Amistad Reviews and Ratings


  • JaneDoeNili
    November 27, 2009
    JaneDoeNili
    One of the best movies about slavery. Djimon Hounsou is excellent. Good work Spielberg.
  • sinD123
    November 3, 2009
    sinD123
    The movie is highly engrossing. It would be a good history lesson except some parts are very unrealistic.
  • medoteto
    October 30, 2009
    medoteto
    Professional work, lists the details of a dark period of history of humanity, the top scenes of injustice, equity summit scenes, the scene of perseverance to achieve the top right.
  • dsoul
    October 16, 2009
    dsoul
    You can always count on Mr Spielberg to teach you something with one of his movies. The word 'slavery' you may have heard hundreds of times in your lifetime but do you really know what it means? Can you begin to imagine the kind of humiliation it must be to be a slave?... The bea...( read more)uty of this movie is the faces it brings to this horrific notion.
    Its perfectly cast, They all do a great job especially Djimon Hounsou and Anthony Hopkins. My only gripe would be that there are too many familiar faces and that initial moment of being introduced to characters I find myself thinking about what other movies I have seen those actors in....but I guess thats just me and perhaps I have been watching one too many foreign movies where I don't recognize the actors. All I can say is take a trip down a road that you probably don't want to see but after you do, you'll be better for it.
  • ElCochran90
    October 9, 2009
    ElCochran90
    Cruel and slow, human and non-inspiring story set on very difficult and racist times. Pretentious Spielberg flick.

    60/100
  • djabonillojr2008
    October 1, 2009
    djabonillojr2008
    this movie is terrific. djimon hounsou and anthony hopkins are good in this movie with mr. spielberg's magnificient directing.
  • mv1334
    September 17, 2009
    mv1334
    "Powerful & very important film, one of Steven Spielberg's best. Hounsou stole the show with his amazing, powerful & emotional ability to act (always an amazing actor). Hopkins deserved that nod. McConaughey was really great, probably the best performance of his career, if he got...( read more) serious roles like this or roles like in Tropic Thunder, We Are Marshall, U-571, Edtv & A Time To Kil, he would be an excellent actor for me but he's just a decent actor for me right now. Morgan Freeman was brilliant as usual, Amistad is a powerful and sad movie experience that will capture your hearts."
  • Placeyourbets
    September 8, 2009
    Placeyourbets
    You just know why! Emotional.
  • zonkeevents
    September 6, 2009
    zonkeevents
    Best actors, great performance and wonderful story line.
  • amunchman1556
    August 25, 2009
    amunchman1556
    I show this movie to my students every year and it never ceases to amaze me how many lives I have touched because of it. Students understand slavery wasn't a walk in the park and how not taking care of a problem from the get go only creates bigger problems!
  • pantalla9
    July 31, 2009
    pantalla9
    La productora Debbie Allen confesó que decidió llamar a Steven Spielberg para dirigir Amistad (1997) luego de ver Schindler?s List, del mismo realizador. Allen consideró que Spielberg era el director apropiado para llevar esta historia a la pantalla. Amistad está basada en docume...( read more)ntación y escritos de un caso que puso a temblar a varias potencias mundiales en los años 1830, cuando un barco, el ?Amistad? del título, tocó las costas estadounidenses llevando a bordo un grupo de esclavos africanos.

