Amistad Essays

  • Amistad

    639 Words  | 2 Pages

    Amistad is about a mutiny in 1839 aboard a slave ship, La Amistad, which eventually comes to port in New England. The West Africans who have commandeered the ship are taken into custody and the plot revolves around who "owns" them or if, indeed, they should be freed. This sets up the main event of the film, a courtroom drama about rights and origins, with the required flashbacks to the voyage and the gruesome conditions aboard the ship. The problem with this approach is that we learn less about the

  • Amistad

    821 Words  | 2 Pages

    Amistad I have watched the “Amistad” directed by Steven Spielberg, written by David Franzoni, presented by Morgan Freeman, Nigel Hawthorne, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, Mathew McConaughey, David Paymer, Pete Postlethwaite, and Stellan Skarsgard. It was rented from Hollywood Video to complete the assignment. “Who we are, is who we were”, states attorney Baldwin, the persuading point reaching into the hearts of the jurors. Telling a story about the intriguing life and life lost of the Mende people

  • The Amistad

    2473 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Amistad The Amistad was a Spanish ship built in Baltimore for the purpose of transporting slaves. For three years, it sailed the high seas delivering its cargo to various locations. But in August of 1838, a scandalous injustice was uncovered after the ship was seized by an American vessel, the USS Washington, a coast guard ship under the command of Lt. Thomas R. Gedney. Lt. Gedney and his crew towed the Amistad into a New England harbor in Connecticut where soon many controversies amounted

  • Amistad

    989 Words  | 2 Pages

    AMISTAD Amistad is a recreation of the true story about a 1839 slave revolt on a small Spanish schooner, La Amistad, ironically the Spanish word for "friendship." Spielberg does a great job in recreating the Amistad revolt that spurred a series of trials beginning in the lower courts of Connecticut and ultimately ending in the Supreme Court. Events following the revolt raise controversial questions about slavery and freedom. This case not only marks a milestone for Abolitionists in their fight

  • Amistad Review

    531 Words  | 2 Pages

    Amistad Review Steven Spielberg's "Amistad" is centered on the legal status of Africans caught and brought to America on a Spanish slave ship. The Africans rise up and begin a mutiny against their captors on the high seas and are brought to trial in a New England court. The court must decide if the Africans are actually born as slaves or if they were illegally brought from Africa. If the Africans were born as slaves then they would be guilty of murder, but if their being brought here

  • Amistad Movie Analysis

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    The film Amistad begins with a group of Africans, captured from a Havana slave market, on a ship named Amistad. The movie provides a reinactment of the slave journey between Africa and the United States of America. The Amistad was written by David Franzoni and was published in 1977. David Franzoni is well know for his film King Author. The constraints of the movie is the beginning . The extreme graphics that are shown will cause a person with a weak stomach to maybe turn away from watching the complete

  • Amistad Movie Essay

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    Amistad released in 1997 was produced by Debbie Allen, Colin Wilson and Stephan Spielberg. Spielberg also directed the film which was nominated for 47 awards and won a total of 9. The cast included Anthony Hopkins as president John Adams, who won best supporting actor for his role in Amistad. The film also stared Djimon Hounsou as Cinque, the leader of the Mende, Morgen Freeman as an abolitionist named Theodore Joadson a free man born into slavery, and Mathew McConaughey as Roger Sherman Baldwin

  • Cinematography Of The Film And The Amistad Movie

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    Steven Spielberg’s film “Amistad” and Howard Jones’ book “Mutiny on the Amistad” both tell the story of a group of slaves who were able to take over a ship called the Amistad just off the coast of Cuba in attempts to sail home to west Africa. After being tricked by the two remaining crewmembers into sailing up the east coast of America, the slaves are captured and thrown into a life changing legal battle, one of the most famous trials in history. Eventually, the group of slaves were granted their

  • Amistad History

    522 Words  | 2 Pages

    Amistad (1997) is a historical film directed by Steven Spielberg and is based on a well-known 1839 uprising of African tribesmen. Director Steve Spielberg successfully presented the David Franzoni's book Munity on the Amistad: The Saga of a Slave Revolt and Its Impact on American Abolition, Law and Diplomacy (1987) on the screen by making this epic historical movie. The story is about how a group of African slaves suffered through the painstaking experience of being enslaved by Spanish slave owners

  • The Interesting Narrative Life of Olaudah Equiano and Amistad

    602 Words  | 2 Pages

    Equiano” and “Amistad” are important stories about slavery in pre-civil war america because they both address the issues of slavery. These gentlemen in the story made a difference in the slave trade. In “The life of Olaudah Equiano”, Olaudah was sold on a slave ship that came to the Barbados. Olaudah worked for his freedom, and in the end became efficient in American language. He worked his way to the free life and in the end it worked out for him, although it leaves scars on his soul. In “Amistad”, Cinque

