Director Report Card: Steven Spielberg (1997) Part Two

20. Amistad

The mid-nineties were a turning point for Steven Spielberg. In 1994, he split his time between special effects driven blockbuster “Jurassic Park” and “Schindler's List,” a harrowing drama about important historical events. From this point on, it would become increasingly common for Spielberg to balance out popcorn movies with weightier dramas. In 1997, we would see this happen again. Six months after “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” was unleashed on the world, “Amistad” would see general release. It was also a historical drama about human perseverance in the face of atrocities. While people continue to debate the merits of the film, most agree that “Amistad” is not as good as “Schindler's List.”

In 1839, Spanish scooner La Amistad is illegally transporting African slaves through the waters around the Atlantic. Mende tribesman Cinque successfully leads a revolt among the slaves, killing all but two of the crew. In the waters around Cuba, the ship is boarded by American forces and the mutineers arrested. A landmark trial soon springs up around Cinque and the other men. Abolitionists Lewis Tappon and Theodore Joadson, a former slave himself, represent in the men in court. They seek the help of eccentric lawyer Roger Sherman Baldwin and former president John Quincy Adams. Competing forces, from the Queen of Spain to the U.S. men who found the boat, challenge the assumption that these human beings have any rights at all. A landmark trial ensues.

If “Amistad” has nothing else in its favor, the film has a hell of an opening scene. It begins in darkness. Cinque bloodies his fingers digging a nail out of the wood in the cramped interior of the boat, which is conveyed through a series of tense close-ups. He uses the nail to pick the locks on his chain. As the freed slaves gather weapons and emerge from inside the ship, it is pouring down rain. Lightning crashes, illuminating the scene. We see the deck of the ship become red with blood, as the slavers are attacked and their sails are slashed. It's such a grim, grisly sequence, feeling almost like a horror movie, and immediately establishes what is at stake here through virtuoso filmmaking. 

The strongest moments in “Amistad” continue to focus on the experiences of Cinque and those like him. In court, as he relates his memories of what happened while crossing the ocean. This represents “Amistad's” most harrowing scenes. We see Cinque abducted from his village. We see him dragged through the slave market, dehumanized and humiliated. He's packed, naked, into the bowels of the slave ship. When the crew fear they'll be discovered, they drop their “cargo” into the ocean. Which means human beings are chained together and pulled into the ocean to die. While “Amistad” is never as agonizingly brutal as “Schindler's List,” these are the moments when Spielberg's film comes the closest to capturing the horrors of the slave trade on-screen.

Unfortunately, as much as “Amistad” feels like it should've been a companion piece to “Schindler's List,” an example of Spielberg using all his skills as a filmmaker to make a documentary-style film about a horrible historical nightmare that ended countless lives... This isn't that movie. Instead, “Amistad” fits comfortably into the white savior narrative that Hollywood filmmakers just can't quit. Cinque is ultimately not the hero of this story. He's not even really the protagonist. Cinque, his fellow Mende tribesman, and the other Africans are portrayed as victims of a system they have no control over. The white men who won their legal case, Baldwin and Adams, end up driving the narrative. Joadson, the other prominent black character in the story, is even repeatedly sidelined in favor of the white men. 

It's disappointed to see Spielberg fall so totally into this unfortunate tendency. Especially when Cinque repeatedly emerges as the most interesting character in the film. His story about killing a lion back in Africa, told through a translator, proves to be a potent metaphor for how he doesn't feel he deserves a heroic title. His discussion with Adams about the spirits of ancestors is another strong moment. Djimon Hounsou's performance remains one of raw power throughout. Yet “Amistad” frustratingly refuses to center Cinque in this story. The film even goes so far as to include a lengthy sequence where one of the tribesman seemingly converts to Christianity, after learning to read the Bible and after mocking the dour missionaries who plead their case. That's makes this almost a literal white savior movie!

If I'm being cynical, it would be easy to call “Amistad” Oscar bait. To assume that, after finally getting some love from the Academy, Spielberg wanted some more. The film seems designed to deliver these big, emotional moments that would look great as clips during the Oscar broadcast. Such as Cinque standing up during the trial, shouting out to be given his freedom. Or John Quincy Adams' lengthy closing arguments, a long-winded monologue from Anthony Hopkins. John Williams' typically grandiose score blares during these moments, as if to sell the audience further on the emotional impact. It all feels a little too calculated, a little too sentimental. Like a blatant attempt to tug on our heartstrings. 