    La escena que abre la película es todo un portento. En ella, vemos cómo inicia un motín en el ?Amistad?, desde que Cinque (Djimon Hounsou, sorprendente en su primer papel en cine), con las uñas ensangrentadas, logra sacar un clavo de la madera en la parte baja del barco, y usarlo para abrir sus grilletes. Es una noche tormentosa, correrá sangre a bordo y Cinque, con su alma de líder, obligará a los dos marinos españoles sobrevivientes a regresar a África, aunque acaban llegando a la costa noroeste de Estados Unidos, gobernado por el presidente Martin Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne), unas cuantas décadas antes de la Guerra de Secesión.
    Quizás lo más convencional de Amistad, es que su estructura narrativa es la de una simple película de juzgado, y la construcción de sus personajes está basada en la mejor tradición de este subgénero Hollywoodense: la figura anciana y experimentada del abogado que con su sabiduría salva la causa, un fiscal férreo (Pete Postlethwaite), la figura simbólica del asistente interpretado por Morgan Freeman, hombre negro que no sabe mucho de su pasado o sus ancestros. ?¿Cuál es su historia, su verdadera historia??, le pregunta Adams en una escena. Pero todo esto narrado con la visión de Spielberg, ya es otra cosa.
    Mas en pantallanueve.blogspot.com
  • ladybarker86
    July 12, 2009
    ladybarker86
    hated this movie, hated hated hated
  • servanpipa
    July 3, 2009
    servanpipa
    i thing too long but necesary ,
  • canadien42
    June 12, 2009
    canadien42
    Boring movie that has screaming Black people.
  • foks
    June 12, 2009
    foks
    Great movie, with one beautifully staged scene after another. Although the depiction of slavery is disturbing here, it's also a very moving picture. I'm amazed by how both the talking courtroom scenes and the almost dialogueless flashback sequences can create the same emotional r...( read more)esponse and bring you to tears. Puts any Grisham adaptation to shame, highly recommened.
  • JexyMG
    June 11, 2009
    JexyMG
    Very powerful and moving. The scenes of the slaves being taken from their places and then on the ships were very intense. The courtroom scenes were equally engaging and profound.
  • helwigs
    June 7, 2009
    helwigs
    brutal but freaking sweet.
  • sweetmelo52
    June 6, 2009
    sweetmelo52
    thats one good movie but it's hard to watch
  • fallonapple
    May 30, 2009
    fallonapple
    What a touching true story. This may upset some folks but the TRUTH. none the less. Djimon Hunsou in one of his earliest roles.
  • Tetsuo8
    May 23, 2009
    Tetsuo8
    It is touching and sad at the same time. And yet this is what happened 150 years ago....
  • Mimi21192
    May 23, 2009
    Mimi21192
    there is a lot of black weiners...but its good...lol
  • amethystvibzer
    May 10, 2009
    amethystvibzer
    Very poignant, heartfelt story
  • ivamen07
    May 9, 2009
    ivamen07
    GRACIAS POR TU AMISTAD
  • RemiLogan
    April 22, 2009
    RemiLogan
    Absolutely HEARTBREAKING movie!
  • mklicowie
    April 8, 2009
    mklicowie
    maybe not actually see it, but it seems like a thought/discussion - provoking film. I think it would be a great film to use in the classroom.
  • beautifullyer
    April 7, 2009
    beautifullyer
    this film is just amazing.powerful,intense (true) with heart-breaking cruelty.its gives us the courage to do what is right in this crazy world we're we belong...our acts & attitudes toward them( human being)
  • hannahelainemiller
    April 2, 2009
    hannahelainemiller
    Powerful, intense drama with heart-breaking cruelty. I'm amazed by what sorts of stuff people will (and did) do to their fellow human beings.
  • Sheiob
    March 23, 2009
    Sheiob
    A compelling story with a solid and talented cast. Yet it goes so far as to make many of the historical figures look like saints, and is a little too "feel good" for a slave trade film. Spielberg doesn't flinch from showing some gruesomeness on the slave ships, but takes a PG loo...( read more)k at America.
  • IzzyGlow
    March 12, 2009
    IzzyGlow
    "This man is black. We can all see that. But, can we also see as easily, that which is equally true? That he is the only true hero in this room"

    5.5/10

    Amistad contains some powerful scenes about the brutality of slavery but those seens are too few and too short to save the...( read more) film.

