As the slave ship La Amistad is crossing from The US to Cuba, one of the slaves starts a mutiny on board. The matter is brought to court where the appeal is based on the fact that none of the men in the ship were slaves in the first place. The movie follows the trial till its plea stage.
This film is based on the true story of the events in 1839 aboard the slave ship La Amistad.
The crew was astounded when Sir Anthony Hopkins delivered 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.
The character 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.
The real life Roger Sherman Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey) was an older, and more experienced lawyer than his character is in the movie.
Amistad 1997
25 Dec 1997 ● English ● 2 hrs 35 mins
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