Poland)
* February 27, 1998 (Turkey)
* February 28, 1998 (Japan)
* March 4, 1998 (Portugal) (premiere)
* March 5, 1998 (Hungary)
* March 5, 1998 (Netherlands)
* March 6, 1998 (Finland)
* March 6, 1998 (Iceland)
* March 6, 1998 (Mexico)
* March 12, 1998 (Argentina)
* March 12, 1998 (Slovenia)
* March 13, 1998 (Italy)
* March 13, 1998 (Portugal)
* March 13, 1998 (Sweden)
* March 18, 1998 (Philippines)
* March 20, 1998 (Thailand)
* April 2, 1998 (Singapore)
* April 27, 1998 (Kuwait)
* May 22, 1998 (Uruguay)

### Home Media Release Dates

* 1998 (UK) (VHS)
* June 30, 1998 (USA) (VHS)
* 1999 (USA) (Laserdisc)
* May 4, 1999 (USA) (DVD)
* October 1, 1999 (UK) (VHS re-release)
* 2000 (UK) (VHS re-release)
* January 29, 2001 (UK) (DVD)
* January 13, 2003 (UK) (VHS re-release)
* June 6, 2005 (UK) (DVD re-release)
* July 3, 2006 (UK) (DVD re-release)
* May 6, 2014 (USA) (DVD re-release)
* May 6, 2014 (USA) (Blu-Ray)
* 2016 (UK) (DVD re-release)

## Historical accuracy

Many academics, including Columbia University professor Eric Foner, have criticized *Amistad* for historical inaccuracy and the misleading characterizations of the *Amistad* case as a "turning point" in the American perspective on slavery. Foner wrote, "In fact, the Amistad case revolved around the Atlantic slave trade - by 1840 outlawed by international treaty - and had nothing whatsoever to do with slavery as a domestic institution. Incongruous as it may seem, it was perfectly possible in the nineteenth century to condemn the importation of slaves from Africa while simultaneously defending slavery and the flourishing slave trade within the United States... *Amistad*'s problems go far deeper than such anachronisms as President Martin Van Buren campaigning for re-election on a whistle-stop train tour (in 1840, candidates did not campaign), or people constantly talking about the impending Civil War, which lay 20 years in the future.

Other reported inaccuracies include:

* Despite what the film suggests, the actual Supreme Court decision reversed District and Circuit decrees regarding the Africans' conveyance back to Africa, they were to be deemed free, but the U.S. government could not take them back to Africa, as they had arrived on American soil as free people.
* The film version of Adams' closing speech before the Supreme Court and the court's decision as read by Justice Joseph Story bear no resemblance to the much longer historical versions, they are not even fair summaries.
* During the scene depicting the destruction of the Lomboko slave fortress by a Royal Navy schooner, the vessel's captain refers to another officer as "ensign". This rank has never been used by the Royal Navy.

## Reception

### Box office

*Amistad* grossed $44,229,441 domestically against a budget of $36 million.

### Critical response

The film received mainly positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, *Amistad* received an approval rating of 77% based on reviews from 64 critics, with an average score of 6.9/10. The critical consensus reads, "Heartfelt without resorting to preachiness, *Amistad* tells an important story with engaging sensitivity and absorbing skill." The film also has a 7.3/10 rating on IMDb.

Susan Wloszczyna of *USA Today* summed up the feelings of many reviewers when she wrote, "as Spielberg vehicles go, *Amistad* - part mystery, action thriller, courtroom drama, even culture-clash comedy - lands between the disturbing lyricism of *Schindler's List* and the storybook artificiality of *The Color Purple*." Roger Ebert awarded the film three out of four stars, writing: "Amistad," like Spielberg's "Schindler's List," is [...] about the ways good men try to work realistically within an evil system to spare a few of its victims. [...] "Schindler's List" works better as narrative because it is about a risky deception, while "Amistad" is about the search for a truth that, if found, will be small consolation to the millions of existing slaves. As a result, the movie doesn't have the emotional charge of Spielberg's earlier film - or of "The Color Purple," which moved me to tears. [...] What is most valuable about "Amistad" is the way it provides faces and names for its African characters, whom the movies so often make into faceless victims.

In 2014, the movie was one of several discussed by Noah Berlatsky in The Atlantic in an article concerning white savior narratives in film, calling it 'sanctimonious drivel.'

Morgan Freeman is very proud of the movie, saying, "I loved the film. I really did. I had a moment of err, during the killings. I thought it was a little over-wrought. But he (Spielberg) wanted to make a point and I understood that."

## Company Credits

### Production Companies

* DreamWorks Pictures (as DreamWorks SKG)
* Home Box Office (in association with)
* Amblin Entertainment (uncredited)
* Parkes/MacDonald Image Nation (uncredited)

### Distributors

* DreamWorks Pictures (1997) (USA) (theatrical)
* United International Pictures (1998) (UK) (theatrical)
* United International Pictures (1998) (Ireland) (theatrical)
* United International Pictures (1998) (Argentina) (theatrical)
* United International Pictures (1998) (Australia) (theatrical)
* United International Pictures (1998) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
* United International Pictures (1998) (Germany) (theatrical)
* United International Pictures (1998) (Finland) (theatrical)
* United International Pictures (1998) (France) (theatrical)
* United International Pictures (1998) (Norway) (theatrical)
* Filmes Lusomundo (1998) (Portugal) (all media)
* CIC Video (1998) (UK) (VHS)
* Universal Studios Home Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
* Image Entertainment (1999) (USA) (Laserdisc)
* Universal Studios Home Video (1999) (USA) (DVD)
* Paramount Home Media Distribution (1999) (UK) (VHS)
* Universal Studios Home Video (2000) (UK) (VHS)
* Universal Studios Home Video (2001) (UK) (DVD)
* Universal Studios Home Video (2003) (UK) (VHS)
* Universal Studios Home Entertainment (2005) (UK) (DVD)
* Paramount Home Media Distribution (2006) (UK) (DVD)
* Warner Home Video (2014) (USA) (DVD)
* Warner Home Video (2014) (USA) (Blu-Ray)
* Paramount Home Media Distribution (2016) (UK) (DVD)

