Letting A Non-White Perspective Take A Prominent Role In Amistad Helps It Become As Powerful As It Is

Despite Steven Spielberg being one of the most prolific figures to ever grace the medium, he does have a few movies that seem to not be as noteworthy in the public eye. 1941 is one of course, while his mid-1980's drama that introduced the world to Christian Bale Empire Of The Sun also feels like it's slipped through the cracks and maybe it's just me, but his 2005 Best Picture nominee Munich also feels like it could be given that distinction. Another one if his films in that category is his 1997 feature Amistad, which I first heard about in the book The Men Who Would Be King (a book chronicling the rise and fall of Spielberg's movie studio DreamWorks) where it was looked back on as both an awards and financial disappointment in the history of the studio.


Perhaps those two distinctions in terms of its lack of awards and box office attention (both of those could likely be chalked up to the movie being released just one weekend before a little movie called Titanic opened up) contribute to its lower profile among the many titles in Spielberg's filmography. That's a shame, since Amistad turned out to be a really well-made endeavor (though certainly not quite up there with the best of Spielberg's historical dramas like Lincoln, Catch Me If You Can and Bridge Of Spies), one that certainly deserves more attention than it's gotten over the past twenty years.

The real life event this one is based on concerns the trial that occurs around the actions of a group of slaves aboard the slave ship Amistad who overthrow the slaveowners holding them captive, kill them and take over the ship. Their rule over the ship doesn't last long, as they're soon discovered by another ship and brought to America to stand trial for their actions. One of these slaves is a man by the name of Sengbe Pieh (Djimon Hounsou), who has developed a legendary reputation in his homeland for killing a lion with a single rock. Defending him in this trial is young lawyer Roger Sherman Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey), who will have to stand up against a number of high-profile individuals from Spain and America who wish to see the various slaves imprisoned or killed.

So this real-life tale is told through the prism of a courtroom drama, a storytelling choice Steven Spielberg would return to for his 2012 masterpiece Lincoln. Here, the courtroom proceedings are actually quite intriguing to watch thanks to the clever maneuvering on the part of Roger Sherman Baldwin (who plays that long-standing archetype of the youngster who seems like he doesn't have a clue but actually has more than a few tricks up his sleeve) and the fact that Amistad derives just as much, if not more, drama from what happens outside of the walls of the courthouse as it does from what goes on when the court is in session.

Perhaps the nicest aspect of David Franzoni's screenplay is that it gives plenty of time for the perspective of Sengbe Pieh, who, as a Black character, is able to have his own personality, goals, desires and emotions separate from the white characters. To be sure, the film is primarily dominated by white individuals and does have "white savior" elements crop up now and again but Pieh as a well-rounded character helps make that infrequent distraction more bearable. A good chunk of the movie happens through is eyes and his experiences, including an extended flashback where the torturous brutality slaves had to endure in being captured and tossed around like they're not even human beings is devastating to watch unfold. Pieh is a man who has witnessed too many horrors to count and Amistad does not shy away from showing such atrocities specifically from his viewpoint.

Playing that character is Djimon Hounsou, a man who really has been undervalued as an actor for two decades now by Hollywood and this movie provides an ample showcase for why he deserves so much better work than he's gotten. Sengbe Pieh is a character whose experienced immense pain but there's also courage in him, a sense of perseverance that even a system built on centuries of racial discrimination like slavery can't deter. In supporting roles, a shockingly young Matthew McConaughey turns in fine work (the guys got such a good voice I just wanted him to talk for hours in the courtroom scenes) while Anthony Hopkins as John Quincy Adams, despite some odd moments in the voice he chooses for the character, also turns in solid work though, on a scripted level, it is odd how crucial Adams becomes to the plot in its third act.
Amistad reaffirms a notion I had while watching A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, which is that an incredible amount of thought goes into the vast swathes of the shots in Steven Spielberg's movies. You can read so many ideas and underlying concepts in the specific types of shots chosen and even just in the way the camera is placed. To boot, the various thoughtful shot compositions are executed in a subtle way that doesn't distract from the dialogue-heavy proceedings, showing a delicate balance between visual flourishes and thoughtfulness that makes Amistad a notably powerful movie that deserves more attention than it's gotten.

Sidenote: There's a scene in Amistad where a heavily influential figure in Southern politics notes how (in the 1830's) the North looks down on the South for using slaves and calls them names for still using specifically black human beings as labor they treat badly. This political figure proceeds to act like the real victim here is the Southerners who get called names instead of the real human being Southerners intentionally subjugate instead of using the constant criticism he receives as an indication sweeping changes need to be made. Gee whillickers, does that ever feel like a politically relevant moment in Donald Trump's America since his presidential campaign was built upon letting well-off white people believe the delusion that they were the real victims because people asked them not to immediately assume all Transgender people were sexual predators. The more things change....