Amistad

Amistad movie, directed by Steven Spielberg, provides an account of events the Cuban schooner La Amistad in 1839, with the issue of slavery being the major subject of the film. La Amistad then sets off for a Caribbean plantation, during which many unspeakable horrors take place, such as the rape of many African women, the dehumanizing whippings imposed on men being used as "examples" to the rest of the slaves, and the dumping of sick and weak slaves, linked by chains and weighed down with weights, into the ocean. However, the ship is soon overtaken by the slaves after killing the whole crew, let alone the two Spanish planters. Thinking they are going to Africa, the slaves ensure the navigation of the ship to the Spaniards, who treacherously lead them to an American port, where they are imprisoned. However, when working on your research paper, you will soon realize that, throughout the movie, the concern isn't the murder of the crew, but the ownership of the people, since the profit side of the case is simply, more profitable.

The President at the time, Martin Van Buren, was in favor of deporting the slaves to Cuba, or even executing them, as he was seeking to appease the South during a time of civil unrest. Even abolitionists in the movie discussed the merits of martyrdom for their cause. But thankfully, as movie critic Robert L. Waring says, "Amistad is another movie about some black people in peril who are helped out by some nice white guys, and told largely from the perspective of these white guys." Our custom essay writers will also mention that the slaves are soon helped out by a young lawyer Robert Baldwin, played by Matthew McConaughey, and former-slave-turned-abolitionist Theodore Joadson, played sparingly by Morgan Freeman. These men are able to fend off for a while those who would claim the slaves for their own, like the pipsqueak Spanish queen who acts like she lost her toy ship, the men who found La Amistad in the first place, even the Spanish planters. But soon, they call upon the skills of a greater man, John Quincy Adams, played by Anthony Hopkins. A "bulldog among spaniels", Adams was a former president, experienced in foreign relations during his service under President James Monroe, and very anti-slavery. Though it takes some coaxing, by the end, Adams fights for the slaves, in front of the Supreme Court, and wins, although only 35 of the original 53 ever return, as the others had either died on the ship or in jail.