### Special Effects

* Industrial Light and Magic (special visual effects)

## Trivia

* Denzel Washington and Cuba Gooding Jr. were offered the role of Joseph Cinqué but they both turned it down and Cuba Gooding Jr. later regretted it.
* Sir Anthony Hopkins astounded the film's crew by delivering the entire seven-page courtroom speech in a single take. Steven Spielberg was so in awe, he couldn't bring himself to call him Tony, and insisted on addressing him as Sir Anthony throughout the shoot.
* Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) is a fictional creation. In real life, it was Josiah Willard Gibbs, Sr. (Austin Pendleton), a Yale professor of theology and sacred literature, who discovered Ensign James Covey (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the Mende sailor who served as a translator for the Amistad captives. As depicted in this movie, Gibbs learned to count to ten in Mende, and wandered around the docks of New York City repeating the numbers, until Covey heard and recognized his own language, and spoke to the Professor.
* In real life, Roger Sherman Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey) was an older, more experienced lawyer than his character is in the movie. A grandson of Roger Sherman (signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution), Baldwin was in his late 40s and a member of the Connecticut State Senate when he took the defense of the Amistad captives. After the Amistad case, Baldwin was elected Governor, and later U.S. Senator, for the state of Connecticut. He died in 1863.
* Djimon Hounsou (Cinqué) learned Mende for his role.
* This is the theatrical film debut of Chiwetel Ejiofor (Ensign James Covey).
* Post-production was done rarely with Steven Spielberg, due to his commitment to *Saving Private Ryan* (1998).
* According to producer and director Steven Spielberg, some U.S. actors were furious with him for casting a Welsh actor as the President, as they felt the role should have gone to an American performer. Spielberg did the same thing again by casting Daniel Day-Lewis in *Lincoln* (2012). By that time, casting Britons as American Presidents had almost become commonplace. For example, Sir Anthony Hopkins in *Nixon* (1995), Sir Michael Gambon in *Path to War* (2002), Alan Rickman in *The Butler* (2013), and Tom Wilkinson in *Selma* (2014).
* Shot in a very economical thirty-one days, Matthew McConaughey worked twenty-eight of those days.
* In Spanish, the word "Amistad" means "friendship".
* John Quincy Adams addresses the Supreme Court and states that, when faced with trouble, the Mende people invoke the help of their ancestors. As he mentions this, we see a portrait of his father John Adams just over his left shoulder.
* Producer Debbie Allen spent fourteen years shopping this story around Hollywood before it entered production.
* Sir Sean Connery was approached for the role of John Quincy Adams but turned it down.
* Producer Debbie Allen wanted Steven Spielberg to direct, but it wasn't until Steven Zaillian, who wrote the screenplay for *Schindler's List* (1993), submitted a rewrite that he agreed to direct.
* The reproduction of the schooner Amistad was built at the Mystic Seaport Museum, and some of this movie was shot at the same location, specifically the scene where the interpreter is found by the defense lawyer.
* Harry A. Blackmun (U.S. Associate Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story) served as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice from 1970 to 1994.
* This is the only movie of 1997 to be nominated for Best Picture at the Producers Guild of America Awards, but not at the Academy Awards.
* This movie takes place from 1839 to 1841.
* Producer and director Steven Spielberg created his own "family friendly" cut of this movie to show his young children as a history lesson, omitting the violent sequences. He admitted that they were so bored by the courtroom scenes that they wandered off.
* The film was originally developed at HBO, then Spielberg and DreamWorks came in and took over production, making this the first DreamWorks Pictures film to be co-produced with another studio.
* James Covey was only 14 or 15 years old when he was recruited to translate for the prisoners.
* John Cusack, Gabriel Byrne, and Aidan Quinn were considered for the role of Roger Sherman Baldwin.
* The casting of Nigel Hawthorne continues Steven Spielberg's trend of using the cast of *Gandhi* (1982), to which his own film *E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial* (1982) lost Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. In his own films, he previously cast Roshan Seth and Amrish Puri in *Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom* (1984), Ben Kingsley in *Schindler's List* (1993), and director Richard Attenborough in *Jurassic Park* (1993). Anthony Hopkins was a frequent collaborator of Attenborough's, having appeared in his films *Young Winston* (1972), *A Bridge Too Far* (1977), *Magic* (1978), *Chaplin* (1992), and *Shadowlands* (1993). Spielberg would borrow the cast of *Gandhi* (1982) two more times, he cast Martin Sheen in *Catch Me If You Can* (2002) and Daniel Day-Lewis in *Lincoln* (2012), another film featuring a U.S. President.
* Anthony Hopkins, Anna Paquin, Stellan Skarsgård, and Djimon Hounsou would all later appear in films based on Marvel Comics.

## Connections

### Referenced in

* *Chump Change* (2000) - A studio executive talks about remaking "Amistad" as a musical comedy.
* *Scary Movie* (2000) - The trailer for a sequel to *Amistad* is shown in the film.
* *The Brothers* (2001)

### Spoofed in

* *Scary Movie* (2000) - A fake movie trailer for "Amistad II" is shown at a multiplex.