Aimistad Movie Analysis

2 Pages 466 Words

In April of 1839, a group of militant Portuguese abducted a group of 53 Africans, and shipped them to Havana, Cuba. In June of 1839, the Africans were purchased as slaves by four Spaniards and put on the schooner La Amistad (Spanish for “the friendship”) for a voyage to Principe, an island republic, off the west coast of Africa, in the Gulf of Guinea. During this voyage, in the summer of 1839, the Africans performed mutiny on the ship, led by Cinque (Djimon Hounsou), they kill two of the crew, and take control of the ship. They have one goal: return to Africa. With little or no navigational skills, the Africans had to rely on the remaining two Spaniards to get them to the coast of Africa. They ordered the crew to sail to Africa, but they were tricked. After two months on a sketchy course up the Eastern Seaboard, La Amistad is captured off the coast of Long Island (in the film, the Africans are captured off the coast of Connecticut, but in actuality, they were imprisoned in New Haven and and Hartford, Connecticut). The Africans are charged for murder and piracy. In the beginning, they are embraced by abolitionists Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) and Lewis Tappan (Stellan Skarsgard), as well as a young, idealistic real estate/property attorney named Roger Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey). During the proceedings this case divides a nation. Two great American figures butt heads in debate as to what the outcome should be. Pro-Slavery Martin Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne), seeking re-election in 1840, is willing to convict the Africans to gain favor with voters in the South, as well as with Queen Isabella of Spain (Anna Paquin). His actions are challenged by former President John Quincy Adams (Sir Anthony Hopkins), who comes out of political retirement to fight the African’s side in the United States Supreme Court. The Spanish men have claimed the Africans as their property and others claimed that they had saved La Amistad in the cargo cont...