    I never knew this was directed by Steven Spielberg but it definitely surprised me as this was one of his weakest efforts. The acting is excellent, notably Anthony Hopkins and Djimon Honsou. There are some unflinching scenes which showcase the attrocities of the slave trade which are undeniably powerful and heartbreaking. However, the rest of the film is bland and sometimes overly-comedic and some cuts are too short to gain the full emotional effect of the scene.

    Amistad is a mixed bag and some may appreciate it. I do, but it is simply not that good of a film.
  • aryandreas
    March 10, 2009
    aryandreas
    Really unforgettable movie!!!
  • constanzaboutter
    February 22, 2009
    constanzaboutter
    Steven Spielberg's exploration into a significant episode in African-American history, Djimon Hounsou, Morgan Freeman, Matthew Conaughey and Anthony Hopkins all wonderful.
  • yute99166
    February 20, 2009
    yute99166
    The greatest movie I have seen yet.
  • malacaynomuerto
    February 15, 2009
    malacaynomuerto
    Una película sobre la esclavitud y la búsqueda de la libertad con muy buena factura pero nada sorprendente
  • alyssaann2002
    February 8, 2009
    alyssaann2002
    I love this movie!! I cried
  • edfranco1
    January 30, 2009
    edfranco1
    The best movie ever.
  • FangsFirst
    January 23, 2009
    FangsFirst
    I normally start a Steven Spielberg review by discussing the asinine attitude that has developed around him--either hero worship or envious/rebellious denigration. I've done that though, so for those unaware, let me strike my stance as follows: Spielberg is an excellent director ...( read more)who is typically overrated a bit too much by his biggest fans and very thoroughly underrated to ridiculous extents by those who refuse to any element of sentimentality in their personalities. I'm tired of both attitudes and the complete polar extremes' existence with such a popular director clears a swath of free space between them. I'm somewhere in that space, leaning toward the positive.

    Sengbe Pieh (here referred to only by his "Christian name" of Joseph Cinqué, and played by Djimon Honsou) is one of a group of fifty slaves who revolt on Spanish ship La Amistad and slaughter most of their captors. A mix of intentions from Sengbe and the surviving Spaniards Ruiz (Geno Silva) and Montes (John Ortiz) leads to the ship's capture by the American Navy when they land on American soil, and the slaves-to-be are taken to New Haven, Connecticut where they are to be tried. The reading of charges by District Attorney Holabird (Pete Postlethwaite) is interrupted by numerous claims to the possession or rights involved. Lieutenants Gedney (Ralph Brown) and Meade (Darren Burrows) claim the Africans are spoils of salvage, Montes and Ruiz claim rights as the original "owners," Spanish Ambassador Calderon (Tomas Milian, he of many an Italian exploitation film) claims them for Queen Isabella (pubescent Anna Paquin), and Secretary of State John Forsyth (David Paymer) works with Holabird to secure these rights to Calderon--to curry favour with her for soon-to-be-ex-President Martin Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne). Underground publishers of The Emancipator ex-slave Theodore Joadsen (Morgan Freeman) and activist Tappan (Stellan Skarsgård), however, attempt to argue in the favour of their release by way of a writ. When all of this simply ties things up, the outside observer Roger Baldwin (Matthe McConaughey) steps in and offers his services as a property attorney. Tappan shuts him down in righteous anger (because of Baldwin's focus) while Joadsen takes an interest in the young attorney. They attempt to recruit former President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) to help them, but Adams refuses on grounds of disinterest. Baldwin turns out to be a good choice, though, and nearly saves the Africans--only to have the politically-motivated machinations of the President appeal the case to the Supreme Court.

    Treading yet more familiar ground for me, this is based on a true story. If you go into any film looking for an education on historical events, that film had better be popularly considered a documentary--if not expertly considered, preferrably. This isn't one and any pretense to it is not given. Spielberg takes an interesting story in the history of the United States, and one relevant to the issue of slavery and uses it to serve the purpose of educating, emotionally, about the horror of slavery and the glory of the United States as a country and set of laws and systems. The events work very well to suit this--most of the complaints about its accuracy have little to do with them, and indeed the final outcome is truthful, as are the events with regard to Van Buren's interference, Adams' reluctance and most of the rest. The parts that are changed are primarily things that are retroactive: suddenly, Van Buren's fear is of civil war, an idea generally not considered to be under discussion so publicly twenty years before it would occur, and Van Buren would not have been campaigning for re-election--because no one campaigned then. This is hardly earth-shaking or story-ruining, however much an assault it may be on historicity.