  • The Heroic Slave of Amistad

    1513 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 1997 a movie called Amistad depicted the true story of a group of Africans that were taken from their families and forced into slavery. Although the movie was heavily criticized for it's inaccurate tale of the terrible ordeal, it gave the story world-renowned attention. The real story had more drama and tearjerker parts then the movie did. If the movie ever gets remade, hopefully this time it follows the facts exactly. A man named Sengbe Pieh, commonly known in the United States as Jose Cinque

  • Amistad Discussion Questions

    519 Words  | 2 Pages

    characters of the movie. (Joadson, Van Buren, Quincy Adams, Tappan) In the movie Amistad, therer were several people depicted from this historical period. Joadson is an a freed slave and also a abolitionist who is working with Tappan who is also a prominent abolitionist from New York on the defense of the Africans. Quency Adams is the former President of the United States and he joins the defense after the Amistad trial goes to the Supreme Court. Van Buren is the President at that time and he overturns

  • Amistad

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    equal”. Sixty-three years after these famous words were first written, a significant event occurred that had profound political consequences and propelled our nation on a course that inevitably helped pave the way for Civil War. The case of the “Amistad” ignited the abolitionist movement in the Northeast and caused a political and legal firestorm that ended up going all the way to the Supreme Court. Disturbingly, the case was not about the human beings that were the central focus of the story –

  • Amistad

    966 Words  | 2 Pages

    I believe that the movie Amistad is excellent movie, but very historical. It is done in a way for everyone to understand it. It is ironical that the name of the ship was Amistad, which means friendship, totally contrary to what was happening. This movie shows the way slaves were treated and how the American judicial system worked at that time. The movie starts in a ship “La Amistad” a slave named Cinque, frees himself from his chains and frees the rest of his tribe, the African slaves then

  • Slavery In The Amistad

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Amistad is a 1997 film about how Africans were being shipped from Cuba to the United States. The Amistad was a Spanish slavery boat. After being taken into custody multiple parties claim ownership of the Africans. It was taken to the Supreme Court due to pressure. Roger Baldwin was a property lawyer that was defending the Africans. He saw the Africans as human beings instead of just nothing. The Court rules in accordance with the lower court the Africans were illegally acquired may return to

  • Amistad Analysis

    1676 Words  | 4 Pages

    The movie Amistad is a movie about an illegal slave ship. They left Havana on June 28th. Their destination was Puerto Principle, which was a little Cuban town. On the ship at this moment were five whites, a Spanish cook, a black cabin boy, and fifty three Africans. Upon the ship, there is a successful slave rebellion lead by Cinque after he finds a nail and frees himself from his manacles. There is a full-on war upon the ship, with the Africans killing any and every man they can get their hands

  • Amistad Reflection

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    The film Amistad by Steven Spielberg is based on actual events that occurred in 1839 on a ship by the name of La Amistad. This ship was carrying about 40 African people beneath the deck. As this ship travels from Cuba to the United States, the slave leader by the name of Cinqué escapes his shackles, unlocks all the other slaves shackles and leads a revolt against the crew members; eventually overthrowing all the crew member and taking charge of the ship. They spare the lives of two crewmembers in

  • Amistad Reflection

    541 Words  | 2 Pages

    The film Amistad is an incredible and inspirational film about the fight for freedom. Amistad tells the story of a case that happened before the civil war between a group of illegal slaves that were taken from their home in Africa. Through vivid and brutal imagery, the film helped to portray what actually happened to slaves during the Slave Trade and the United States court system during those historical times. The film portrays the disputes and corruption that slavery brought amongst the United

  • Amistad Movie Analysis

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    The film Amistad is based on a true event that occurred in 1839. It is about a mutiny by recently captured slaves, who take over a ship known as La Amistad, and the legal battle that followed regarding their freedom. The movie begins by showing many Africans chained together on the lower deck of La Amistad. They manage to break free and go to the upper deck and attack the sailors, leading a mutiny and taking over the ship. They leave two men alive to guide them back to Africa, but they point them

  • Rhetorical Devices In Amistad

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rhetoric, the 1997 film, Amistad, immediately came to mind because of the persuasive nature of the storyline throughout. There are several instances of persuasion during the course of the movie, and all of those actions lead to a final persuasive speech before the Supreme Court that ultimately attempts to right the injustice that set the story in motion. Based on actual events, Amistad tells the story of an 1839 slave revolt that took place aboard the slave ship, La Amistad, on its way from