Amistad
Drama, History, Mystery
Dreamworks  (1997) 155 mins R

7.1 (23,493 votes)
Amistad is a story about a group of African Slaves who revolt against the slavery system that was widespread in 19th century in the western colonies. These slaves take control of the ship carrying them "La Amistad", and after that there ship was found by American marine officers, who hand them over to local government. Then the main plot starts, almost whole of the story is told in the Courtroom. The slaves are lead by Cinque (Djimon Hounsou), who was the prince of his African region. a couple of men including John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) come to their rescue and defended them and argued for abolishing Slavery from the New World. The film has a happy ending as John Adams proves that the Slave came from a free county and not a colony held by any western country....

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Cast and Crew
Morgan Freeman  ......  Joadson
Nigel Hawthorne  ......  Martin Van Buren
Anthony Hopkins  ......  John Quincy Adams
Djimon Hounsou  ......  Cinque
Matthew McConaughey  ......  Baldwin
David Paymer  ......  Secretary Forsyth
Director  .....  Steven Spielberg
Producer  .....  Steven Spielberg; Debbie Allen
Writer  .....  David Franzoni
Cinematography  .....  Janusz Kaminski
Musician  .....  John Williams
Notes
Goofs:
Continuity: As the Africans row to the island for fresh water, their rowboat is marked "LA AMISTAD" in all capital letters. However, as they're returning, after the Navy ship appears, the rowboat reads "La Amistad" in mixed case. (more)

Trivia:
Djimon Hounsou learned Mende for his role as Cinque. (more)

Filming Locations:
Boston, Massachusetts, USA (more)

Quotes:
[first lines]
Ruiz: [to Pedro Montes] That one wants us to sail them back. That one thinks he can sail all the way back without us.
(more)

Awards:
Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 22 nominations (more)