    What's most memorable about this film are the details that have survived its original release. Djimon Honsou's biggest credit prior was probably that of Horus in Stargate, which is not exactly star-making material, nor a particularly meaty role. This role, however, won him quite some measure of acclaim as well as a Golden Globe nomination, and probably paved the way for his later successes. It's definitely to Honsou's credit that it does so, and not to any hype machine. Sengbe is a strong man, a leader to this small group of the Mende people he is forcibly confined with, but one who suffers great humility and self-doubt. He's proud and stubborn and willing to take action, but has little faith in himself. He's not (thankfully) portrayed as a lone brain amongst the stupid savages, but rather the only one who chooses to take interest in and attempt to decipher the bizarre (and I mean that honestly, this society IS bizarre) society they've been forced into. This is also, in part, because they have forcibly chosen him as leader in light of a past that includes the killing of a monstrous lion. Sengbe (Cinqué only in the film, as I said) is an interesting character because it manages to take the stereotypical idea of the African from the past and re-purpose it outside the stereotype. Yes, Sengbe was in a tribe of hunter/gatherers, yes, his people used primarily close range weapons, yes they wore little clothing by our standards and so forth. But this does not make any suggestion as to his intelligence and capability. It's very well-written and not played too much for laughs when Sengbe and Baldwin attempt to communicate--at the least, it's balanced on who is the object of fun, and even more probably swings toward the Africans as the ones more "right" in their interpretation of the Americans as ridiculous in their systemic complexity.

    The other performance the film is remembered for is certainly Anthony Hopkins' as John Quincy Adams, the President lost to his father's legacy, remembered, as the film presciently notes (more than likely as an injoke based in hindsight, though quite possibly true at the time as well) that he is remembered more for his middle name than any actions. Hopkins, though, won an Oscar, and it, too, was deserved. His Adams is smart and strong of will, but shies away from the limelight now, disinterested in larger issues though he has stances on them. He feigns senility at first, attempting to dissuade his moralistic pursuers in this fashion, but relents when appeal is made to his intellect by Baldwin, and to his skill. He's frustrated at first by the attentions of Sengbe via translator Ensign Covey (Chiwetel Ejiofor, who also went on to much bigger roles, including that of Firefly's "Operative," which geekdom will probably assure remains his most well-known role), but shows glints of appreciation for Sengbe's analysis, and is finally impressed when he instead speaks to him face-to-face (though of course still translated), finding inspiration for the words to bring before the Supreme Court.

    The final (and least pleasant) element the film is remembered for is its depiction of the slave ships. Many films have "happily" portrayed the horrors of slavery in practice (or disturbingly pretended there was no horror to it), but few have had the cojones to show the shipping conditions for the "merchandise." Truly unpleasant, the film begins with the action that Sengbe frees himself with: he scrapes away at the wood around a nail, which he finally frees with bloodied fingers to manipulate the shackles he's held with and remove them. He takes clear revenge on the men who were carrying them, violent and angry, but we seen in this none of the stereotype of "savage," and only pure fury at the conditions he was taken and held under--which we witness later when Baldwin asks him about his story and how he came to be in this court. Taken by surprise by other Africans (as future slaves often were) to be traded to the Portugeuse, Sengbe sees the violent abuses of the ship's masters as they flay the backs of slaves, tie others to rocks and drop them in the ocean and strap them all down naked in rows flat on the floor or in small cage-like separations. It's not pleasant to see, though I think my own brain has developed a protective denial that makes it incapable of comprehending the truth of the fact that somehow people once believed that this was acceptable and normal. I know it's true, but that disconnect at least separates my experience from the reality of image--and the image alone I wouldn't wish on too many, let alone the actuality.