The miscalculation inherent in “Amistad” is most apparent in its closing montage, that moment in the fact based drama where the rest of the characters' lives are summed up with text on the screen.  We see the British admiral, who got a big moment on the witness stand earlier in the movement, destroy the slave fort in Sierra Leone. It's a big triumphant moment, this symbol of systemic oppression and horrible racism being pulled down and destroyed. Yet when we get the update on Cinque's life, we learn that he was never reunited with his own family, who were likely sold into slavery too. It's not like the legal victory in the Amistad case brought an end to slavery and all the horrors it wrought. The inspiration vibes that movie is aiming for seem misplaced in so many ways.

That same postscript montage includes a flash forward to the Civil War, shown as the inevitable climax of the tensions discussed throughout “Amistad.” The impending threat of civil war over the slavery question is repeatedly brought up throughout the film, even being shown as a factor in President Van Buren pulling support of the abolitionists. Historians, on the other hand, have pointed out that this actually wasn't much of a concern in 1839. The Civil War wouldn't happen for another twenty years. The Amistad trial was, in fact, never really about slavery in America. The case dealt with the illegality of transatlantic slavery, which had no effect on the slave trade here in this country. The movie mentions this but only in the most casual of ways. Instead, it pretends that this one court case was a battle for the soul of America, instead of a mere footnote that proceeded two whole decades of slavery and countless lives destroyed.

As misplaced as “Amistad's” convictions may be, you can't say it's not a well made movie. At this point in his career, Spielberg only worked with the best and brightest. Janusz Kaminski's cinematography is gorgeous. There's a number of striking visuals throughout, such as a close-up on a judge's gavel coming down or Adams pushing a plant into the rays of the sun. There's some clever editing too, such as a cross-cut between a man's face and the face of a doll held by the queen of Spain. John Williams' score is, of course, full of rousing themes and powerful strings. All the costumes and production designs are excellent. There's no doubt that every dollar of the film's budget is up on the screen.

Another way to tell “Amistad” is a movie with a white savior complex is that it stars Matthew McConaughey. This is a year after the star played a very similar role in “A Time to Kill.” McConaughey gets the kind of showy moments you'd expect from this script, delivering several stirring dissertations about freedom and such. McConaughey is at his best, as he usually is, when playing up the characters more eccentric elements. Most notably during a scene where he negotiates the case while eating dinner. Morgan Freeman is, disappointingly, not given nearly enough to do in the role of Joadman. (A, by the way, fictional character inspired by the real historical figure of James Forten.) It's easy to imagine a much stronger version of this story told from Joadman's perspective, a freed slave navigating the racial politics of the 1830s. 

Alongside Freeman in several scenes is Stellan Skarsgård as Lewis Tappan, who is most compelling when bringing a more uncertain edge to the material. Even though Hounsou is top-billed, and essentially the main character, Anthony Hopkins emerges the star of the show more often. Hopkins, applying an interesting American accent, certainly knows all the right notes to hit to make the dialogue sing. He's too much of a professional not to, even if Hopkins' style of showboating feels at odds with the emotional needs of a story like this. Pete Postlethwaite and David Paymer are comforting presences in antagonistic roles, while I got a kick out of seeing a young Chiwetel Ejiofor in his first role as the translator. 

If Oscar gold was the intent behind “Amistad,” it didn't quite work out. The film received nominations for Kaminsky's cinematography, Williams' score, and its costumes, alongside a nod in the Supporting Actor for Hopkins. It would win none of these and, in general, the critical reception for the film was more mildly positive than enthusiastic. In the years since, “Amistad” has become one of Spielberg's more overlooked films. While I'd like to say it's a hidden gem, the truth is this one doesn't quite work. It's less sentimental than “The Color Purple” but less emotionally involving. It lacks the power of “Schindler's List,” with a far more uneven relationship with actual history. Despite some strong performances and stronger filmmaking from Spielberg and his team, “Amistad” is ultimately held back by clichés. [Grade: C+]