    Once again, Spielberg has achieved something excellent in his historical film-making, using the events surrounding La Amistad to explore the ideas of slavery and of the way the United States governmental systems work. It's not his best work, but it's supremely entertaining and well-made as is very nearly always the case with him. Inexplicably, especially in early scenes with Adams, there is a distractingly saccharine attempt by John Williams to conflate the images of Adams onscreen with political heroics. It comes off as a mis-cue, and really makes the film stumble a bit on those moments.
  • Liesebieke
    January 10, 2009
    Liesebieke
    A lot of my favourite actors are in this movie, what a cast!
    A piece of history that touches the heart. Great masterpiece. Must see movie.
  • crspx2
    January 9, 2009
    crspx2
    [Hopkins] John Adams plea at the end really sums up the reality of why all men are equal. Interesting that Amistad is Spanish for "friendship". . .
  • stopitgoaway
    December 21, 2008
    stopitgoaway
    #5 Amistad
    Amistad is a slave ship travelling from Cuba to the US in 1839, carrying a cargo of African slaves. As the ship is crossing from Cuba to the US, a mutiny takes over the ship. The slaves continue to sail, hoping to find help when they land. Instead, when they reach the ...( read more)United States, they are imprisoned as runaway slaves and the death sentence seems certain. Enter a rescue in the shape of Hopkins (President John Quincy Adams), who makes an impassioned and eloquent plea for their release.
    President Speak: "This man is black. We can all see that. But, can we also see as easily, that which is equally true? That he is the only true hero in this room."
  • sephira081277
    December 10, 2008
    sephira081277
    strong,powerful performances by an all-star cast. Loads better than Amazing Grace, another film about slavery.
  • paulparsons2
    November 30, 2008
    paulparsons2
    The bearded one delivers another well made / meaning film / history lesson, this time focussing on slavery.

    The film looks beautiful and the production values and attention to detail are top notch. The cast are all on good form, with Djimon doing a fast class job carrying the ...( read more)weight of the film.

    There is something about the way that the film has been made that just screams "For your consideration". There are a number of scenes that feel like they have been made specifically as oscar bait and it kind of put me off the film. The worthy soundtrack that plays in the background of the courtroom scenes just struck me as being really manipulative. Perhaps I'm reading into things too heavily but that's what I came away thinking.

    That aside, the story and topics are completely involving and the film carries with it some undeniable power.
  • Spideywomanrg
    November 23, 2008
    Spideywomanrg
    Freedom means a lot to me and it's because of this movie, I'm thankful that I'm free and my children are free. I cannot imagine having to go overboard with my baby because I cannot stand the atrocities that the slave traders and owners would commit against free black people. It...( read more)'s an emotional roller coaster and I'd not want to watch it again until I have a rhino heart.
  • jennyswenson
    November 2, 2008
    jennyswenson
    I have a weak spot for true based storys..
  • CountessPiluRC
    October 16, 2008
    CountessPiluRC
    Even that stupid McConaughey guy is good here.
    I think this film is really worth watching. It's moving, it's sad, it's happy and it's even funny at some parts. The performances are all pretty good. And the story that is told is one that we should not ignore. The worst part is tha...( read more)t it must have been even worse.
  • marcibhomes
    October 12, 2008
    marcibhomes
    Give us us free. LOL
  • jimbotender
    September 9, 2008
    jimbotender
    I'm officially furious with Spielberg.He's the world's most defective director.When you try and almost feel the climax value in crucial moments,nothing exactly happens to astonish you!How can a picture of a bunch of slaves touch me and guide me to their inhumane treatment?Simple,...( read more)just avoid the sentimentality of the audience man.Stick to your almighty skills,if you ever had any after the compromising aura of Color Purple and Empire of the Sun.

Summary

Amistad Summary